Turnovers, poor shooting at VCU send Rhode Island basketball to fifth straight loss

RICHMOND, Va. — Coming off a lopsided defeat and on a four-game losing streak, the Rhode Island men’s basketball team had to head to Virginia Commonwealth University. The Siegel Center is not the ideal place to try to turn around a season or stop a slide.

Coach Archie Miller, who entered the game 1-2 at the venue, knew what to expect. He had discussed it with his players, none of whom had played there before.

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Even with that preparation, URI (11-17, 5-10 A10) struggled from the start, committing turnovers on three of its first four possessions on the way to an 88-67 loss, its second consecutive setback by more than 20 points.

“We talked a lot about the first eight minutes of the game, and getting off to a good start offensively,” Miller said. “I think when you get into a place like this, you have to be able to run good offense. Even if you’re not scoring, you can’t turn it over and give them opportunities.”

Turnovers were the theme throughout the game for the visiting Rams. They had more turnovers (10) than field goals (7) at halftime, at which time they were down, 42-21. They almost had more free throws (5) at the half than field goals. URI didn’t have more field goals than turnovers until 11:38 left in the second half when David Green sank a layup, giving the Rams 15 field goals and 14 turnovers. Alas, they were behind, 67-46, at the time. They finished the game with 22 field goals and 15 turnovers.

“Our turnovers early in the game didn’t get us going,” Miller said.

Green led URI in scoring with 16 points. Jaden House, who played high school ball at nearby Henrico, had nine. Connor Dubsky took advantage of extended playing time and chipped in nine, all on 3-pointers in the second half.

For VCU, Joe Bamisile had 24 points and Max Shulga followed with 20, and the hosts won the rebounding battle, 37-30.

URI was playing its second consecutive game without freshman forward David Fuchs. He was the conference rookie of the week the past two weeks but has a sprained right ankle.

“It hurts us a lot,” Miller said of Fuchs’ absence. “He’s our best interior player on both ends of the floor. He’s one of our best, if not our best, rebounder. That puts some pressure on us from a depth perspective. I don’t think we’ll have him back anytime soon. We’ll see. It’s been tough on us.”

In addition to all the turnovers in the first half, URI struggled from the field, shooting just 28% to VCU’s 48.3.

“We had some point-blank shots,” Miller said. “We had a couple good looks that, in this place tonight, you’re going to have to make a couple of those. ... We just didn’t.”

VCU coach Ryan Odom agreed.

“They had quite a few open looks that didn’t go down for them,” he said.

URI did better in the second half, shooting 53.6% and committing just five turnovers.

“Offensively, the second half, we were a little more under control,” Miller said. “We scored the ball a little easier, but nothing stopped on the other end, unfortunately.”

He liked the play of Dubsky and Always Wright, who had four assists.

“Give a couple of our guys credit,” Miller said. “Connor Dubsky, young guy, got his opportunity tonight. I thought he stepped up, showed he could shoot the ball. Always made some really good plays for us in one stretch.”

URI made it 67-48 with 10:44 left, but that was as close as it got. Its biggest deficit was 29 with 3:32 left in the game.

“We cut it to about 19 and we’re trying to convince our guys, ‘Hey, look, let’s get it to 15.’ But coming out of that timeout … it kind of went south again.”

Miller did give credit to the hosts.

“They’re a good team. I think they’re an NCAA tournament team,” he said. “When they shoot it like they did tonight, it’s tough.”

RHODE ISLAND (67): Brown 1-2 0-0 2, House 3-11 3-6 9, Kortright 2-6 1-1 5, Montgomery 3-6 1-1 8, Weston 1-2 3-4 6, Green 5-12 4-4 16, Foumena 2-3 2-2 6, Estevez 1-2 0-0 3, Dubsky 3-8 0-0 9, Wright 1-1 0-0 3. Totals: 22-53 14-18 67.

VCU (88): Fermin 1-1 0-0 2, Kuany 0-3 0-0 0, Jackson 4-9 2-2 11, Shulga 6-9 6-8 20, Bairstow 7-11 2-2 16, Nelson 1-7 0-0 3, Bamisile 8-14 3-4 24, Lawal 2-3 5-5 9, Belle 0-2 0-0 0, Billups 1-3 0-0 3, Wheeler 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 30-62 18-21 88.

Halftime — VCU 42-21. 3-point goals — Rhode Island 9-28 (Dubsky 3-6, Green 2-6, Wright 1-1, Estevez 1-2, Weston 1-2, Montgomery 1-3, Foumena 0-1, Kortright 0-2, House 0-5), VCU 10-29 (Bamisile 5-9, Shulga 2-5, Billups 1-3, Jackson 1-4, Nelson 1-4, Bairstow 0-1, Belle 0-1, Kuany 0-2). Rebounds — Rhode Island 24 (Brown 7), VCU 36 (Lawal 8). Assists — Rhode Island 13 (Wright 4), VCU 15 (Jackson 5). Total fouls — Rhode Island 17, VCU 17. A — 7,107 (7,637).

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Rhode Island basketball loses to VCU, 88-67