2017 Atlantic 10 Tournament: Rhode Island earns first NCAA berth since ’99
Rhode Island Rams knocked off VCU to win 2017 Atlantic 10 tournament title and earned their first berth to the NCAA tournament since 1999.
The Rhode Island Rams don’t have to worry about if the selection committee will choose them for an at-large berth. And that’s because they earned the automatic qualifier.
Related Story: Rhode Island caps non-conference play at 8-4
Rhode Island left no doubt on the court as they won the Atlantic 10 basketball tournament, defeating VCU, 70-63, earning its first NCAA Tournament berth since 1999.
The Rams led for the entirety of the game, but VCU battled back late, getting the lead down to three points with less than 40 seconds to play. Rhode Island held on, thanks to free throw shooting in the end by Jared Terrell and E.C. Matthews. The two made a pair of free throws to put the game out of reach for VCU.
Terrell went 6-of-7 at the free throw line as he finished the game as Rhode Island’s leading scorer with 20 points. Matthews, meanwhile, had 19 points and was a reliable perimeter option for the Rams, sinking 4-of-5 from three-point range.
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VCU struggled offensively, shooting just 31 percent from the field. They had the clear rebounding edge (47-36) thanks to 23 offensive boards. However, VCU couldn’t turn enough of those offensive boards into points as they had 14 second chance points, compared to Rhode Island’s nine.
The win was big for Rhode Island as it left little doubt for the selection committee in choosing them. Rhode Island found themselves in a last four in type of scenario in all of the Bracketology scenarios going into Sunday’s games.
Winning the conference tournament leaves your fate out of the hands of a subjective committee. It means you’re a little more comfortable watching Greg Gumbel announce the first round pairings.
All the Rams need to worry about now is who they’ll face in their opening round.
This will be the ninth NCAA Tournament appearance for Rhode Island. In ’99, they lost in the first round as a 12-seed to fifth-seeded Charlotte.
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Their best run came in ’98, when as an 8-seed, they got all the way to the Elite Eight. They knocked off a No. 1 seed in Kansas and lost by two points to Stanford, the second seed, in the regional final.