GAME NOTES: The Rhode Island Rams will play their first true road game of the season on Saturday, as they invade Reed Green Coliseum for a non-conference bout with the Southern Miss Golden Eagles.

Coach Dan Hurley is on the verge of achieving his goal of turning the Rams into a contender in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Hurley inherited a seven-win team when he joined Rhode Island prior to the 2013-14 campaign and has increased the team's win total in each season during his tenure. The Rams head to Hattiesburg with a 4-2 ledger after suffering a 64-61 loss to Georgia Tech in the Orlando Classic at HP Field House. URI's only other setback came courtesy of its first round matchup with Kansas (76-60) in the Orlando Classic, and it has notched wins over Nebraska (66-62) and Santa Clara (66-44).

Doc Sadler's Golden Eagles will be anxious to build on their impressive 78-65 home victory against North Dakota State on Wednesday. The win improved Southern Miss to a 4-2 overall record, with both losses occurring on the road. All of the Golden Eagles' triumphs have come at Reed Green Coliseum, where they have won 19 games in a row to take hold of the eighth longest home winning streak in the nation. Southern Miss has also defeated 38 straight non- conference opponents at home. The Golden Eagles are ranked in the middle of the pack of the 14-team Conference USA in both scoring offense (67.8 ppg) and scoring defense (66.2 ppg).

This will be just the second matchup between Rhode Island and Southern Miss in history. The Golden Eagles downed the Rams, 77-64, on Dec. 28, 2013 at the Ryan Center in Kingston.

Hurley's progress at Rhode Island has been significantly helped by sophomore guard E.C. Matthews, who is projected to be a first round pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. The 6-foot-5 combo guard is ranked second in the A-10 in scoring with 17.5 ppg and drains an average of 2.5 shots from beyond the arc per contest. Matthews is also committing 4.2 turnovers per outing, causing the Rams to be one of just three schools in the A-10 with a negative turnover margin (-0.17). Matthews was selected to the conference's preseason All-Second Team, while senior center Gilvydas Biruta (10.0 ppg, 6.5 rpg) was a Third Team pick. Rhode Island was voted to finish sixth in the A-10 by the league's coaches, but that was before the progression of sophomore forward Hassan Martin (11.2 ppg, 7.0 rpg). Hurley has another future star in the mix in freshman Jared Terrell (10.5 ppg), who backed out of his letter-of-intent to Oklahoma State in the spring before deciding to join Rhode Island over Boston College.

USM is led by sophomore swingman Matt Bingaya, who is the third-leading scorer in C-USA at 16.7 ppg, which he is accompanying with a team-leading 5.3 rpg. Bingaya led five Golden Eagles in double-figures versus NDSU with 15 points, while Chip Armelin added 14 points. Rasham Suarez chipped in 13 points, Shadell Millinghaus had 11 and Norville Carey provided a spark off the bench with 10 points in 23 minutes. USM will be very difficult to defeat if it duplicates the shooting performance it put on against the Bison, connecting on 64.4 percent of its shots from the floor, including a 10-of-20 effort from 3- point range. Carey is averaging 10.8 points and 4.5 boards in 20.3 minutes per tilt, and he leads the conference in field goal percentage (.684) as a reserve. Armelin is netting 10.7 ppg and Suarez is ranked third in the C-USA in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.43).

Although USM handled URI when these schools squared off last season on the Rams' home floor, Armelin, Bingaya and Carey played a combined total of 13 minutes. The Golden Eagles' rotation of players and coaching staff are completely different from a year ago, while Rhode Island returned a great deal of its players from last season's team who will be out for revenge.