Bones Hyland’s 3-point outburst leads VCU men’s basketball over North Carolina A&T

Noah Fleischman, Sports Editor

When it rains, it pours — and on Wednesday night, it was raining 3-pointers from sophomore guard Bones Hyland. 

The Wilmington, Delaware native logged career-highs of seven triples and 30 points as men’s basketball knocked off North Carolina A&T 95-59 at the Stuart C. Siegel Center. 

Hyland seemingly couldn’t miss from deep in the second half, knocking down six-straight, after a sluggish start from deep in the first half. 

“I just know they going to fall eventually and once I’m hot, there ain’t no stopping me,” Hyland said. 

Hyland credited his teammates for boosting his confidence by believing in him throughout the night. 

“My teammates definitely encourage me every time I have a slow start,” Hyland said. “Just them giving me the confidence and sticking with me through the moments when I’m missing, it helps me to keep going.”

The Rams finished 11-of-24 from deep on the night and 35-of-56 from the field. 

“Every time he shoots the ball, you think it’s going in, right,” coach Mike Rhoades said. “When you’re a shooter and you make one or two, the basket looks bigger and bigger and you saw that tonight with Bones.”

Freshman guard Ace Baldwin logged his own career-high in the contest, logging 10 points. He added five assists and four steals as well. 

The Rams established their paint presence early in the first half, scoring six of their first eight points in the post. VCU outscored the Aggies in the paint 40-16 on the night. 

VCU jumped out on an early 7-0 run that lasted just over a minute, but forced three North Carolina A&T turnovers in the process. Baldwin capped the run with a 3-pointer. 

There were periods of scoring droughts for both teams in the first 20 minutes — at one point both teams were 0-for-4 over an almost three minute span. 

The Rams ended the first half on a 14-3 run, holding the Aggies scoreless for the final four minutes. Hyland led the black and gold during the run with 5 points. 

VCU held the team from Greensboro, North Carolina without a field goal for multiple periods throughout the second half, taking advantage with several 7-0 and 9-0 runs. 

The Rams forced 15 turnovers, scoring 18 points off the North Carolina A&T errors. The black and gold out-rebounded the Aggies 43-28 in the dominant win and logged nine blocks. 

VCU is back in action on Saturday, hosting Old Dominion at 5 p.m. at the Stuart C. Siegel Center. The game will be televised on NBC Sports Network.