After a trip to the Big Apple, Rams find more success at home

After faltering to Duke University and the University of Wisconsin in the 2K Classic, VCU men’s basketball rebounded with two home contest victories this week — defeating American University 72-44 on Nov. 25 and Old Dominion University 76-67 Nov. 28.

“I thought it was a good win,” said Head Coach Will Wade regarding the Rams’ win over rival ODU on Saturday. “We played probably the best we played at home this year.”

Benefited by a blackout crowd, the Stu presented a sweltering atmosphere for the visiting Monarchs in their quest to defeat VCU in consecutive season. Last year, VCU traveled down I-64 in a road contest against the Monarchs, ultimately succumbing by a lackluster performance, losing 73-67.

In that matchup, ODU guard Aaron Bacote put 31 points on the visiting Rams, propelling his team to victory single handedly. In Saturday’s matchup, Bacote got off to a similar start, as Bacote and the Monarchs marched out to a 9-3 lead to start the game. ODU presented a matchup Wade was forced to adjust during the game.

“That was me, you can put that on me,” Wade said. “We had some bad matchups out of the diamond press and we were running around like chicken with our heads cut off, that one was on me.”

After stifling the Monarch attack, junior point guard JeQuan Lewis and the Rams backcourt went to work, constructing a 10-0 run to uplift the Ram faithful displeased by the early start.

The Monarchs kept it close; they consistently found an answer to a VCU run, and the two teams went into the locker-room at halftime deadlocked at 35.

In the second half, the Rams came out stronger defensively, presenting challenges for ODU to find good
looks. VCU’s backcourt was able to stop drivers from getting to the rim, sending traffic to defensive specialist Mo Alie-Cox.

“We buckled down in the half court,” Lewis said. “Getting stops just gives us momentum, because you know, if they can’t score we going to win.”

Not until the 10-minute mark in the second half were the Rams able to build a lead. Senior Melvin Johnson cashed in on back-to-back 3-pointers extending the lead to 49-40. Johnson continued his sharp shooting, totaling 13 points on the night, connecting on three 3-pointers.

Lewis was the star of the night, as the Dickinson, Tennessee native had his best performance of the season. His 16 points, three assists and three-rebound performance proved pivotal on a night where the concern of the Monarch defense was centered on shutting down Johnson.

No play had a bigger impact than Lewis’ made field goal attempt to spark a 7-0 VCU run to give the Rams a 68-56 lead with three minutes left to play.

“Tremendous, I thought he (Lewis) was great,” Wade said. “If he plays like that, we have Mel playing at a high level and we have KB playing at a high level, we have an unbelievable backcourt.”

Bacote managed to still score 21 points on an efficient 8-13 from the field, but the Monarchs shooting 8-17 (47.1 percent) from the charity stripe was too much to overcome.

The ODU win was VCU’s best performance of the season, set-up by their play four days prior against American. Dominating the visiting Eagles this past Tuesday, the Rams picked up a much-needed victory from the 2K Classic debacle.

Surprisingly, sophomore Justin Tillman had his best performance of the season in 24 minutes of action, beating Eagles defenders to the ball and cashing in on easy put-backs on his way to his first career double double with 10 points and 14 rebounds.

“I’m happy I got it,” Tillman said. “I think I could have had more down the line, so not really proud of myself I still have a lot to improve on.”

The Rams were shared the wealth on the offensive end, besides Tillman, only Johnson who led all scorers with 13 and senior Korey Billbury, who finished with 12 points, scored in double figures.

Wade did not shy away from the media after losses to Wisconsin and Duke, calling attention to the team’s effort and consistency in a stern manner.

“I am who I am, so I’m going to tell you like it is,” Wade said. “Some people like honesty, some people don’t. I was honest with them and I thought our effort was better.”

VCU, now 4-2, will travel to Murfreesboro, Tennessee to play Middle Tennessee State University at the Murphy Athletic Center Dec. 2 at 8 p.m.

Sports Editor, Bryant Drayton

Bryant is a sports advocate who’s always smiling. He is a senior print and online journalism major aspiring for a career as a professional or college football columnist. Bryant currently covers high school football games for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. // Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

draytonbo@commonwealthtimes.org