Exterminated: Rams stomp Spiders, 63-52

Dan Elson, Contributing Writer 

Thai Wilson, Sports Editor

The VCU Rams beat the University of Richmond Spiders 63-52 in the Capital City Classic.

Every year, the cross-town A-10 rivals play twice, and when they are at the Stuart C. Siegel Center, the Capital City Classic commences.

Going into the game, the Richmond Spiders were undefeated in the A-10, who recently beat Fordham University 83-69, according to ESPN.

Spiders guard Jordan King was No. 2 in scoring in the A-10, averaging 19.1, according to the Atlantic 10. The Rams held him to 12 points — 33% from the field. 

VCU head coach Ryan Odom said King has had a great start to the conference season and that limiting him was important to their game plan.

“He’s one of the best players in this league,” Odom said. “If you allow him to do what he’s really good at, you’re gonna be disappointed.”

The home-defending black and gold are currently 6-3 in conference play and have an overall record of 14-8 this season, according to VCU Athletics.

With a sold-out crowd surrounding them and cheering for the game to begin, the matchup commenced with VCU winning the tip-off.

Odom said playing in front of a full crowd helped boost morale for the team.

“We are so thankful for the fans,” Odom said. “They showed up loud and they gave us a lot of energy as we were playing in there.”

Graduate student forward Kuany Kuany scored the first basket of the game for the Rams at the 19-minute mark of the first half, and the crowd erupted. Right afterward, second-year center Christian Fermin got a block on a Richmond player.

The black and gold started the game off on a 6-0 run going into the first timeout. For a little over four minutes of the game, the black and gold held the Spiders to zero points.

Spiders center Neal Quinn scored a layup to end the scoring drought at the 15-minute mark of the first half to make it 7-2.

For the next four minutes, neither team could score much, and at the 11-minute mark of the first half, the score was 9-6. 

The first half ended with the black and gold leading 20-18 against the Spiders. Even though the Rams had the lead going into the second half, they were scoreless from the three-point mark, according to Statbroadcast. 

Redshirt second-year guard Jason Nelson said the team and coach Odom take pride in their play style. 

“We wanted to go out there and play our game,” Nelson said. “We wanted to guard and take pride in going out there and playing defense.”

The second half started with Richmond tying the game off a layup to make it 20-20 with 19 minutes remaining.

The first three minutes of the second half went back-and-forth with the Rams and Spiders trading buckets, but with 17 minutes to go, Richmond was up 24-22.

Neither team was able to take a huge lead as both teams were shooting under 40% from the field at the 11-minute mark. Richmond still held a 30-28 lead going into the media timeout.

VCU’s first three-pointer came at the 10-minute mark from fourth-year guard Zeb Jackson. With this three-point shot, the Rams took the lead back and started the back-and-forth scoring with the Spiders with the advantage. 

Kuany said Jackson works hard every single day and his leadership as a captain is always showing. 

“He shows up every single day,” Kuany said. “We obviously wanted to win, but he brings that energy every day and we feed off it, so it was nothing new.”

At the second-to-last media timeout, with seven minutes remaining in the matchup the Rams had a 36-34 lead.

Coming off the timeout, fourth-year guard Max Shulga went on a personal 8-3 run to increase the lead to 44-37 with six minutes remaining. 

Shulga finished the game alongside Kuany with 15 points to lead both teams in scoring.

Shulga said it was a matter of time before the shots started to fall, and it just happened to be him this game.

“If it wasn’t me, it would have been someone else,” Shulga said.

The Rams maintained their seven-point lead going into the game’s final media timeout, at 50-43 with three minutes remaining. 

Even with the Spiders’ best effort, the Rams held on to their lead until the final buzzer. The crowd then erupted and chanted, “We own Richmond.”

Coach Odom said the team is happy but knows they must focus on the next game.

“We are excited alright,” Odom said. “We’re not satisfied, but we certainly are proud of the effort tonight.”

The VCU Rams will host the University of Dayton Flyers on Friday, Feb. 9 at the Stuart C. Siegel Center.