Going '1-0 for the day' was job No. 1 for Rhode Island basketball. Here's 3 takeaways from their 1st A-10 win

SOUTH KINGSTOWN — The buzzer sounded, the game was over and what happened in the previous 40 minutes of gametime hardly mattered because the University of Rhode Island men’s basketball team did what it had to do.

The nonconference schedule was what it was. Plenty of people would have liked to see more wins or sharper play, but now – in Atlantic 10 play – is when the Rams are going to make their season.

Wednesday was the conference home opener and the goal against Fordham was simple. Go 1-0 and that’s what URI did. The 82-79 win over Fordham saw a lot of good, some bad and a result a team that is desperately trying to learn how to win do just that.

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“We keep talking about it – winning is the hardest thing to do. Anyone can lose, right, but winning is the hardest thing to do,” URI coach Archie Miller said. “When anything is hard you’re going to have to fight through adversity. Our team has had moments during the season where we’ve gotten to that point where it’s win or lose, who’s going to maek the plays and who’s going to be smarter.

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“… We found a way to do it. We’re not the smartest group out there late, but we found a way to get it done.”

Was it the best basketball the Rams are going to play? There were times it looked that way, but there was plenty when URI showed it still has a lot to learn. Here are the biggest takeaways from the win.

Malik Martin did not miss

Three pointers haven’t been a big part of Martin’s game this season. Going into Wednesday’s game he had made 8 of 36 on the season and only 3 of 23 in his last nine games.

Fordham’s scout clearly picked up on this and their defensive gameplan seemed obvious – let Martin shoot. That was a mistake.

Martin didn’t miss. He wasn’t flying off screens or pulling up like Steph Curry, but he was taking shots as they presented themselves. He hit 2 of 4 from deep in the opening six minutes and made another three 3-pointers in the second half to keep the Rams’ offense going.

“I know my percentage is low, but I was wide open,” said Martin, who scored a career high 23-points on the back of a 5-for-9 performance from the 3-point line. “I work on my shot every day so I’m going to shoot that 10 times out of 10.”

“When a team’s not going to guard you and leave you open, it goes one of two ways. You miss a couple and then all of a sudden the game just completely turns away from you, which is what I think Fordham tries to do,” Miller said.  “… Or it’s a guy like Malik that just keeps pounding away and says if you’re not going to guard me, I’m going to keep coming.”

What Martin didn’t do was better. He didn’t go searching for a heat-check three. Martin only pulled the trigger when it was there. Once he started hitting, it opened up his ability to score in other ways and was a huge reason why the Rams found success in the big runs they had to start both halves.

“The thing about it was the shots he took, he came in ready. I don’t think he took a bad one,” Miller said. “I think we encouraged him not to settle for threes though. We encouraged him to touch the paint with the ball, get fouled, see if he could get more paint touches for offensive opportunities for passes and I thought he did a good job of balancing that.”

Brayon Freeman made the shot of the night

Freeman had his struggles in the first half, but turned into a different player over the final 20 minutes.

He didn’t come off the court in the second half and with how he was playing, there was no reason to pull him. Freeman dished out five assists in the final 20 minutes and scored all 12 of his points.

With URI looking ready to give up the lead, Freeman was running the show from the top of the key when he made a read on Fordham’s defense that allowed him to get to the bucket and make a layup with 30 seconds left to put the Rams up 80-76.

“Coach Archie called a flat ball screen and I got a switch; the big was on me and he was guarding me pretty high,” Freeman said. “I like that matchup, I’m pretty sure the guys liked that matchup and I took what he gave me and I scored the basket.”

More impressive was his body control. Freeman spun three times as he tried to shake the Fordham defender before going up strong with the finish.

“I don’t practice that at all. It’s just instinct sometimes,” Freeman said. “I used to play a lot of pickup growing up so some things I can just do off instinct and make happen.

“It’s probably not the best, it probably doesn’t look the best and it’s not fundamental but coach gave me the freedom to do it and I got a bucket.”

URI started strong, finished stronger

The Rams couldn’t have started the game better. With Martin not missing and Ish Leggett doing the same, URI found itself ahead 25-7 midway through the first half. But thanks to a combination of sloppy defense and Fordham’s Darius Quisenberry throwing his team on his back, the lead almost turned into a deficit.

URI was ahead 30-26 with 4:02 left in the half when it URI closed the final four minutes by playing the type of defense it started the game with. The Rams held Fordham to four points over those final four minutes and while the 36-30 lead wasn’t the double-digit advantage it once was, it beat the alternative.

“That was a big momentum deal for us not going into the half on a downer,” Miller said. “… That was good for our team to fight through that last five minutes, win that last portion of the half to go into halftime and recalibrate.”

The Rams did just that in the second half and built the lead back up to 17 with 12:50 left before Quisenberry and Fordham came storming back.

After Freeman’s huge layup with 30 seconds left, he raced back to his defensive responsibility – Quisenberry, who finished with 33 points – and contested a 3-point shot that could have changed the game.

“Let’s get a stop or coach Archie’s going to be on us after the game,” said Freeman when asked what he was thinking after the layup. “That bucket meant nothing if we didn’t get the win so I’m kind of more happy with the win than the bucket.

“We needed the stop, I know nobody wanted to get in trouble when we got back to that locker room for not getting a stop so we put our heads down, defender and we got that stop.”

While URI is 1-1 in Atlantic 10 play, that’s not the mentality the Rams are taking as conference play rolls on.

“It’s not about if you lost yesterday or you won today. You just have to win every day,” Freeman said. “Go 1-0 for the day and that’s all that matters. You’ll look up and our record will be just what we want it to be.”

FORDHAM (79): Moore 3-9 0-0 6, Tsimbila 2-8 3-4 7, Charlton 5-9 1-4 13, Quisenberry 9-16 11-12 33, Rose 3-4 0-0 8, Riley 0-1 0-0 0, Novitskyi 2-5 2-2 6, Gray 2-3 2-2 6, Richardson 0-1 0-0 0, Dean 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-56 19-24 79. RHODE ISLAND (82): Samb 3-3 3-4 9, Carey 1-3 1-2 3, Freeman 4-12 3-7 12, Leggett 5-9 5-6 17, Martin 8-16 2-2 23, Thomas 2-7 3-3 7, Tchikou 2-5 4-5 8, Weston 1-2 1-1 3, Stewart 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 26-59 22-30 82.

Halftime_Rhode Island 36-30. 3-Point Goals_Fordham 8-23 (Quisenberry 4-11, Rose 2-2, Charlton 2-5, Richardson 0-1, Riley 0-1, Moore 0-3), Rhode Island 8-21 (Martin 5-9, Leggett 2-4, Freeman 1-2, Carey 0-1, Weston 0-1, Stewart 0-2, Thomas 0-2). Fouled Out_Leggett, Tchikou. Rebounds_Fordham 32 (Tsimbila 12), Rhode Island 32 (Thomas 7). Assists_Fordham 10 (Quisenberry 4), Rhode Island 17 (Freeman 8). Total Fouls_Fordham 26, Rhode Island 21. A_3,683 (7,657).

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Rhode Island baskerball tops visiting Fordham in Atlantic 10 play