SAINT THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands – The Fordham men's basketball team will begin its quest for a Paradise Jam title on Friday afternoon when it opens the event at 1 p.m. ET against Norfolk State inside the Blake Sports & Fitness Center .
The tournament, which is held at the University of the Virgin Islands, will feature three games in the span of four days for each of the eight participating teams. Should the Rams prevail in Friday's opener, they will next play on Sunday against the winner of Friday's contest between San Jose State and Abilene Christian. Play in the consolation bracket will begin on Saturday. All eight teams will close out the tournament on Monday. The other side of the bracket features Kent State, Florida Gulf Coast, Missouri State and Hampton.
All games of the Paradise Jam will be broadcast live on ESPN+. An audio stream of the action can also be found on the
WFUV Sports YouTube page with Miles Grossman and Kris Pursiainen on the call from Saint Thomas.
Fordham will be making its third appearance all-time at the Paradise Jam. The Rams first came to the Virgin Islands during the 2005-06 campaign, going 1-2 with the team's lone win coming against Norfolk State. That game is the only previous meeting between the two programs. Fordham returned to Saint Thomas in 2019-20, also going 1-2 with a win over Grand Canyon and losses to Nevada and Western Kentucky.
Over the last two years, Fordham is 5-1 in multi-team events (MTEs), sweeping all three games at last season's Tom Konchalski Classic after going 2-1 at the 2021 Gulf Coast Showcase to capture a third-place finish.
Fordham heads into this year's tournament with a record of 1-1, having defeated Wagner on opening night before a herculean comeback effort fell just short against Cornell on Saturday. The Rams trailed the Big Red by as many as 27 with 17 minutes to go before trimming the deficit to just three on three separate occasions in the closing minutes. The Rams, however, were unable to fully close the gap, dropping their first game at the Rose Hill Gym in eight tries dating back to January of last season.
Japhet Medor led the way for Fordham on Saturday, scoring 17 points for the second times in as many opportunities as a Ram. Sophomores
Will Richardson and
Joshua Rivera added 12 points apiece, each on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor.
Elijah Gray, also a part of the Rams' super sophomore class, chipped in nine points.
Against Cornell, Fordham played without the services of senior big man
Abdou Tsimbila, a Preseason Atlantic 10 All-Defensive Team selection who ranked second in the conference with 1.9 blocks per game last season. In last Monday's opener against Wagner, Tsimbila grabbed eight boards and tallied three rejections.
Through two games, 11 different Fordham players are averaging 10 or more minutes per contest with no one player averaging more than 30.
Norfolk State heads to The Virgin Islands with an unblemished 3-0 record. Two of those wins came against non-Division I competition. In their most recent outing on Monday, the Spartans defeated Hampton, 75-68, at home. Junior guard Jamarii Thomas tallied a game-high 20 points, 12 of which came from the charity stripe. Jaylani Darden and Allen Betrand narrowly missed double-doubles, as Darden finished with 16 points and nine rebounds while Betrand recorded 10 points and eight boards.
As a team, Norfolk State got to the line 34 times against Hampton, converting on 29 of those opportunities (85.3%).
The Spartans are led by 11
th-year head coach Robert Jones, who has guided Norfolk State to two NCAA Tournaments and a .743 winning percentage in MEAC play. He was on staff at Norfolk State when the Spartans shocked second-seeded Missouri, 86-84, in the opening round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament.
