The Atlantic-10 is one of the best college basketball conferences in college basketball year in and year out, but the consensus top-10 conference had a difficult opening day on Friday.
While the Atlantic-10 gets a lot publicity as one of the best basketball conferences outside of the Power 5 and high major conferences, which includes the American and Big East, it didn’t start its 42nd season off on a great foot. The A-10 posted a 8-3 record on Nov.10 despite the fact that each of the conference’s 11 teams played at home and most played less regarded opponents. Four of the 11 games were decided by five or fewer points.
On the positive note, the A-10 went 3-1 in preseason tournament games. This includes preseason favorite Rhode Island. Rhode Island (1-0) defeated UNCA (0-1) 84-60 in the opening round of the preseason NIT. The Rams are the only team in the conference to receive votes in both the AP and USA Coaches Poll preseason polls.
Senior Stanford Robinson scored a team-high 18 points in URI’s second unit to outscore UNCA’s bench 35-10. Robinson, 7-of-9 from the floor, added seven steals and three assists. The Rams scored 27 points off of 28 Bulldogs turnovers. Senior Andre Berry added a career-high 15 points for URI while star guard EC Matthews contributed 10.
George Washington (1-0) also won its opening preseason NIT game, defeating crosstown foe Howard (0-1) 84-75. The Colonials, which shot 53.4% from the floor, outscored the Bison 40-16 in the paint. Senior Yuta Wantabe led the with 18 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocks. GW swatted way 10 shots on the night.
St. Louis was the other team to win a preseason tournament game. SLU topped Seattle 62-46 in the 2K Classic/Wounded Warrior Project. In the meantime, Fordham was the lone loser in a tournament game, falling to Miami (55-54) in the Jamaica Classic.