VCU men’s basketball defeats Samford University, 75-65

Andrew McGhan, Contributing Writer

Malachi Keys, Contributing Writer

VCU men’s basketball team defeated the Samford Bulldogs in a thriller at the Siegel Center by 75-65 on Friday night.

After a tough season-opening loss at home on Monday to McNeese State, VCU was back at it again and vying for a different outcome. 

At the start of the first half, the Rams came out considerably slow offensively. 

Samford defensively was stout early as they played a full-court press and made it difficult for VCU to get into their half-court sets. 

The Bulldogs, although undersized against VCU, grabbed several key offensive rebounds that assisted in them maintaining the lead.

VCU also committed several turnovers from loose ball handling to misreading inside passes that the opposition stole.

The Rams quickly found themselves down 17-6 early in the first half. 

Samford found ways to be effective in transition and hit a clutch three points late into the shot clock. In fact, the Bulldogs shot 42.86% from three in the first half, according to VCU Athletics.

About halfway through the half, VCU started to pick up on the offensive end with senior guard Zeb Jackson and senior guard Max Shulga hitting timely buckets down the stretch that kept them close. 

Part of the reason for VCU having a slow start to the game was because of emotions being high, according to Jackson.

“We knew they’re [Samford] gonna come up super hard, press obviously. I think a part of the slow start might have been just nerves,” Jackson said.

VCU was able to cut into the Samford lead, only being down three points at halftime with the score being 34-31 and all momentum in VCU’s favor.

At the start of the second half the game was very competitive with both teams scoring and getting defensive stops.

The momentum changed in VCU’s favor when Samford turned the ball over and VCU started a fastbreak. The ball made its way to Shulga in the corner who drove to the basket and scored a reverse layup cutting the lead to one, which got the VCU crowd back into the game.

At the eight-minute mark, the score was tied 54-54. 

At the seven-minute mark, Jackson missed a three and VCU sophomore forward Christian Fermin grabbed the offensive rebound and scored the second-chance layup making the score 56-54 and giving VCU their first lead of the game.

VCU then went on a 19-11 run to finish the game with a 75-65 victory, according to  StatBroadcast.

VCU’s Jackson, Fermin, Shulga and redshirt sophomore guard Jason Nelson all scored at least 10 points in Friday’s matchup, according to StatBroadcast.

With some players out, everyone else on the team has to contribute to scoring, according to VCU head coach Ryan Odom. It would also depend on the kind of game that is being played that particular night.

“Okay, now we’re down,” Odom said. “So everybody that’s on our team is to be counted on and they understand that and every game is different. This was a downsize game.”

Fermin recorded his first career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, according to  StatBroadcast. He also recorded six blocks.

Fermin said taking pride on the defensive end is something that is expected of him by his teammates and coaches. The more active he is on the defensive end the easier it is for his teammates to play aggressively on defense and clean up any mistakes.

“It’s something I’m definitely going to search for, something that I’ve gotten better at, as practice and everything has gone along, and now it’s something that my teammates need me to do and it’s something that my coaches hold me to do, and something that is standard for me now,” Fermin said.

VCU Rams will play against the Radford University Highlanders at the Stuart C. Siegel Center on Nov. 15 at 7 p.m.