Men’s basketball’s comeback falls short in CAA Championship loss to Old Dominion

Jim Swing
Assistant Sports Editor

Heart, grit and determination.

All are words that describe the strong-willed fight that the VCU men’s basketball team exuded in its 70-65 loss to Old Dominion in the 2011 CAA Championship game Monday night.

Senior guard Ed Nixon had just been taken out of the game after being dealt a vicious elbow to the mouth by Monarch’s monster Frank Hassell, they were being out-rebounded 20-6 and the Rams had dug themselves a 13-point hole heading into the break.

ODU had dominated the first half in every aspect but a senior-laden VCU team refused to allow its season to end on that dreadful note.

With chances at an at-large bid very faint and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line, the Rams sense of urgency was at an all-time high and a couple of runs was all they would need to insert themselves back in to the game.

And that’s what they did.

Down by as much as 18 at the start of the second half, VCU made nine consecutive stops on the defensive end that meshed with an offense that finally began to click which led to an 11-0 run that cut the ODU lead to seven with just under 12 minutes remaining for a shot at redemption.

With the Rams desperately in need of a few second chance opportunities after a couple missed shots, junior guard Bradford Burgess stepped up and became vastly aggressive on the boards, grabbing four rare offensive rebounds in front of the Monarchs.

That set an opening for senior forward Jamie Skeen – who was limited to nine minutes in the first half due to foul trouble – found penetration in the paint, scoring 16 of his 18 points in the second half and helped the Rams embark on a 15-5 run just over two minutes later that cut what once was an 18-point ODU lead to one.

With the lead down to one and all the momentum in the world on its side, VCU was just a few defensive stops away from potentially pulling off a monumental comeback in the most vital minutes of the entire season.
As they had all season, the Monarchs would be too good on the glass, converting consecutive tip-ins that eventually doomed the Rams.

“I’m proud of the way our guys fought and battled,” head coach Shaka Smart said. “They never gave up did a terrific job of fighting back from 18 points down to make it a one point game with about four minutes left. We just made a couple too many defensive errors and that included not being able to wrap up plays.”

With the comeback just out of reach and the chance to return to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in five years removed from the doorstep, VCU is left questioning a great amount of “what-ifs?”

“It’s going to be a tough tape to watch because we’re going to see some things that we certainly could’ve done better,” Smart said. “Lane violations, missed free-throws – we usually do better.”

Following a catastrophic month of February, the Rams had turned over a new page in the CAA Tournament that included a buzzer-beating victory over Drexel in the first round and a convincing win over a ranked George Mason squad in the semifinals that had non-believers believing again.

But now, VCU awaits what the future holds on Selection Sunday, whether it be a miraculous at-large bid or an invitation to the NIT.

“I’m not going to play politics and talk about that,” Smart said. “I know that we played against a lot of good basketball teams and I think that we’ve more than held our own. As it relates to the post-season, I know we certainly should be in the discussion and what we’ve done in these last few days does nothing but enhance our profile.”

Note: Bradford Burgess (16.6 ppg., 7.6 rpg.) and Jamie Skeen (21 ppg., 5.6 rpg.) were both selected to the CAA All-Tournament Team. The duo combined for 113 of VCU’s 206 points (54.9 percent) scored throughout the tournament.