An Attendee's Preview of URI vs. GW: Can URI Get Hot Before Hitting the Road?
For the record, this George Washington Colonials team is nothing but a shell of the 2015-2016 team that won the NIT title in Madison Square Garden last season, even though the NIT holds little significance anyways. Just like how St. Bonaventure was all about Jaylen Adams and Matt Mobley and struggled mightily when both could not produce consistently (especially Mobley), GW is built the exact same way. This Colonials team has all of its offensive focus built on their star forward, Wake Forest transfer, Tyler Cavanaugh and what little else Yuta Watanabe (the same one who cried about a little scratch on his face the last time he was in the Ryan Center) and Seton Hall transfer, Jared Sina can contribute. Tonight, will probably make Cavanaugh wish he was still playing for Daniel Manning's Demon Deacons who are legitimately competing for an NCAA bid out of the ACC.
My prediction is that Hassan Martin will get the brunt of the defensive work on Cavanaugh and that will close the book on what GW wants to do offensively under head coach Maurice Joseph. I wish I could write more about the challenges that the Colonials present but they are simply lucky to be 4-4 in the A10 and have me shown no signs of contending at the end of February. In some of the games I have watched of the team located in Washington DC, they were run off the court 85-55 at VCU on national television and recently, they barely escaped at home against Travis Ford's struggling St. Louis Billikens (6-15 overall and 2-7 in conference).
From a Rhode Island standpoint, if they keep their turnovers down and keep executing their offense to find open looks, their job to hit the open shots that they have had recent struggles with will become much easier. Against a weak defense team like GW, I doubt that scoring for the Rams will be very tough. The Colonials do not possess enough capable defenders to stop Hassan Martin in the paint, amongst all the drives that URI can take to the hoop tonight.
In an injury report update, Jarvis Garrett will be sitting out his 5th consecutive game from his undisclosed illness. Hopefully, Rhode Island will have the services of #1 back when they hit the road for a 2-game road trip, starting with Friday's game at Davidson (on ESPN2). In addition, Kuran Iverson is questionable tonight with an ankle injury. Realistically, the Rams can take the victory without Iverson but I expect to see him playing tonight.
Tonight, no one will be fearing the Colonials.
