Winter break recap: While you were gone…

Zachary Holden
Staff Writer

As VCU students enjoyed winter break, VCU athletics stayed at full steam. Thirteen games were played by both men and women’s teams while most of the school was home for the holidays.

Men’s Basketball
The Rams had a perfect winter break going 7-0, and extending their win streak to 11 games. They kicked off the break with a big 19-point win over former head coach Anthony Grant, and the Alabama Crimson Tide. Western Kentucky, Longwood and Fairleigh Dickinson closed out the four-game homestead by the Rams, which they won by an average of 29.3 points per game.
Senior Troy Daniels stole the spotlight, averaging 18.5 points per game. Daniels made seven 3-pointers against Longwood and then hit an impressive nine against Fairleigh Dickinson eight days later.
Daniels traveled to East Tennessee State University with the team a mere three days after dropping nine from distance. The Rams beat the Buccaneers by 51 and were led by no other than Daniels and his hot hands from behind the arc. He went11-of-20 from range and finished the night with 33 points and 10 rebounds. The 11 3-pointers set not only a VCU school record, but also the Atlantic 10 record for most in a game.
VCU’s next test came against fellow mid-major Lehigh and C.J. McCollum, the nation’s leading scorer at the time. McCollum however, broke his left foot during the game. But the Mountain Hawks didn’t let their star player’s injury affect them much. They fought hard the entire game before eventually falling by four points to the resilient Rams. This was VCU’s closest game since losing to Missouri in the Battle 4 Atlantis consolation game in November.
Next up was the Dayton Flyers, and VCU’s first taste of A-10 play. In a close, entertaining game, the Rams emerged victorious with a 74-62 win to kick off conference play.
The Rams will be home again on Jan. 17 to face the Saint Joseph’s Hawks and will look to continue their great start to conference play.

Women’s Basketball
VCU’s Lady Rams were 2-4 over the break, with five games being played at home. They began break with back-to-back losses against East Carolina and Liberty. The losing streak ended with a 64-52 victory over the New Jersey Institute of Technology Lady Highlanders.
Next up for the Lady Rams were the Ohio State University Lady Buckeyes, who were a perfect 7-0 at home at the time. The Rams lost a fairly one-sided game 88-50 as Ohio State extended their home winning streak to 8 games.
The VCU women bounced back from their drubbing to put on a show of their own and beat Maine by 35 points to get them to .500 on the season. VCU then welcomed the Penguins of Youngstown State. The visitors emerged victorious in a low scoring game, 58-45.
The Lady Rams closed out the winter break with an overall record of 7-8 and look to improve on that mark as A-10 conference play begins. VCU women return home to host their first A-10 conference game on Jan. 20 against George Washington.