Men’s basketball returns home for season’s biggest tests
Quinn Casteel
Staff Writer
Under ordinary circumstances, returning to the friendly confines of the Siegel Center after a three-game road stint would mean relief for the Rams.
A brawl in always hostile Harrisonburg, sandwiched by two CAA matchups in the Northeast is reason enough to miss home where they haven’t lost in 22 games. This time though, coming home is different.
In the upcoming week, VCU will play its two most important and arguably most challenging games of the season to this point. On Saturday afternoon, the Rams host third-place Old Dominion in front of a national audience on ESPN2. Three nights later they face red-hot, first-place George Mason in a game with major postseason implications.
ODU has at times looked like the class of the CAA, and at other times looked like a pretender against elite teams. They beat three of the conference’s top five teams in a span of 11 days back in January, edging out GMU, Hofstra and James Madison. Since then, they have lost to VCU by nine and GMU by 17 and are now looking up at both teams in the standings.
The Monarchs like to lean on Frank Hassel, who at 13 PPG and nine RPG is a double-double waiting to happen. Hassel struggles against VCU’s up-tempo style and full court defense, however, and he put up just six points against the Rams in their 59-50 loss in Hampton. ODU will look to get him more involved this time around as they try to avenge that loss and make a move back up in the standings.
That will be a tall task however, as ODU has not fared well on the road against the CAA’s elite, and the Rams haven’t lost at Siegel Center since Jan. 4, 2010. However, it is a rivalry game, and ODU has been known to thrive down the stretch, so this is still a very dangerous matchup for VCU.
Mason is perhaps an even more dangerous squad than ODU. On their current 10-game winning streak, only JMU has come within single digits, and their average margin of victory is an astounding 18 points per game. Much of the credit for the Patriots’ dominance has to go to Cam Long. The senior guard has posted double-digit points in all but two of the team’s games this season, including 17 straight. He dropped 30 in a 75-73 win on the road against JMU and leads the team with 15.5 PPG.
GMU has absolutely torn through CAA competition this season, where they sit at 12-2, their only losses coming on the road to ODU and Hofstra. They are ranked 23 in the RPI, an unusually high spot for any CAA program. This makes VCU’s only regular season clash with the Patriots even more crucial with a very solid quality win on the line.
As for VCU, they couldn’t ask for a better time to take on two of the season’s biggest tests. When Troy Daniels broke his foot against UNCW, it seemed as though the mounting injuries would never end. But since then, their luck has turned around drastically. With Jamie Skeen’s knee holding up and Brandon Rozzell back from a broken hand, the Rams seem to be as healthy as they were at the beginning of the season.
This time of year, being healthy and being hot are the two most important things in college basketball. Right now, the Rams are both, particularly at home where the advantage is undeniable.
Two wins could put VCU in position to make a run, and two losses could set them up for disappointment. Whatever happens on this homestand, there is a strong chance it will dictate where VCU’s season will go from there.
