SOUTH KINGSTOWN — While URI apparently has a new player headed its way in 6-foot-7 shooter Stefan Perunicic from Serbia, the Rams will not have another international player they had counted on, Randy Dezouvre.

The 6-foot-4 guard from Canada signed with URI in the early signing period last year. He is billed as being much like Keith Cothran, one of Rhody’s current players, a fast, athletic wing who would thrive in the uptempo style employed by coach Jim Baron.

But Dezouvre has problems with his transcript and will not go to URI, it was confirmed yesterday. It is expected that he will attend junior college to get his academics straightened out before heading to a Division I program.

Three players who signed with URI — forward Orin Outerbridge and guards Jamal Wilson and Stevie Mejia — already are on campus, taking summer classes. According to all reports, all look as if they are ready to compete for playing time immediately.

The status of the fifth Rhody signee, forward Ryan Brooks from New Jersey, remains open. It is possible Brooks could go to prep school for a year before heading to URI.

Here and there

Cothran is playing on the same team with former Providence College star and current Minnesota Timberwolve Ryan Gomes in Hartford this summer. Lamonte Ulmer has stayed on campus taking classes rather than go back to Connecticut and play in that same league. ... Joe Mbang has completed his eligibility but plans to attend school for one more semester to complete requirements for his degree. … Rhode Island native and former URI assistant Eddie Cooley, now the head coach at Fairfield, has hired former Rhody star Antonio Reynolds-Dean as his team’s director of basketball operations. Reynolds-Dean had spent nine years playing in Europe.

pkenyon@projo.com