Michael Phillis

For the Massachusetts men’s basketball team, the importance of victory at the Mullins Center against one of the Atlantic 10’s best cannot be understated. Competing against a conference and regional rival, coupled with the fact that the Minutemen are coming off one of their least impressive performances of the season, makes tonight’s game approachable to a must-win.

UMass (14-7, 3-4 A-10) had its back against the wall last week and responded with a win at Duquesne. But the team followed that victory with a loss to Saint Louis on the road, 71-59. The Minutemen shot only 10 percent from beyond the arc, part of an all-around poor shooting performance in that game.

UMass struggled with the transition from facing a team that plays an up-tempo style in Duquesne to one that employs methodical offensive sets in the Billikens. Their dominant win over the Dukes followed by the loss to Saint Louis three days later underscores the importance of tonight’s contest.

“It was two extremes, there’s no question, when you have Duquesne who’s going to run around and trap you a lot and try to make the game as fast as possible,” UMass coach Travis Ford said. “We like that as well and then you go into it more. A half court defensive basketball team is really going to take away driving gains like that. It was definitely a change of pace for us.”

Regardless of how UMass fared against two polar opposite offenses, Rhode Island poses its own problems. The Rams (19-3, 5-2 A-10) feature several potent scorers, yet have an offensive balance that characterizes the conference’s top teams. URI does most of its damage from beyond the 3-point line – an area of the game that has given the Minutemen trouble this season.

Junior shooting guard Jimmy Baron ranks second in the league in 3-pointers made, but even he will not be UMass’ primary defensive responsibility.

Senior forward Will Daniels leads the Rams in scoring with 16 points per game. The 6-foot-8 swing man plays a style of basketball similar to UMass senior forward Gary Forbes, as both are dependable scorers and rebounders.

Their height also creates match-up problems for other teams.

“He’s basically their go-to guy, so you have to take note of him,” Forbes said.

Last season, the teams split their home-and-home series, with each school winning on their home court. But UMass qualified for the National Invitational Tournament in 2006-07, while the Rams’ season ended in the finals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

If the Minutemen want to return to the postseason come March, they know that a win over Rhode Island will help to bolster their resume. With nine games remaining, time is running out for UMass to position itself among the A-10 contenders.

“We definitely need everyone to play well, it’s all about wins right now,” Forbes said. “We want to go 9-0 and finish out the season strong.”

But tonight’s task won’t be simple.

If the Minutemen can’t limit URI’s offensive attack from the beginning, the UMass offense will need to makes its shots to avoid falling too far behind. There’s been a general correlation between the team’s overall shooting performance and its ability to win games.

The Maroon and White made half of their shoots in its win over Duquesne, while shooting 30 percent at Saint Louis. And if the shots aren’t falling from beyond the arc, it will be difficult for the Minutemen to go inside.

With bruising forward Joe Mbang and junior center Kahiem Seawright, the team’s only non-returning scorer from last season, the Rams rank fourth in the Atlantic 10 in rebounding. UMass, on the other hand, is last in the league in rebounds surrendered, giving up an average of 41 per game.

Michael King can be reached at [email protected].