As Rhode Island gears up for the third season of the Archie Miller era, the Rams have once again used the transfer portal to reinvent their rotation.
After last season, the Rams saw 10 players enter the transfer portal, a group that ranged from end-of-the-bench walk-ons to key starters. Those 10 players accounted for 73 starts, 1,114 points, 599 rebounds and 237 assists. The Rams saw 47.9% of their scoring production walkout, as well as their leader in assists and two of their top three players in points and rebounds.
With only six players returning for the 2024-25 season, Miller and Co. turned to the transfer portal to replace that missing production. The portal is familiar territory for Miller, who added 10 players through the portal in the previous two seasons.
This time, Miller brought in five new players on top of the high school recruits expected to play in Year 1. This offseason it’s clear that the standards for URI have shifted. Previously, Rhode Island teams solely brought in low-major Division I or JUCO players via the portal. This offseason, four of the five transfers have Power Five conference experience and even some March Madness experience.
The first player to land in Kingston, Rhode Island, was former Nebraska Cornhusker Jamarques Lawerence, a rising junior who started 23 games last season. Lawrence is a former three-star recruit who has shown the ability to be a positive player on both sides of the ball. In both of his seasons at Nebraska, he saw an increase in playing time down the stretch of the season and his shooting splits didn’t dip even with an increase in volume.
In the Rams’ three Baha Mar Summer League games, Lawrence played over 20 minutes and started two of those three contests.
The lone player the Rams brought in without that Power Five experience is Rhode Island native and former Ram Sebastian Thomas. Now in his fourth year, Thomas spent the first two years of his collegiate career in Kingston before spending the previous season at UAlbany. Thomas is a true point guard with over 300 career assists in 94 games. He also saw a huge increase in points per game when he arrived in Albany, averaging just under six points per game at Rhode Island to nearly 20 points per contest at Albany.
In just one season, Thomas grew as a player and showcased just what kind of player he could be as the primary ball handler. That is something the Rams have lacked in the Miller era is a true point guard.
Miller also added talented guard Quentin Diboundje. Diboundje is a 6-foot-5 athletic shooting guard who will provide the Rams some needed explosiveness. He’s a native of Montpellier, France, and started his collegiate career at Tennessee before transferring to East Carolina. In the three games the Rams played at Baha Mar, Diboundje showed that he could get to the free-throw line and knock them down. Free throws were easily the Rams biggest shortcoming as a team last season, finishing the season ranked 339th at a 64.6% clip.
So, with the backcourt beefed up, the Rams looked towards the front court, a position already thin for the Rams prior to the departure of those 10 players. Miller addressed that lack of size by bringing in the 7-foot 255-pound Javonte Brown. Brown transferred from Western Michigan after beginning his career at UConn under Dan Hurley. He spent two seasons at Texas A&M before suiting up for Western Michigan last year. The Rams hope Brown can be a strong presence under the basket and provide size to a team that occasionally puts four guards on the floor.
The last of the five transfers is Drissa Traore, a 6-foot-8, 220-pound forward. Traore spent the last three seasons at St. John’s under Rick Pitino. Described as a “positive locker room guy” by Pitino, Traore’s size should help the interior defense for the Rams bench unit.
The Rams best high school recruit is 6-foot-6 forward Tyonne Farrell. With so many new players, Miller will likely tinker with the starting lineup and bench rotation throughout the non-conference schedule. Conference play starts on Dec. 31 on the road at Duquesne.
