Freshman Graham leads men’s basketball with aggressiveness

Jim Swing
Sports Editor

There were times in Thursday night’s win over California(Pn.) when Treveon Graham was the most aggressive player on the court.

It’s more than likely the raucous crowd of 6,675 at the Siegel Center didn’t even know his name when he walked onto the hardwood.

But it was only a matter of minutes before they found out.

Just over a minute after he replaced Troy Daniels, Graham worked his way to the free throw line. The freshman guard wasn’t afraid to shoot so he lobbed up a deep 3-pointer that sailed wide after he was slapped on the wrist.

His early aggressiveness signaled the type of night Graham had in store. The game-high 16 points and four rebounds kind of night that led VCU to a 71-48 win over California (Pa.).

“At first I came out with a little jitters because it was my first game,” a soft-spoken Graham said. “But as the game went on I got comfortable in the game, and I just played.”

Like any freshman in their debut game, the first-game jitters crawled through Graham’s skin. But rather than moping around and dumping the ball off on his teammates, he didn’t hesitate to take his chances shooting.
In his first six minutes on the court, Graham took to 3-point territory three times, getting to the foul line on his first shot and missing the next two.

But that didn’t deter his game.

Toward the end of the first half, Graham battered and bruised his way in between two Vulcan attackers. After missing a layup, Graham hauled in his own rebound in front of two defenders before going back up with the ball and earning a trip to the charity stripe.

“He’s been amazing in practice. He crashes the glass well. He can defend well,” senior Bradford Burgess said. “He’s active on defense and offense. He’s very aggressive on offense.”

Graham’s numbers could’ve been even better. He got to the free throw line six times, but only converted on 7-of-13 tries.

“He is very aggressive and if we can get him to go more than 1-for-2 from the line, he’d of had 20-plus points,” VCU head coach Shaka Smart said jokingly.

In a new freshman class that boasts many unique characteristics, Graham has seemingly been left out of the conversation.

There’s Teddy Okereafor with his English accent.

Jarred Guest with his Coach Smart-boasted rebounding abilities.

And most notably, Briante Weber and his relentless energy.

But that all changed Thursday night, when Graham took over as the go-to guy on a shortened staff.

“Today he was a sixth man,” Smart said. “When you add those other three guys back into the mix, does he get the same amount of minutes? That’s up to him if he really wants to battle.”

Graham racked up 21 minutes, the most of any freshman on the roster Thursday night.

Smart has been asked the question time and time again: Who can be a secondary scorer to Bradford Burgess?
If tonight is any indication of what Graham can do, Smart may have inched towards being able to answer that question.

“He’s going to be able to score the basketball,” Smart said. “I think he has the potential to be a big time scorer in this league and especially the way we play.”

But for now, only time will tell.

Photos by Chris Conway