Daniels nails clutch free throws with Fouch in his ear

Jim Swing
Sports Editor
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Troy Daniels stepped to the line for a couple of the most critical free throws he’s faced in his career.

There were 12 seconds left in the CAA Championship and VCU was trying to hold on to its one-point lead that had been as much as 16 at one point.

He heard some rumblings in sold-out crowd of 11,200 at the Richmond Coliseum, but one voice on the court stood out in particular. It was the voice of Drexel junior guard Chris Fouch, who took the LeBron James approach of trying to rattle his opponent’s psyche.

“He said, ‘You need these free throws, these are two big free throws, I don’t think you have it in you,’” Daniels recounted to the CT afterward. “I made the first one, looked at him, and he knew.”

It was the second time in eight seconds Daniels had been thrust into the hot seat. Junior point guard Darius Theus threw a pass deep down court that was intercepted by Drexel’s Frantz Massenat, who was fouled and hit a pair of free throws to bring the Dragons to within two.

Daniels hit a pair of free throws with 19 seconds left to give the Rams a four-point lead before Fouch buried a 3-pointer to whittle the lead down to one.

“I just want to say thank you to Troy,” Theus said in the postgame press conference. “I threw that bad pass and if it wasn’t for Troy making those free throws then we probably wouldn’t be sitting here.”

Sophomore guard Rob Brandenberg wasn’t as lucky. Brandenberg finished with 13 huge points but continually gave Drexel oxygen by going 1-for-5 from the line and missing three free throws in the final four minutes.

Daniels on the other hand was calm cool and collected. In the huddle, no one said a word to him.

“I didn’t here nothing from anybody. Coach Smart was just talking about getting back on defense,” Daniels said. “I didn’t hear ‘to make a free throw, stay on the line’ or anything like that; they just let me take care of it.”

In his head, thoughts of school history swarmed through his mind. Daniels wanted to embody those who had paved the trail for VCU basketball. With an arena filled to capacity watching his every move and an opponent chirping in his ear, Daniels reflected on his dream.

“Winning the CAA Championship: It’s something that I’ve seen other guys do in VCU history,” Daniels said. “And I just wanted to be like one of those guys.”