Ron's Preview - Rhode Island

Ron’s Preview – Rhode Island

By: Ron Thaman
FlyerHoops.net Staff Writer

The Teams: University of Dayton Flyers (11-3; 1-0) v. Rhode Island Rams
(6-7; 1-0).

Time and TV Coverage of Game: Sunday, January 7, 2007 12Noon EST at the Ryan Center in Kingston, Rhode Island. The game will be covered by radio WHIO 1290 with Larry Hansgen and Bucky Bockhorn. The game will also be covered in CSTV GameTracker available at: http://daytonflyers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/sched/dayt-m-baskbl-sched.html.

Series Details: The Flyers and the Rams goes back to the 1939-40 season when Dayton played Rhode Island in White Plains, New York and won 59-51. Since the Flyers joined the A-10, fifteen more meetings have occurred between the Flyers and the Rams. The series now stands at 11-5 in Dayton’s favor.

The Flyers and the Rams: The Flyers and Rams will battle it out in Kingston this Sunday for the right to go 2-0 in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Currently both these teams won their first A-10 game. Dayton won a hard fought game against Charlotte and URI against LaSalle. These teams have no common opponents this season so far but the Rams have played some tough opponents: Boston College (68-86); DePaul (81-89) Ohio University (69-97) and Kansas (69-80).

The Rams have three players averaging in double figures: Will Daniels (17.5 ppg), Jimmy Baron (14.8 ppg) and Kahiem Seawright (11.3). Baron takes the most three’s and hits on 53.5% of those far beyond the arc. Daniel’s is also a threat from the 3-point at 52.8% made. Seawright needs to be guarded well not only because of his good shooting but he leads in rebounds, blocked shots and steals.

The Flyers have dropped two on the road against top 10 opponents and won at the neutral court against Louisville. Brian Gregory and his team need to gain some respect on the road against a good A-10 opponent. Expect a high scoring game.

Advantages & Disadvantages: The Flyers are at a disadvantage again, after trailing in stats with Pitt and UNC.

NON-CONFERENCE PLAY (Teams) Dayton Flyers Rhode Island Rams
Scoring Offense 66.6 77.4Advantage
Scoring Defense 57.3 Advantage 78.6
Scoring Margin +9.3 Advantage -1.2
Free Throw % 0.658 0.715 Advantage
Field Goal % 0.447 0.451 Advantage
3-Point % 0.339 0.415 Advantage
3-Point % Defense 0.324 Advantage 0.398
Rebounding Offense 35.2 36.9 Advantage
Blocked Shots (per game) 3.8 Advantage 3.0
Assists (per game) 12.5 13.6 Advantage
Steals (per game) 5.2 5.6 Advantage

Tally Row 4 7



Atlantic 10 Conference Standings:

School Conference Win/Loss Overall Win/Loss RPI Strength of Schedule
Dayton 1-0 11-3 53 131
GW 1-0 9-3 79 156
St. Joseph’s 1-0 8-5 154 171
URI 1-0 8-7 228 206
St. Bonaventure 1-0 4-10 318 317
UMass 0-0 10-4 114 259
Xavier 0-0 9-4 57 51
Temple 0-0 6-6 96 29
Richmond 0-0 4-9 270 187
Saint Louis 0-1 10-4 67 109
Fordham 0-1 7-6 150 180
Charlotte 0-1 6-7 145 85
LaSalle 0-1 6-7 299 328
Duquesne 0-1 4-8 265 262


Flyer Flashback: It was January 27, 2005 when the Flyers (11-5; 4-1)) traveled to the Ryan Center to do battle with Rhode Island. The Flyers were at the top of the Western Division of the A-10 conference and were on their way to an overall 18-11 record. Roberts, Scott and Plummer were there along with Mark Jones, Trent Meacham and Marques Bennett. The Flyers were victorious by the score of 56-49 before 4,370 Fans

What We Need for a Win: My basic ingredients for a win will change very little as the season progresses and we can see who the Flyer Faithful can depend on for the score.

Flyer or Team Flyer Essential Task for Victory How we did Thursday
Rebound advantage -5
Stafford/ Huelsman Point Total 7
Charles Little 10
Roberts Point Total 18
Scott Point Total 8
Binnie Point Total 4
Plummer Point Total 10
Johnson Point Total 8
Warren Point Total 2
Bench Play 5
Flyer Total Turnovers 13
Flyer 2-pt Shooting % 0.498
Flyer 3-pt Shooting % 0.330
Flyer Free Throw % 0.790

Ron’s Pick: The Flyers will win by 2 points, 72-70.

Ron Thaman shares his pre-game and post-game thoughts in his columns "Ron's preview" and "Ron's review". He is a seasoned staff writer for FlyerHoops.net with a wealth of knowledge of both Dayton basketball and Dayton football. You can e-mail Ron Thaman at Ron@FlyerHoops.net.
See more stats and photos at Ron@FlyerHoops.net