The University of Rhode Island will begin the Atlantic 10 portion of its men’s basketball schedule with a New Year’s Eve trip to face the league’s defending tournament champions.
The Rams will spend the final day of 2024 facing Duquesne, the surprise winner of an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament in the spring. It was the first time the Dukes have danced since 1977, a run at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center that sent coach Keith Dambrot into retirement on a high note.
URI will play its next two games at the Ryan Center before visiting the two programs that shared the regular-season title in 2023-24. Richmond and Loyola Chicago will host the Rams on Jan. 11 and 15, respectively, and will look to approximate the 15-3 conference record they posted last year. That gave them a one-game lead over Dayton, which visits URI on Feb. 26.
The Flyers are in what promises to be a tough final stretch for the Rams. They travel to St. Louis on Feb. 22, where they’ll face a program with a new coach in Josh Schertz and a new star in center Robbie Avila. Both came over from Indiana State after a 32-7 campaign and are entering a five-game stretch that includes a March 1 trip to rival Massachusetts and a March 5 visit to St. Joseph’s.
VCU gives URI another home game on Jan. 21, the regular-season and tournament champions in 2022-23. The Rams play four of their first six games that month on campus and don’t get a bye until early February. They also have a week off between a Feb. 15 home game against La Salle and the game against the Billikens.
George Mason will be URI’s home opener on Jan. 4 at 2 p.m. on USA Network. It’s the first of five national conference broadcasts for the Rams and one of seven currently on the schedule. URI will also host Providence and face former league rival Temple on CBS Sports Network, with games scheduled for Dec. 7 in Kingston and Dec. 21 at the Mass Mutual Center in Springfield.
The Rams went 12-20 overall last season and 6-12 in league play. URI started the season 3-0 against conference opponents before losing each of its next four games, and a 5-5 start to February was shattered by a seven-game losing streak. Five of those losses came against teams that finished in the top 100, according to KenPom.com, including home losses to Loyola Chicago and Richmond and a road loss to VCU.
The Rams reshuffled their roster this offseason, welcoming Sebastian Thomas (Albany), Quentin Diboundje (East Carolina), Jamarques Lawrence (Nebraska), Javonte Brown (Western Michigan) and Drissa Traore (St. John’s) via the transfer portal. This is a second stint at URI for Thomas, the former Bishop Hendricken star and Providence native. The Rams will play an exhibition game Oct. 14 at Mohegan Sun against two-time national champion Connecticut before opening their regular season with a Nov. 4 home game against Fairfield.
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URI A-10 Men’s Basketball Team Schedule
December 31 – Duquesne January 4 – George Mason January 8 – George Washington January 11 – Richmond January 15 – Loyola Chicago January 18 – Davidson January 21 – VCU January 25 – La Salle January 29 – Massachusetts February 5 – Fordham February 8 – George Mason February 12 – St. Bonaventure February 15 – La Salle February 22 – St. Louis February 26 – Dayton March 1 – Massachusetts March 5 – St. Joseph’s March 8 – Fordham
This article was originally published in The Providence Journal: Rhode Island Atlantic-10 men’s basketball schedule released
