University of Rhode Island Press Release Rhode Island Starters Thomas, House, Lawrence, Green, Brown VCU Starters Russell, Clark, Shulga, Bamisile, Bamgboye How it Happened Forty minutes of sloppy play doomed Rhode Island in an 81-57 loss to VCU on Tuesday night at the Ryan Center. Rhody (14-5, 3-4 A-10) committed a season-high 27 turnovers, giving up 30 points on the miscues. In addition to the scores off turnovers, VCU (15-4, 5-1 A-10) dominated the home team with a 38-22 advantage in points in the paint. Struggles with protecting the rock and poor shooting hurt URI out of the gate as it trailed by as much as 18 points in the first half. Despite the deficit, the team managed to stay in it and even found some spark when David Green hauled in an offensive rebound and laid in a bucket to break up a five-minute streak without any field goals around the 4:40 mark. Over the next two possessions, Sebastian Thomas poured in five points to pull the Rams within 10 at 33-24. Rhody kept pushing, trimming the disadvantage to just one point on a Jaden House layup before allowing its visitors to take a 40-34 lead at the break. Coming out of the locker room, Rhode Island narrowed the deficit back down to two following a pair of treys from House and Quentin Diboundje but it was the closest that the team got as VCU re-extended its margin to the largest of the night at 25 points (79-54). Inside the Box Score The only other time Rhode Island committed 20+ turnovers this season was at Brown back on Dec. 10 (21). VCU has now won five straight games against URI. Guard Sebastian Thomas scored a team-best 19 points, failing to extend his eight-game streak of hitting 20+. He also collected five rebounds while adding a pair of steals. Forward David Fuchs and VCU’s Luke Bamgboye corralled a game-best nine rebounds apiece. As a team, VCU out-rebounded Rhody 42-34. URI was 11-for-21 at the free throw line (.524), its worst showing of the year. Guard Jaden House made his fifth start of the season and third straight. He finished with 15 points and made the only free throw he attempted. VCU entered the night holding opponents to a .391 shooting percentage, the second-lowest in the league. Rhode Island finished the game with a .388 field goal percentage. The visiting Rams’ Joe Bamisile scored a game-high 22 points. VCU had four players finish with double-digit points. Up Next Rhode Island will hit the road for a game at La Salle on Saturday, Jan. 25. Game time 2 p.m. on ESPN+. Categories: College Sports, Sports Tags: University of Rhode Island, URI Rams