NCAA Tournament: 5 things to know about No. 11 Rhode Island
The Rams make a long awaited return to March Madness.
Closing out the season on an eight-game winning streak, the Rhode Island Rams enter the NCAA Tournament with a sense of momentum. Having clinched a tournament berth for the first time in nearly two decades, coach Dan Hurley’s team will face a difficult test as the No. 11 seed in the Midwest region.
Rhode Island won the Atlantic-10 Conference Tournament over VCU, going 24-9 during the season so far. After back-to-back losses in mid-February to Dayton and Fordham, the Rams haven’t lost.
Here’s a quick look at a few notable things to know about Rhode Island ahead of Friday’s matchup against No. 6 Creighton (4:30 p.m. on TBS).
Family ties: Rhode Island coach Dan Hurley is making his tournament debut as a coach. Yet in the Hurley family, tournament appearances are a routine occurrence. Dan’s brother, Bobby, was a national champion at Duke as a player, also coaching Buffalo to a 2015 tournament appearance (he’s now at Arizona State).
Welcome back: Rhode Island made three straight tournament appearances in the late 1990s, but hasn’t returned since. Finally, the Rams makes their 21st-century debut in the big dance.
Kansas history: If the Rams can make a run to the Elite Eight, it will match a school record set in 1998. Should Hurley’s team achieve that, it’s likely the opponent would be the region’s No. 1 seed: Kansas. Coincidentally, the 1998 run — which featured future NBA guard Cuttino Mobley — included a second-round upset over another No. 1 Kansas team.
Massachusetts tie: In 2014, Rhode Island managed to get one of Massachusetts’ most prized recruits: Jared Terrell was ranked as the state’s third-best recruit that year, opting for Rhode Island over Boston College, Cincinnati, Oklahoma State and Providence. Now a junior, Terrell is second on the team in points and threes.
Player to know: E.C. Matthews. The junior guard leads the Rams in points, serving as the team’s main catalyst on offense. His story is an inspiring one. In the team’s season opener last season, Matthews tore his ACL. After rehabbing throughout 2016, the 6’5″ Detroit native made a strong comeback. Post injury, Matthews appears to have regained all of his explosiveness:
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