Brandenberg’s defense key in Battle for Richmond

Quinn Casteel
Sports Editor

Junior guard Rob Brandenberg was not available to speak with the media Tuesday afternoon during the VCU men’s basketball weekly press conference because he was busy studying video.

Undoubtedly, some of the video Brandenberg was watching had to do with University of Richmond senior swingman Darien Brothers, who is coming off a 39-point, eight 3-pointer effort in the Spiders’ 81-61 win over Charlotte last Saturday.

Brothers is leading Richmond (12-7, 2-2 A-10) in scoring with 16.2 points per game and will be guarded mainly by Brandenberg Thursday night when the Rams meet the Spiders on Richmond’s campus Thursday at 7 p.m.

“He’s a great scorer, I mean, 39 points?” said senior point guard Darius Theus on Brothers’ breakout performance against Charlotte. “(Brandenberg) will start on him defensively, and we have a lot of confidence in him to do his job.”

“He’s an all-conference guard in a league with terrific guards,” VCU head coach Shaka Smart said of Brothers, a Richmond product out of Benedictine High School, which is also the alma-mater of Bradford and Jordan Burgess.

VCU Athletics lists Brandenberg at 6-foot-2, 180 pounds, but it’s his 6-foot-7 wingspan that makes him an above average defender from the shooting guard position. Since his career began three years ago, Brandenberg has made strides as an offensive and defensive player, seeing his minutes rise from 13.7 to 25.9 between his freshman and sophomore seasons, and 24.8 through 19 games this season.

The slight dip in minutes this season can be credited to the Rams’ depth, in addition to the well-documented emergence of sophomores Treveon Graham and Briante Weber.

Offensively, the Ohio native is having his most efficient season yet, hitting over 45 percent of his field goals and 36.6 percent from 3-point range. Brandenberg went through what he called the worst shooting slump of his career as a sophomore, in which he shot just over 29 percent from three and 35 percent overall.

Now, that slump is far in the rear view mirror. Brandenberg is one of four Rams to average double figures in scoring this season.

“As a point guard, you’ve got to keep telling him he can do it,” Theus said of Brandenberg. “It means a lot more coming from his teammates.”

Theus added that Brandenberg is, in his opinion, the quickest player on the team with the ball in his hands.

“There will be a guy right beside him, then he’s just gone,” Theus continued. “Sometimes we have to remind him how quick he is.”

It is on the defensive side of the ball where Brandenberg’s quickness will need to shine Thursday night. He is fourth on the team in steals per game at 1.3, and has done so while often matching up with elite perimeter scorers.

Like the rest of the VCU team, he struggled to defend in the Rams’ 92-86 overtime win over St. Joseph’s last Friday – the Hawks’ Langston Galloway and Carl Jones combined for 43 points in the game.

“We were upset with our defensive numbers against St. Joe’s,” Smart said. “We took a step forward against Duquesne, but we need to be even better defensively against Richmond.”

With Richmond’s best inside scorer Derrick Williams out for the game due to injury, the Spiders’ attack will likely begin and end with Brothers and it will be Brandenberg’s responsibility to keep him from picking up where he left off against Charlotte.

As for the rest of the VCU team, they will be entering Thursday’s match-up in Richmond with what Smart called a “business-like” approach.

“It’s a big game, but it’s still business just like any other game,” said Graham, VCU’s leading scorer at 16.2 points per game.

The No. 19 Rams (16-3, 4-0 A-10) are three-and-a-half point favorites over the host Spiders. They will seek to extend their 13-game winning streak and advance to 5-0 in the A-10.