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Derek Kellogg

AMHERST - Both the University of Massachusetts and Rhode Island will be trying to build off the momentum of their best wins of the season when they meet tonight at 7 p.m. at the Ryan Center in Kingston, R.I.

After Saint Louis' loss to UMass Saturday, Billiken coach Rick Majerus described his team's struggles as "playing in the afterglow" of its big win over Xavier. Minuteman coach Derek Kellogg will try to have his team avoid playing in its own afterglow against the Rams.

"I have to get their mind-set back to where it needs to be which is one game at a time," Kellogg said. "One day at a time and who's the next challenge ahead of us. In this league we could beat anybody, but we could lose to anybody. You have to come prepared and ready to play."

Senior center Sean Carter said the Minutemen (16-5, 5-2 Atlantic 10) have put Saturday's win behind them.

"We're just trying to get better every game. There's no reason for us to look ahead right now," he said. "We're trying to build on it. We're not going to get comfortable. There's a lot more games between now and March."

Sophomore Jesse Morgan agreed.

"It's all about moving forward. We're trying to get better each game and make a good year out of this," Morgan said. "The coaches and the leaders of this team do a good job staying level headed and making sure we respect each opponent."

It's a little easier to respect Rhode Island (4-18, 1-6 A-10) now than it would have been a week ago. The Rams were 3-18, a losing season all but clinched, but on Saturday URI announced itself as a team that at least has spoiler potential when it upset Dayton at UD Arena, 86-81.

Wins over the Flyers in Ohio are hard to come by even when Dayton is down. But the Flyers are competing for an NCAA tournament bid.

The win was a culmination of recent progress for the Rams. After losing 70-53 to Richmond in its league opener, URI has steadily been more competitive, losing four of its next five games by single digits, including an overtime loss to St. Bonaventure last Wednesday.

But jumping from nearly beating the Bonnies at home to winning at one of the conference's toughest gyms was a big stretch.

"They played very good at Dayton. It's a road game in our league which makes it a tough contest," Kellogg said. "Not only have they played teams close, but they've finally cracked that barrier against a team like Dayton. We know how hard it is to play there."

Rhody coach Jim Baron was pleased to see his team break through.

"It was unbelievable how we bounced back. We knew we've been close. It's just a matter of continuing to work together and come together. Our guys did a great job of executing the game plan," Baron said. "We did a good job of making shots, taking good shots and rebounding the basketball. I'm happy for the players."

Baron expected Wednesday to be a challenge.

"We're playing against a very good UMass team that's playing with a lot of confidence," he said. "They're very athletic and very good."

Carter said the Minutemen would have respected the Rams even if they hadn't upset Dayton.

"They're going to play hard every time they're out there. We're going to respect that. Everybody should," he said.

The Minutemen enter the game as the Atlantic 10's leader in points per game at 76.7, while the Rams allow the most at 75.5 per game, a figure impacted by their league-worst defensive field goal percentage of .485.

The midseason addition of sophomore guard Billy Baron has helped. The coach's son leads his team in scoring at 14.1 points per game and has helped replace the production of Jamal Wilson, who was dismissed from the team after 11 games.

URI's biggest strength is rebounding. Freshman Jonathan Holton, a 6-foot-9 forward, is a leading contender for conference rookie of the year. He's second in the conference at 8.2 rebounds per game to go with his 10.9 points.

Senior Orion Outerbridge (11.3 ppg) is sixth in the A-10 at 6.9 rebounds per game.

The game features two teams with the most turnovers in the league as UMass has the most with 333, eight more than URI's 325.

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Follow UMass coverage on Twitter at twitter.com/GazetteUMass. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at http://www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.