What: Men’s basketball (16-5, 6-2 A-10) vs. Rhode Island (14-5, 6-2 A-10)
When: Saturday, Jan. 31 at 4 p.m.
Where: Thomas M. Ryan Center, Kingston, RI.

Everyone loves low-scoring basketball, right?

The day before two of the NFL’s best defenses clash in the Superbowl, GW and Rhode Island pit their efficient defenses against one another in South Kingstown. Rhode Island is a lot like GW was last year, a young team, full of potential being realized a bit ahead of schedule.

Neither team should have a tough time slowing the other down, so this is probably going to be determined by who can sink the most buckets anyways. GW is now in a three-way tie for second place in the league with Dayton and Rhode Island after the Flyers lost to UMass on Wednesday, so there’s a lot on the line.

The Case for Rhode Island:

GW enters the game after a demoralizing loss to No. 14 VCU on Tuesday. That could set GW up for a bounce-back game, but don’t forget that the single blemish in the past 25 games at the Smith Center was a loss to UMass following GW’s blowout at VCU last year.

The Colonials made only 14 baskets in the entire game last time out, and are going up against the ninth-best team in the nation in defensive efficiency.

And while Rhode Island isn’t strong on offense, they still have playmakers in E.C. Matthews, a tough matchup for Garino who is averaging 16.5 points per game, and Hassan Martin, a ruthless inside player who has bolstered Rhode Islands league-leading 6.0 blocks per game.

The Case for GW:

The Colonials will likely try to force the Rams into a lot of bad threes, where Rhode Island is shooting .299. The 1-3-1 should play a critical role in this game after Lonergan put it away for much of the VCU contest.

One thing that Rhode Island does is foul a lot. This is a rare, though more common than last year, case when that could work in GW’s favor as the Colonials are shooting .686 to Rhode Island’s .627 from the free throw line.

And while they came away with the win, Rhode Island looked lethargic in a 64-63 nail-biter at Fordham on Wednesday, so the Rams aren’t exactly looking invincible at this point either.

While offense was barely existent against VCU, GW has more weapons to score with than Rhode Island and the game will likely be decided by how many of them can at least start to get going for the Colonials.