GAME NOTES: With each team looking to rebound from a loss, the Rhode Island Rams will travel to face the Massachusetts Minutemen in an Atlantic 10 Conference battle at the Mullins Center on Saturday.

Rhode Island had a six-game win streak snapped by Virginia Commonwealth on Tuesday, 65-60. Still, Rhode Island owns an 11-4 record on the season with a 3-1 mark in A-10 play. Away from home, the Rams are 3-1.

UMass is trying to recover from a 71-63 defeat at the hands of Davidson, the conference's best offensive team. The Minutemen are 9-8 on the season, and are 5-3 at home. Massachusetts sports a 2-2 mark in A-10 play.

Saturday's contest will mark the 144th all-time meeting between Rhode Island and Massachusetts. UMass holds the lead over URI, 85-58, and has won each of the last six head-to-head matchups. The Minutemen have also taken nine of the last 10 and 13 of the last 16 against the Rams.

Rhode Island battled hard against VCU on Tuesday, but the Rams couldn't hold onto a seven-point halftime lead. The home Rams missed all but one of their five 3-pointers in the second half as VCU connected on 46.4 percent of their field goal tries in the frame to grab the lead. E.C. Matthews tallied 22 points with seven rebounds to lead the team, but the guard also gave the ball away six times in the defeat. Hassan Martin notched a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Jarelle Reischel chipped in with 10 points of his own.

Matthews has taken over this Rhode Island team and made it his own. The guard leads the Rams and the Atlantic 10 in scoring, averaging 17.7 ppg on 43 percent shooting from the floor. Martin contributes a healthy 11.7 ppg to his squad's total, which sits at 69.3 ppg. Martin also leads Rhode Island in rebounding, pulling down 7.1 boards per outing. T.J. Buchanan owns a team-best 3.1 apg mark, and Jared Terrell notches 1.3 spg. As a unit, Rhode Island is holding opponents to just 57.9 ppg this season, which is the best scoring defensive average in the A-10.

UMass might have something different to say about that tough Rhode Island scoring defense, though, especially in the friendly confines of the Mullins Center. However, the Minutemen didn't do anything special against Davidson as they managed just 63 points in the last contest. Cady Lalanne was once again stellar, as he tallied a double-double of 17 points and 13 rebounds to lead in both categories. Derrick Gordon, Trey Davis and Demetrius Dyson each chipped in 10 points in the losing effort, while Gordon finished with a team-best five assists. Maxie Esho grabbed 11 rebounds for the Minutemen in the loss.

Esho is the one who leads UMass in scoring. The big man is averaging 13.2 ppg this season and a respectable 6.8 rpg, which is second on the squad behind Lalanne's whopping 9.2 rpg mark. Lalanne checks in behind Esho in scoring at 12.6 ppg, with Davis (11.0 ppg) and Gordon (10.8 ppg) following close behind. The Minutemen have been a solid scoring team this season, averaging 72.1 ppg headed into Saturday, which ranks third in the Atlantic 10. However, Massachusetts has been dismal on the defensive end, allowing a conference- worst 72.4 ppg to opponents.

Rhode Island may have a bit of a hard time trying to keep up with the torrid scoring pace of the Minutemen in Massachusetts. Still, UMass' scoring defense has been so poor that it may not be hard for the Rams at all. Expect a high- scoring affair that could be a tight race down to the finish.