Troy Daniels recaptures form after dry spell
Zachary Holden
Staff Writer
When VCU fans think of Troy Daniels, they immediately think of a player who can score at will. But over the past eight games, his scoring has been fairly lackluster.
Precisely, the last time Daniels put up more than 12 points was back on Jan. 2 when he broke the school record for 3-pointers against Eastern Tennessee State.
On Saturday night, he found his rhythm again. The Rams welcomed Fordham for homecoming night and Daniels put on quite a show for the fans, putting up 29 points and grabbing seven rebounds.
“I’m real happy to see him have a breakout game,” VCU head coach Shaka Smart said. “He’s been really pressing and been hard on himself.”
At halftime, Daniels had eight points and was having a decent night at best. When the second half started he came out firing.
Daniels put up 21 points in the second half with layups, short-ranged jumpers and, of course, 3-pointers.
A key factor in Daniels’ big night and VCU’s comfortable victory was the thing they do best – force turnovers. VCU forced 22 Fordham turnovers and scored 32 points off of them.
“He (Smart) was on us the whole week talking about ‘Defense, defense, defense,” said Daniels. “Even if we’re up 30, he’s still slamming the board down because we’re not getting stops.”
Confidence plays a huge role in how Daniels performs each game, and everyone on the team knows it.
The night before the Fordham game, Smart called a meeting with the rest of the team and they decided they still want Daniels to take the shots because they knew he’d regain his form soon.
“We talked about the fact that he’s not letting us down if he misses a shot,” said Smart. “I think he got to the point where he thought he had to make every shot, and if he didn’t, he was letting the team down.”
That’s exactly what Daniels was thinking and it was most likely affecting his play.
“If I don’t get [shots] up, I feel like I’m letting my team down,” said Daniels. “Today they just happened to fall.”
On whether or not he thinks his confidence was lost, Daniels thinks it’s something more simplistic.
“It’s not really [about] me losing confidence, it’s just a matter of me making shots and missing shots,” said Daniels. “If I’m open, I’m just going to shoot, that’s my job.”
The upcoming schedule for the Rams is going to be a real test as they begin the second half of Atlantic 10 conference play. Daniels is going to be a key factor in how the team performs, and if the Rams want to end the regular season strong, they must count on their 3-point specialist to avoid another dry spell.
