The Billikens breathed some life back into their season with a win over St. Bonaventure over the weekend, and now turn their attention to the visiting Rhode Island Rams on Wednesday night at the Chaif. The Rams boast a solid defense (#35 overall in Adjusted Defensive Efficiency per KenPom) with multiple shot-blockers inside and on the wings. Hasahn French has struggled against taller opponents of late, and we’ll see if that trend continues.

On offense, the only area where Rhode Island stands out is in their ability to get to the Free Throw line. They come in #28 in FTA/FGA per KenPom, and in their best wins of the season they have gone to the stripe to beat opponents St Bonaventure (25 free throw attempts by Rhody), Seton Hall (24), and VCU (30!). Fatts Russell continues to lead the Rams along with running mate Jeremy Shephard. The senior guard duo is supported up front by big man Makhel Mitchell, 6’10” sophomore transfer from Maryland. Makhel’s brother Makhi, also transferred in from Maryland, was injured in the Western Kentucky game and is out for the remainder of the season, so another Eminem Malik Martin comes off the bench to swat shots.

SLU will be able to turn the Rams over and the more they can be handsy with the Rams without fouling the better their chances to get to .500 in the conference. Before the St. Bonaventure game I said SLU needed to win their next five in order to stay off the bubble and position themselves for a decent seed in the NCAAs and a possible first-ever Sweet Sixteen berth. I stand by that proclamation. One down, four more to go.

References

Data from Basketball Reference and Ken Pomeroy and the NCAA

Game Score metric created by John Hollinger detailed here: http://www.basketball-reference.com/about/glossary.html

Plot format by Aaron Baggett: https://baseballwithr.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/conceptualizing-the-mlb-strike-zone-using-pitchfx-data/

Inspiration from Ken Pomeroy: http://kenpom.com/

Inspiration from Rock M Nation: http://www.rockmnation.com/missouri-tigers-basketball