Forwards sparked Rams’ win over UNC Asheville

VCU’s big men were the heavy hitters Friday night in an 80-65 win over the University of North Carolina Asheville at the Siegel Center.

Forwards Mo Alie-Cox (redshirt-senior), Justin Tillman (junior) and Ahmed Hamdy (senior) combined for a total of 35 points.  

“We threw that thing (the ball) inside and the big guys finished down there,” said coach Will Wade.” We did a good job on the glass and a nice job keeping them out of transition. I liked our balance scoring tonight and JeQuan didn’t even score a lot.”

The Black and Gold dominated the paint, outscoring the Bulldogs 44-30 down low and out-rebounding them 35-25.

VCU had 11 offensive rebounds, which fueled 13 second-chance points.

For the first time in 73 games, Alie-Cox was on the bench at tip-off. Wade said he started Hamdy over Alie-Cox simply because he was producing more in practice.

“We scrimmaged Virginia and he (Hamdy) was by far our best post player in that game,” Wade said. “What you lose a little bit with Hamdy is defense but I didn’t think Mo was guarding anybody. Mo’s defense had been terrible up until tonight. He played much better defense tonight.”

Alie-Cox came off the bench with a restored sense of energy. He collected six rebounds and led the Rams in points with 15. The Alexandria, Virginia native knocked down 5-of-7 field goals and 5-of-7 at the line in 28 minutes.

Still restless after the loss to Division II Queens University of Charlotte in last week’s exhibition match, the Rams showed more chemistry on both sides of the ball. The Black and Gold struggled with protecting the ball, getting it to the rim and guarding against Queens.

VCU had 14 turnovers Friday against UNCA compared to the 25 they had against Queens.

After VCU’s 75-73 loss to Queens, the players came to the mutual agreement that a players-only meeting was needed.

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“Everybody just chimed in on what they can do better,” Alie-Cox said. “We just hit the reset button. Everybody came in with a whole different mindset, more coachable. Players were talking to each other, and everyone realized what we needed to do in order to be a successful team. We came out tonight and just played really hard.”

Wade said leadership emerged from senior guards Jordan Burgess, Torey Burston and JeQuan Lewis. The Rams appeared to be prepared better and paid closer attention to detail in practices leading up to Friday’s game.

“We just came together,” said senior guard Doug Brooks. “We were like, we’re not as good as we thought. Everybody needs to look in the mirror and check themselves. If we don’t, we’re going to have a bad year.”

Brooks played one of the best performances of his career as a Ram. The Wake Wales, Florida native recorded 12 points, four assists and three steals. His tight on-ball defense bothered the Bulldogs for much of the evening — VCU caused 13 Bulldog turnovers.

Junior point guard Jonathan Williams had 10 points and fueled a 10-2 run early in the second half that gave VCU separation after a tight first half.

The Rams took smarter, open shots in the second half, shooting 63 percent, compared to 48 in the first half.

UNCA kept Ram fans on their toes in the first half, nailing tough shots, meriting praise from Wade.

“We guarded them pretty well and they hit some really tough shots,” Wade said. “I know we gave up 65 points but I think 10 or 12 of those points were really tough points.”

Junior guard Ahmad Thomas led the Bulldogs in scoring with 20 points.

“Ahmad Thomas is really good,” Wade said. “You know he’s Troy Daniels’ cousin? He’s a really good player and a great kid I’ve known him for a really long time.”

Wade and the Rams hit the road for the first time this season on Tuesday, Nov. 15, when they take on Liberty at 8 p.m. at the Vines Center.

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Sophia Belletti
Sophia is a junior journalism major pursuing a minor in gender, sexuality and women’s studies. She enjoys writing about current events and sports, and hopes to one day be a sports reporter covering soccer, basketball and/or baseball. You can usually find Sophia drinking way too much coffee and laughing at her own jokes.
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Julie Tripp
Julie is a senior studying photography with a minor in media studies. This is her third year working with the CT, and she spent last summer interning for Richmond Magazine. Last semester, Julie spent a semester abroad studying photography at The University of the West of England. After Julie graduates she plans on pursuing a career as a photojournalist for print and online publications.
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