If Rhode Island has any advantage when it plays at Boston College on Sunday afternoon, it may be depth.
Rhode Island (2-4) received 39 points from its bench in Wednesday’s 57-44 triumph over Illinois State. The victory earned the Rams a seventh-place finish in the Cayman Islands Classic.
Sophomore Brayon Freeman led the Rams with a career-high 21 points in that victory. Redshirt sophomore Josaphat Bilau collected 10 points and 11 rebounds in 25 minutes, and freshman Rory Stewart finished the game with eight points and seven rebounds.
Starting guard Ishmael Leggett averaged 21.7 points in the three tournament games and was named to the Cayman Islands Classic All-Tournament Team.
The Rams outrebounded the Redbirds 47-28.
“Probably more so than anything as a coach you want to control the things that you can control, and there’s two things with our team, and our teams in general, moving forward that will always matter above all else: turnovers and defensive rebounding,” Rhode Island coach Archie Miller said. “If you don’t turn the ball over and you don’t give them second shots I can promise you no matter who you play you’re going to have a great chance of winning the game.”
Boston College (4-2) has been short-handed for most of the season, and that was the case when the Eagles beat Wyoming 59-48 Monday to take third place at the Paradise Jam.
Jaeden Zackery scored a team-high 16 points for the Eagles, who were without DeMarr Langford Jr. (flu), center Quinten Post (foot), forward Prince Aligbe (upper body) and guard Donald Hand Jr. (undisclosed injury).
“We’re growing as a team,” Eagles coach Earl Grant said. “We’re playing a lot of young guys and we’re growing as a group. … With our depth we’re not built for a three day, back-to-back-to-back-type deal, but what we discovered was we have to trust some younger guys and put them on the floor.”
Devin McGlockton and Makai Ashton-Langford each tossed in 12 points for Boston College in the win over Wyoming.
–Field Level Media