Theus shows he has the clutch gene in VCU’s win over William & Mary

Jim Swing
Sports Editor
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Darius Theus was all smiles.

The VCU junior point guard had just finished playing with ice in his veins, dousing a hungry and determined William & Mary team with the game-winning layup that helped VCU escape with a 69-68 win. And afterwards he sat at the postgame press conference downright giddy.

The shot clock was dwindling with just over 10 seconds left in overtime when Theus finally found the mismatch he wanted. William & Mary’s 6-foot-8, 210-pound freshman forward Tom Schalk towered in front of him when Theus decided to pounce.

He drove the lane, made a mesmerizing spin move and softly put the ball in the basket and the dagger in the back of a Tribe team that exhorted loads of fight all night long.

“I had a big man on me so coach just told me to go,” Theus said. “He has the confidence in me to make that play so I just made a move and I finished.”

But it wasn’t all balloons and confetti for Theus. For him it seemed more like redemption for a pair of free throws he missed that could’ve given the Rams the lead with just over two minutes remaining in regulation but instead, they stayed down by one.

“I’m not surprised he was able to make that play at the end,” VCU head coach Shaka Smart said. “He’s very hard on himself so he was very upset at himself for missing some of those free throws, then he came back and made some big plays late.”

Following the failed set of free throws, Theus extended his arm backwards and tipped in a Briante Weber miss to put the Rams up by one. Brandon Britt retaliated with a traditional 3-point play on the other end that put the Tribe back up by a deuce, but that just made Theus hungrier. He worked his magic yet again by drilling a wide-open 3-pointer from the top of the key with just over a minute to go, which eventually helped give VCU new life in the form of an overtime period.

There’s irony in the fact that Theus, who had gone 8-for-30 from long range prior to the game, would connect from deep in the most crucial juncture of the game.

“I wish I had it, give me some of that clutch gene,” sophomore forward Juvonte Reddic said, glancing over at Theus. “But he’s our leader on the team, he’s one of our leaders on the team and everybody knows he’s capable of making big plays and tonight he made a couple of big plays and he proved he was a leader tonight.”

Thursday night’s heroics mark the second time Theus has dug VCU out of the ground by making a game-winning play this season. He did it less than a month ago at Akron by hitting the game-winning layup in a similar overtime situation. And after his cold-blooded performance against William & Mary, any question as to whether Theus could step into the point guard position and be a leader or not should be put to rest.

“He’s a very tough kid physically and mentally,” Smart said. He’s done a great job maturing from last year to this year in terms of how engaged he is in the game.”

Theus may not be LeBron James, but at least he has the clutch gene.