Rams get glimpse of future in Fairfax

Kris Mason
Staff Writer

At one point in the first half of VCU’s 72-60 win over George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia on Wednesday night, starting point guard JeQuan Lewis was lying in pain on the court after being poked in the eye. The two injured seniors, Treveon Graham and Briante Weber, hobbled over from the bench to Lewis to see if he was OK. The image was an apt summary of the streak of bad luck the Rams have had with injuries recently.

Lewis, a sophomore, would return and lead the Rams to a victory that improved their record to 18-4 and 8-1 in the A10. Graham re-injured his left ankle, which he first injured on Jan. 26 against Rhode Island University. He hurt his ankle 11 minutes into the game and would not return. During a Jan. 31 game against University of Richmond, Weber tore his ACL, MCL and meniscus and is out for the remainder of the season. He will have surgery on Feb. 19.

Melvin Johnson led the team with 17 points. Lewis did an admirable job filling in for injured point guard Briante Weber, scoring 13 points, four assists and two rebounds and connecting on all seven of his free throw attempts.  Freshman forward Justin Tillman and sophomore guard Doug Brooks came off the bench and contributed, scoring 10 and nine points, respectively. At 6-foot-11, freshman forward Mike Gilmore surprisingly made two three-point shots in the second half after making one three-pointer the entire season prior to the game.

VCU trailed 19-10 seven minutes into the game but fought back to cut the Mason lead to 34-32 at halftime. VCU came back to take the lead in the second half and stretched it to a nine-point advantage at 49-40 with 11 minutes remaining, only to have the lead quickly cut to one after an 8-0 Mason run. That would be as close as the Patriots would get to reclaiming the lead, as VCU would eventually pull away to a 12-point victory.

With the two seniors injured, it left senior Jarred Guest and Johnson, a junior, as the only two upperclassmen on the team. Despite the injury to Weber, head coach Shaka Smart did not shorten his bench, instead playing 11 players. This allowed the younger players to get more playing time and game experience than they had gotten prior to Weber and Graham’s injuries.

VCU averages 10.32 steals per game, and they were right on that target in the Mason game as they had 10 steals and forced 18 turnovers overall. At 6-foot-6, 250-pound forward Mo Alie-Cox led the team in steals with three, including one that led to a thunderous fastbreak dunk to take the energy out of the Patriots.

There was a mix of players who headed the press that Weber would normally play, including freshman Terry Larrier, Guest, Gilmore and Alie-Cox, among others.

One surprising element of the game was that VCU was killed on the boards, being outrebounded 43-27. Weber averaged 3.7 rebounds per game, the fourth-highest total on the team.

The Rams’ first home game since Weber’s injury is Wednesday night against LaSalle University in what should be an emotional atmosphere. The Rams may still be without Graham, so it remains to be seen if the younger players can continue to step up and perform at a high enough level to win consistently against better competition than GMU, whose record dropped to 7-14 on the season after the loss to VCU.