Making history

There are only a handful of games that a fan base will remember forever. For VCU’s “Ram-nation,” Saturday night’s game was one of them.

With all the off-the-court storylines surrounding Saturday night’s game, VCU and No. 17 Oklahoma squared off in what would prove to be one of those memorable games in the storied history of VCU basketball.

The Rams rolled out the welcome mat for the first ranked team to ever come to the Stuart C. Siegel Center, dominated the Sooners 82-69 and celebrated with the students who rushed the floor afterwards.

“It’s really big because I think it shows that we have the ability to play with most anybody in the country,” said VCU head coach Shaka Smart. “Having this game will give us confidence as we go.”

The Rams, in front of one of the most raucous and electric crowds to ever view a game in Richmond, leaped out to a 7-2 lead and never looked back.

“After we beat Louisiana-Monroe I started talking about this game and what this atmosphere was going to be like,” said Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel. “They (VCU) played with passion . I think a big part of it was the crowd here, those guys feed off this crowd. Hopefully this crowd is like this for them the rest of the year.”

Capel, VCU’s coach from 2002 to 2006, was welcomed with a warm reception and proceeded to watch his Sooners get thoroughly dominated on the court.

VCU shot a blistering six of nine from outside in the first nine minutes of the game. And although star center Larry Sanders (Fort Myers Fla./Port St. Lucie), who also happened to be celebrating his 21st birthday, only played seven minutes of the first half due to foul trouble, the Rams never trailed in the basketball game.

“I think we really just played unselfishly tonight,” said VCU guard Jay Gavin (Seat Pleasant, Md./Marist). “We really just played together and were able to get open shots, we shoot every day in practice, (today) we were just able to knock them down.”

Gavin, who is quickly becoming a huge scoring threat for the Rams, knocked down four three-pointers on the evening and led all scorers with 20 points.

The Rams were so hot in the first half, that even the 6’10” Sanders hit a three-pointer to go along with his normal array of dunks and post moves. He joked afterwards saying, “I’m going to stay 50 percent for the year right now.”

The Rams led the game for its entirety and actually never allowed the Sooners to cut the lead to single digits after the 12:39 mark of the first half.

Defensively, VCU also flexed its muscle, holding national player of the year candidate Willie Warren to eight points on 3-14 shooting.

Warren came into the game averaging more than 19 points per game.

“I think when he wasn’t making shots early, and he got some great looks, I think he let that affect him,” Capel said.

VCU shot a season-high 46.7 percent from the floor, hit nine 3-pointers on the night and shot 17-21 from the free throw line.

The Rams only commited 11 turnovers, to the Sooners’ 15 and beat a much bigger Oklahoma team on points in the paint.

But Smart said he was the happiest with the emergence of the leadership his team is beginning to show.

“We’re really starting to see some signs of leadership from this young man (Sanders), Joey Rodriguez, Ed Nixon and some of our other guys. I think that is really big for this team because any team has got to have good leadership,” Smart said.

Nixon (St. Petersburg, Fla./Lakewood) finished his night in double-figures with 10, Sanders scored 17 in only 21 minutes on the floor and although Rodriguez (Olviedo, Fla./Lake Howell) only scored six, he ran the point well for the Rams turning the ball over only twice and charting six assists.

Bradford Burgess (Midlothian/Benedictine) tallied nine and T.J. Gwynn (Burlington, N.C./Cummings), Capel’s lone remaining recruit at VCU, scored eight to go along with seven rebounds.

Tony Crocker led the Sooners with 19 points and Tiny Gallon scored a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Steven Pledger and Tommy Mason-Griffin also finished in double figures with 11 and 10, respectively.

The Rams can enjoy the win, but don’t have long as they have to turn around and play at Hampton on Monday.

“It is critical that we go into the next game ready to go, and by the way it is not an easy place to go play,” Smart said.

By the numbers
Oklahoma (2-1)
Wright 4, Crocker 19, Mason-Griffin 10, Warren 8, Gallon 15, Pledger 11, Franklin 0, Fitzgerald 2, Davis 0, Willis 0
Totals: 24 16-22 69 3-pointers Crocker 2, Mason-Griffin 1, Pledger 2 (5-26)

VCU (2-1)
Gavin 20, Sanders 17, Rodriguez 6, Burgess 9, Gwynn 8, Theus 4, Pishchalnikov 2, Rozzell 6, Nixon 10
Totals: 28 17-21 82 3-pointers Gavin 4, Sanders 1, Rodriguez 1, Rozzell 2, Nixon 1 (9-25)