Donahue and the Eagles return to the hardwood on Wednesday night as they take on URI at the Ryan Center.
Boston College vs. Rhode Island: it's the Al Skinner Classic without ... well ... Al Skinner.
The Rams come into tomorrow night's with an overall record of 8-4. Rhode Island has already had a fairly up and down season. URI and Pittsburgh kicked off the Division I college basketball season back in early November with the Rams giving the now 6th ranked Panthers all they could handle. Delroy James had 17 of his 20 points in the second half. Rhode Island has gone on to lose a few head-scratchers, including losses to Illinois-Chicago (74-68 in the 2K Sports Coaches vs. Cancer Classic) and at Quinnipiac (73-66).
The Rams' fourth loss of the season came against their only shared opponent with BC this season -- Providence. URI lost to their in-state rivals 87-74 at the Dunkin Donuts Center.
Of Rhode Island's eight wins, their most impressive was arguably their 75-66 win over College of Charleston in the 2K Sports Coaches vs. Cancer Classic sub-regional (CoC nearly beat North Carolina on the road). Rhode Island's 74-68 win over Drexel is also fairly respectable.
Win or lose, most of Rhode Island's scoring goes through Delroy James, a 6-foot-8, 220 pound senior forward from Brooklyn. A 73-65 win over Lafayette -- URI's last game -- snapped an eleven game stretch where the forward scored in double figures. James scored a career-high 33 points in the win over Drexel. James is their leading scorer and leading rebounder, averaging 7.4 boards a game. He already has three double-doubles on the season. James should prove to be a tough defensive assignment for the Eagles front-court.
This year's URI team also features a pair of very talented guards in Marquis Jones (10.9 PPG) and Akeem Richmond (10.3 PPG). Along with James, Jones and Richmond, forward Nikola Malesevic is also averaging over 10 a game.
Opponents are shooting just 27.9 percent from beyond the arc against Rhody, placing URI's defense among the best in the country against the three (19th best). The Eagles are shooting 38.9 percent from three, which is 39th best in the nation. Something's going to give in this one.