In between the end of last season and Friday night’s home/season opener against Bethune-Cookman, the men’s basketball team incurred alterations up and down the program. A newly renamed arena now housed a new coach-whose squad includes two new transfers, four new freshmen, a different player assuming the superstar role and a different player stepping up to the point-guard position.
However, through all the changes, the result was more of the same from a program that had won seven-straight home openers going into the match and boasts a ridiculous 85-percent winning percentage at home since the Stuart C. Siegel Center opened in 1999. Through a score line of 77-51, the Rams brushed aside a BCU team that is coming off its best season since entering division one play yet still looked largely outclassed on the night.
Junior Joey Rodriguez (Oviedo,Fla./Lake Howell), who played point-guard his whole life prior to college but never at VCU before this season, orchestrated the offense efficiently throughout the game on his way to dropping a team-high seventeen points. The Florida native, who last season led the CAA in three-point field goal percentage and was second in the conference in steals per game, jumpstarted the offense with three three-pointers in the first half and four steals in the contest.
“If the team needs me to pass the ball and get people open shots I’m going to do that. But if the shot’s open to shoot I’m going to shoot, so it’s whatever comes that way,” Rodriguez said. “If I can do them both on the same night that would be great.”
Beyond Rodriguez, three other players registered double-digit point totals by night’s end including sophomore guard Bradford Burgess (Midlothian/Benedictine), who attacked the Wildcats relentlessly on both ends of the court, and junior forward Larry Sanders (Fort Pierce/Port St. Lucie), who had a quiet night by his standards but still electrified the entire arena with two signature power-house dunks in a row to send his team into halftime with momentum.
Sophomore guard Jay Gavin (Seat Pleasant, Md./Marist U.), who was playing his first competitive basketball game in nearly two years after being forced to sit out last season due to NCAA transfer policies after transferring from Marist, shook off a poor shooting performance in the exhibition against VUU-finishing with 12 points including three from beyond the arc.
“Jay’s talked about for a long time that it’s been a year and eight months (since he last played), which I think for any basketball player is an eternity,” Smart said. “I’m excited for Jay just to get this first one under his belt and now he’s officially back.”
Even with many positives to go off of heading into Wednesday night’s game at Western Michigan, not everything went the Ram’s way on the night. The team showed some growing pains in their full-court press by leaving Sanders exposed to BCU’s guards driving past him in multiple instances. The Rams allowed a worrisome amount of easy buckets and committed 17 turnovers-many of which were unforced.
While the Rams will try their hand at playing on the road for the first time Wednesday, it’s former head coach Jeff Capel and his 17th-ranked Oklahoma Sooner’s visit to Richmond to play the Rams that’s stirring up the most interest.
“That talk can wait till after the 18th, we’re focused as a team on our next task, which is Western Michigan,” said Gavin. “I mean it’s not an easy place to play so we’re going to go in there and do what we do.”
By the numbers
Bethune-Cookman (0-1)
Starling 11, Adams 0, Reed 21, Elliott 9, Jones 0, Thomas 0, Miller 3, Abrahams 4, Bryant 0, Anusionwu 0, Dukes 3, Williford 0
Totals: 17 13-19 51 3-pointers: Reed 2, Miller 1, Dukes 1 (4-11)
VCU (1-0)
Sanders 12, Gwynn 6, Gavin 12, Rodriguez 17, Burgess 10, Grayson 0, Theus 3, Pishchalnikov 4, Daniels 5, Rozzell 5, Hinton 0, Nixon 3
Totals: 23 20-27 77 3-pointers: Gavin 3, Rodriguez 3, Burgess 2, Daniels 1, Rozzell 1, Nixon 1 (11-24)