The implications of implosion: where men’s basketball goes from here

Quinn Casteel
Staff Writer

If consecutive home losses to their two biggest rivals put VCU’s season in a tailspin, then the most recent defeats to Drexel and James Madison have turned it into an outright free-fall.

With Saturday’s 72-69 loss to JMU, the Rams have now dropped three straight home games, a first for Shaka Smart and all players on the roster. That includes the four seniors who were playing in their final game at the Siegel Center and were honored in the Senior Day ceremony before tip-off.

Joey Rodriguez, Ed Nixon, Jamie Skeen and Brandon Rozzell, along with their families, were each given rousing ovations as the fans showed gratitude for their years of service.

The seniors would go on to play one of their most inspired games of the season, only to come up one possession short in the end. Nixon dropped three 3-pointers in the opening minutes of the first half, while Rodriguez had one of his better distributing games with 10 assists.

Meanwhile, Skeen was his usual productive self on offense with 20 points, but a team-wide letdown on defense would prove to be the Achilles’ heel.

“Our defensive energy wasn’t good enough in the first half,” said Smart after the game. “In the second half it got better but we didn’t do a good enough job keeping the ball in front of us.”

For every big shot by Skeen or Bradford Burgess in the second half, JMU matched or one-upped them. Denzel Bowles was held in check during the first half, but in the second half he showed why he is considered an NBA prospect, racking up 14 points and nine rebounds.

Starting Dukes point guard Humpty Hitchens was lethal from three-point range, going 4-for-5 from beyond the arc but he was forced out of the game midway through the second half when he picked up his fourth foul. The JMU offense would not sputter at all though, as Devon Moore took over the game down the stretch. He managed to drive into the paint and finish tough shots on several key possessions, putting up a team-high 18 points.

As has been the case in each of VCU’s four recent losses, they allowed the opposing team to execute their offense almost at will. JMU shot 51 percent from the field for the contest, a statistic that is almost always indicative of a winning team.

The postgame press conference at the Siegel Center has been like Groundhog Day since the downfall began. Having not lost at home all season made the beat-down by ODU a real shocker; falling to GMU only days later was just as stunning because losing two in a row after winning 22 straight seemed impossible.

Some of the players seemed stunned once again on Saturday as they fielded questions about deteriorating confidence levels and the obviously somber mood in the locker room.

Going into the CAA tournament having lost four of five is not ideal for any team, especially when it means falling three spots in the standings. However, the fall from first to fourth may not be as far as it seems. Granted, the recent meltdown has eliminated all chances of an at large bid in the NCAA’s. ODU and GMU, on the other hand, are now apparent locks for the Big Dance.

But coming back strong for the CAA tournament is something that should be expected of VCU. As the fourth seed, the Rams still have a bye in the first round and just may be the hungriest team in the tournament.

George Mason and ODU are sitting on virtual locks for the big dance; they have a lot less to play for than a VCU team who are sitting on the most bruised of egos.