Tough shooting night not enough to stop VCU

Zachary Holden
Staff Writer

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Scoring baskets wasn’t the easiest thing for VCU on Saturday. In fact, only two players shot above 50 percent on the day, Troy Daniels and Briante Weber.

“I’m proud of our guys that we were able to come ahead, especially on a day where we did not shoot the ball particularly well,” said Shaka Smart. “Some of our guys that are typically shooting at a pretty good rate, struggled, especially from the outside and even from around the basket.”

As the coach said, VCU had trouble around the basket, particularly in the first half. It seemed like for every one basket that went in; three just seemed to bounce wrong off the rim. One player who seemed to have a lot of trouble was Treveon Graham.

Graham shot just 1-12 on the night from the floor and 1-3 from the charity line. He finished the game with just three points, tied for his lowest total of the season.

“A lot of my shots were short,” said Graham. “I’ve just got to shoot higher [and] use more legs.”

His only basket of the night was part of a 6-2 Rams run that helped keep the lead just out of reach for Massachusetts. After going 0-8, a basket like that would give a player a bit of a confidence booster, but for Graham, he was just glad to help the team.

“I think it got [us] going,” said Graham. “Whenever we score, it just gets the momentum going for the rest of the game.”

Another player who didn’t have a standout night offensively was Rob Brandenberg. He shot 33 percent from the field both beyond the arc and overall. He was 0-2 from the free throw line, though.

“It was definitely a rough shooting night for myself and other players,” said Brandenberg. “Those shots that we missed, the easy ones that we usually make, we’re going to make tomorrow.”

It’s something the Rams have done before this season, but they seem to bounce back. Graham said it’s “like we did all season, we found a way to win.”
The win over the Minutemen was a hard-fought, grinded out victory, something VCU has gotten used to since making the move into the Atlantic 10.

“We found a way to get it done, I thought we got enough stops in the second half holding them to 28 points,” said Smart. “That was good enough to win and that’s what you need to do this time of year.”

When the Rams suit up to face Saint Louis in the championship game Sunday afternoon, they’re going to have to have a much better offensive output if they hope to avenge the regular season loss to the Billikens and claim their first A-10 tournament title.

“Saint Louis was better than us in every aspect of the game [last time],” said Smart. “Now we get another opportunity to play them on a neutral floor and we’re going to have to play better to win.”

Brandenberg and his teammates know it’s going to be one of the toughest games of the season since the title is on the line. Avenging the 14 point road loss to the Billikens and winning the title is the only thing on their minds.

“It’s 40 minutes of everything we’ve got, that’s how we’re going to approach the game,” said Brandenberg. “They got us pretty good at their place.”

“It’s only fitting that we play them for the A-10 championship,” he added.