Fordham plans to continue to play hard in Atlantic 10 semifinal vs. Dayton
Fordham Rams guard Darius Quisenberry reacts after he hit a three-point shot with 49 seconds left against the La Salle Explorers in an Atlantic 10 Tournament quarterfinal at Barclays Center on Thursday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The question posed to Keith Urgo toward the end of a news conference on Friday was simple:
How does Fordham prepare for one of the most important games in school history?
His answer was straightforward:
By staying the course.
“Nothing changes,” Urgo said during Fordham’s media availability at Barclays Center in advance of the Rams’ matchup with second-seeded Dayton in Saturday’s second Atlantic 10 Conference men’s basketball semifinal.
The winner will meet either top-seeded VCU or fourth-seeded Saint Louis in Sunday’s championship game.
Saturday’s game marks the second time Fordham (25-7) has reached the Atlantic 10 semifinals and the first time since 2006.
“We have to be incredibly disciplined,” Urgo said. “We [have] to play hard. We have to play harder and more together than Dayton.”
The Rams and Flyers (21-11) played once this season, with Dayton leaving Rose Hill Gymnasium with an 82-58 win on Jan. 10.
Since that loss, Fordham has gone 12-3, including outlasting LaSalle, 69-61, on Thursday night.
“We’re a totally different team,” Darius Quisenberry said.
The numbers bear out the transfer senior guard’s argument. The Rams are averaging 71.3 points per game in this stretch and have held opponents to 66.6 points.
“We’ve grown tremendously,” Elmont native Khalid Moore said. “Our beginning goal was to become the best that we could be by the end of the year, and I feel like we achieved that by putting the work in every day.”
Work is a key component to the foundation being laid at Fordham. On Thursday night, the Rams limited La Salle to 37.5% shooting from the field (24-for-64) and 25% from beyond the arc (5-for-20).
Fordham outrebounded La Salle 43-37 and blocked 10 shots to just three by the Explorers.
“That’s what we call our culture,” Urgo said. “If you’re not going to do that, you’re not going to play. And they know that pretty quickly. We talked about being the hardest-playing team and the most together team when we step on the floor.
“And these guys have bought into that. So that’s just kind of become our identity.”
