A-10: Is Dan Hurley On The Hot Seat At Rhode Island?

It has been 2.5 years since Dan Hurley took over the men’s basketball team at Rhode Island and according to Bill Reynolds of the Providence Journal, it is time for the Rams to start producing victories.

Rhode Island, coming off a season which not much went right, has won just 29 games the past three years and has not made the NCAA tournament since 1999. The Rams went 14-18 in 2013-14 and are 22-39 overall under the 41-year old Hurley.

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But his first two seasons were with Jim Baron’s guys and this year marks the first season Hurley truly has his own team.

Rhode Island is expected to at least have a winning record and possibly compete for an NCAA tournament bid – the Atlantic -10 sent six teams to the dance last season. The Rams return four starters, including two that were named to the conference’s All-Rookie Team.

Six-foot-five sophomore guard E.C. Mathews (15.3 PPG, 4.4 RPG and 2.7 APG) is expected to be the go-to-guy after being named the A-10’s co-Rookie of the Year in 2013-14. The other All-Rookie selection was 6’7” forward Hassan Martin, who gives the Rams a formidable presence in the low-post.

Martin finished fourth on the team in scoring (6.3), second in rebounding (5.7) and led the squad in blocks (2.5).

"“They [Matthews and Martin] were incredibly efficient while not being insulated by older players around them. Obviously, those two guys are going to lead us to accomplish great things in the future.”-Hurley talking to The Sporting News about Mathews and Martin."

Six-foot-eight wide-body Gilvydas Biruta (10.0, 7.0 RPG), who should be a double-double machine, will join Martin to give the Rams a quality starting unit in the frontcourt. 6’3” guard T.J. Buchanan, along with Biruta, are the only seniors on the team.

Buchanan (5.8, 2.5 APG) is an excellent distributor and has potential to be a double-figure scorer but needs to be more consistent especially from long-range as he shot just 22.2 percent from beyond the arc.

Big things are also expected from 6’3” junior guard Biggie Minnis (4.7, 2.3 RPG), who missed several games with a hip injury. 6’5” junior forward Jarelle Reischel (5.6, 2.6 RPG) is versatile and has the ability to create matchup problem due to his ability to knock down perimeter shots; 6’8” junior forward Ifeanyi Onyekheba (3.2, 3.2 RPG) is an outstanding offensive rebounder; and 6’10” junior forward Jordan Hare (5.2, 4.0 RPG in 2012-13), who did not play last season, are expected to have important roles.

Hurley, who is an excellent recruiter, nabbed four-star shooting guard Jared Terrell (Weymouth, Mass./Brewster Academy), two-star point guard Jarvis Garrett (Milwaukee/Notre Dame Prep) and an outstanding junior college transfer in power forward Earl Watson (Chipola College).

All three newcomers should see quality time off the bench for the Rams. Since Hurley’s arrival in Kingston, he has brought in two-four star recruits (Mathews and Terrell), three-three star recruits (Martin, Hare and Onyekheba) and two quality junior college transfers (Xavier Munfield and Watson).

Hurley has some quality talent and depth but the key to the Rams success this year will be how quickly the team jells considering they have three newcomers and Hare having not played competively in over a year. The Rams also have to find some way to replace to replace Munford’s 16.9 points a game – Rhode Island averaged 67.8 points a game a year ago, which ranked 262nd in the nation.

Also, the Rams shot only 32.1 percent from beyond the arc (289th in the nation), 65.3 percent from the charity stripe (318th) and averaged 14. 1 turnovers a game (310th).