The first addition for the University of Rhode Island men through the transfer portal is a player who menaced them in a nonconference meeting last season.
Dylan Williamson committed to the Rams through an Instagram post Monday night. The three-year standout guard at Towson was a major factor while the Tigers knocked off URI in the November opener of the ESPN Events Invitational, which was played over the Thanksgiving holiday in Orlando.
Williamson netted 25 points in a 62-55 victory – one of his eight games hitting for 20 points or more and one of his 27 in double figures. He shot 43.4% from 3-point range as a redshirt sophomore and posted just a 12.6% turnover rate last season according to KenPom.com, which would have placed him inside the top 20 qualifying players in the Atlantic 10.
Williamson collected a season-high 29 points in a win over Hampton, 27 in a loss to Monmouth and 28 in a victory over Stony Brook that closed the regular season. Heating up from deep was a common thread in those performances – Williamson connected on at least five 3-pointers in each game, including a 7-for-13 showing against the Seawolves. He knocked down as many as three 3-pointers in 16 different games last season, bringing his career total to 38.
Williamson was a double-digit scorer in all three of his seasons at Towson, averaging 14.6 points in each of his last two. He posted a career-high 3.4 assists per game as a redshirt junior, dishing out five or more on nine different occasions. Williamson played more than 92% of available minutes last season according to KenPom.com, putting him inside the national top 10 in that category.
Williamson was a redshirt in 2022-23 and was named to the CAA all-rookie team in his debut. He followed with all-CAA recognition in each of the next two campaigns, developing under former Rams and Providence assistant coach Pat Skerry. The Tigers won an outright league regular season title in 2024-25 and captured at least 19 games in each of Williamson’s four years on campus.
Williamson is a native of Upper Marlboro, Md., the same hometown as former URI star Jeff Dowtin. He was a 6-foot-1 guard out of Our Lady of Good Counsel who claimed offers from Fordham, Albany, Bryant and more. Williamson ultimately committed to Towson fresh off its first CAA regular season title under Skerry.
Williamson joins a veteran URI core that includes guard Jonah Hinton, wing Jahmere Tripp and big man Mouhamed Sow. All three players have announced their intended returns to Kingston for 2026-27. The Rams lost Damone King in the transfer portal to Eastern Kentucky and could see Moek Icke depart after two years on the bench.
URI has been connected to a host of transfer targets otherwise – Xavier guard Roddie Anderson III came off the board earlier Monday to Seton Hall. The Rams are finalists for Manhattan forward Will Snydor and in contention for Tennessee Martin forward Matas Deniusas. Jerald Colonel (Stephen F. Austin), Bryce Heard (Dayton), Josh Hayes (Utah), Jay Rodgers (Central Connecticut State), Tahlan Pettway (Western Carolina) and Tyler Betsey (Syracuse) are among other players who have reportedly been in contact with URI this spring.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Ex-Towson guard Dylan Williamson commits to Rhode Island basketball