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Rhode Island Basketball: Rams ahead of schedule in David Cox’s first year

By Jacob Matteson

PITTSBURGH, PA - MARCH 15: Cyril Langevine #10 of the Rhode Island Rams goes up for a basket in front of Brady Manek #35 and Khadeem Lattin #3 of the Oklahoma Sooners in the second half during the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at PPG PAINTS Arena on March 15, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Rhode Island Rams won the game 83-78 in overtime. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH, PA - MARCH 15: Cyril Langevine #10 of the Rhode Island Rams goes up for a basket in front of Brady Manek #35 and Khadeem Lattin #3 of the Oklahoma Sooners in the second half during the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at PPG PAINTS Arena on March 15, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Rhode Island Rams won the game 83-78 in overtime. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /
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Few teams had a harsher off-season than the Rhode Island Rams after losing key players and their head coach. However, the future already looks bright with new head coach David Cox.

Coming into the 2018-19 campaign, it was easy to have tempered expectations for one of the A10’s resident powers.  Having graduated Jared Terrell, EC Matthews, Jarvis Garrett, Stanford Robinson and Andre Berry, the Rhode Island Rams were losing virtually everything that brought them to back-to-back tournament appearances.

Not long after the season ended, head coach Danny Hurley left for UConn and over the Summer, Nicola Akele chose to forgo his senior year to return home to Italy to play professionally and Mike Layssard left the program.

Having brought in an impressive recruiting class led by Jermaine Harris, the second highest rated recruit according to 247Sports that Rhode Island landed, newly crowned head coach David Cox had a youthful foundation.

Given the youth, expectations were muddled.

Fast forward to mid-December, the Rams sit at 5-3 overall.  While this may not warrant a tip of the hat, it’s the production and output from the young Rams that is worth taking note of.

Rhode Island leans almost exclusively on their Guard-Forward Junior tandem, Jeff Dowtin and Cyril Langevine.  Dowtin is a sure hand who is enjoying career numbers in PER (21.0), TS% (.548), eFG% (.514) and Usage Rate (21.9) among other numbers.  Meanwhile, the 6’8″ Langevine is averaging a double-double with 15.6 PPG & 10.6 RPG shooting it at a .550 clip.

However, it’s the slowly developing emergence of their young Freshman class that might be the key to the Rams finding sustainable success.

Jermaine Harris (17.9), Tyrese Martin (21.0), Dana Tate (12.5) and Omar Silverio (8.8) all clock in meaningful minutes per game and all have played in every single game this season. While growing pains have been evident for these young men, the upside has shown through.

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Despite losses to College of Charleston, Stony Brook and Providence, the Rams hold two KenPom Top-100 wins over Harvard and West Virginia.  With a strength of schedule at 108th, Rhode Island is currently 91st in the KenPom rankings.

The Rams are young with only 1.26 years of college experience according to KenPom, ranking them 299th in the entire country.  Inexperience aside, the youthful Rams found themselves in dog fights with the aforementioned Harvard Crimson and West Virginia Mountaineers and managed to find their way out to the other side.  While the Rhody faithful may have sprouted a few grey hairs, these meaningful wins only highlight the accelerated learning process for the young team.

Likewise, the Rams are small as they are young.  Claiming an average height of just 76.3″ (6’3.5″), the Rams one of the smallest teams in the country, shorter than programs such as Idaho, Cal Baptist, Sacramento State, Alcorn State, Norfolk State, Longwood, UMass-Lowell, McNeese State, Purdue Fort Wayne and many more traditional basketball powers.

While the Rams are shooting  a program low from 3-point range (21.2) in the KenPom era, it’s the defensive numbers that catch your eye.  The Rams allow their opponents to shoot 44.2 eFG%, good for 21st in the country.  Only one team in the country, Murray State, defends the long ball better than the Rams do at 24%.  Grabbing 34% of available offensive rebounds, the Rams are one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country.

The numbers tell the tale of a group that has bought in to what first year coach David Cox is selling.

On top of their young squad, and key Junior contributors, Rhode Island has three more recruits ready to land in Kingston next year.  The Rams would be poised to return all five starters as well as a bulk of their key rotation players.

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With potential to win 20 games this season and bankroll that into larger success going forward, it’s easy to judge this Rams team by their 5-3 record.  But if you dig deeper and do some foreshadowing, it’s pretty evident that this team is already ahead of schedule.

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