SOUTH KINGSTOWN –– The Holy Cross basketball team knew what was coming Sunday when it visited the Ryan Center to play URI, but still could not stop it.

Rhode Island ran over, around and through the Crusaders on the way to a 92-75 victory. URI established the tempo immediately with its full-court pressure and got the game playing the way it wanted from the opening tip. The Rams made their first five shots as they jumped to an 11-2 lead, built leads as high as 19 (46-27) in the first half and never let Holy Cross get inside 10 the rest of the way.

It was enough to make a believer out of Sean Kearney, the new Holy Cross coach, who comes to Worcester after spending the last nine years as associate head coach at Notre Dame.

“I was just asking one of the administrators here how this group is picked ninth in the Atlantic 10,” Kearney said. “They’re very long, athletic and quick. They’re certainly difficult to get the ball up the floor against. Just when you think somebody has broken the pressure, somebody else comes along. ... You almost feel like coach (Jim) Baron has seven guys on the floor sometimes.”

Rhody coach Jim Baron, a former Notre Dame assistant himself, would be happy if his team, now 2-0, played another 30 games the way it performed against the Cruasaders.

“I thought we did a much better job coming out of the gate, really rebounding in the first half, making plays, sharing the ball and really being aggressive,” Baron said.

Baron loved seeing 10 different players score and contribute. Delroy James led the way with 21 points and eight rebounds. He did most of his damage slashing to the basket, but he also had a key 3-pointer midway through the second half to help stop the best run by the Crusaders, one that had cut the Rhody lead to 57-47.

Lamonte Ulmer added 13 points, Keith Cothran 11 points and six assists, and Marquis Jones and Akeem Richmond 10 points for the Rams. Andrew Keister had 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Crusaders, who are now 0-4, the first time in 25 years that team has not won any of its first four starts. The 92 points is the most Holy Cross has given up in a game since 2003.

Kearney has the Cross playing differently than it did under Ralph Willard, who is now with Rick Pitino at Louisville. He wants his team to run more. Despite its poor start, the team is still expected to be a contender for the Patriot League, which it has dominated for the past decade.

This simply was not the right game to try and run. URI has more speed and better athletes than Holy Cross. The Rams love to play as fast as possible.

“Believe it or not, we actually go faster in practice,” said Rhody center Will Martell, who has nine points and eight rebounds. “Being the slowest guy on the team, it’s not that much fun. But it is getting me in shape.”

As well as URI’s starters played, combining for 64 points, it was the team’s depth that helped make the game a relatively easy URI victory. Midway through the first half, Holy Cross switched to a zone defense to try and slow the Rams down. Baron responded by bringing in freshmen Richmond and Nikola Malesevic.

Malesevic, a 6-foot-7 wing from Serbia, drilled a 3-pointer the first time he touched the ball. Seconds later he had a rebound bucket. And shortly after that, he had another 3-pointer. He played five minutes and had eight points. Richmond had seven of his 10 points in the first half, including two 3-pointers of his own. So much for the zone bothering the Rams.

Holy Cross actually did a decent job after the first 10 minutes in protecting the ball against the URI pressure. But the damage had been done and the tempo was established.

“That kind of full-court pressure really wears on you the entire time. You never get a rest,” Kearney said.

If there was a downside to the day for the Rams, it was that Holy Cross came back to within 10 in the second half and kept the game within range much of the way. James felt his team backed off a bit, which showed in that Holy Cross only had three turnovers in the second half.

“More like we got comfortable. That can’t happen,” James said. “We can’t get comfortable.”

Comfort certainly is not what URI is looking for at its games this year. The Rams hope every game will be as hectic as this one was.

pkenyon@projo.com