Rams beat the Minutemen in a snowy showdown, 80-51

Drew Thompson, Staff Writer

Marcus Leary, Contributing Writer

The VCU Rams handed the University of Massachusetts an 80-51 loss in their final visit to the Siegel Center as a member of the Atlantic 10 conference. The Rams climb to 21-5 overall and remain undefeated at home.

UMass is leaving the Atlantic 10 for the Mid-American Conference at the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year. The Minutemen are 11-16 overall so far on their farewell tour, 6-8 in conference play, and sit at 11th overall in the Atlantic 10 standings, according to the Atlantic 10. 

UMass head coach Frank Martin said he believes that VCU has made a commitment to building a winning culture.

“It’s one of the hard places in the country to play at,” Martin said. “Whenever I call it quits;I’m going to sit back and say, ‘Man, I got to coach in that place.’”

The Rams and Minutemen came out of the gates hot, trading consecutive successful possessions before they both came crashing down.

The opening three minutes saw VCU and UMass go without a made field goal.

VCU graduate student guard Max Shulga ignited a flame under the black and gold however, hitting three consecutive shots from behind the arc halfway through the first, according to StatBroadcast.

VCU head coach Ryan Odom said he is never surprised when Shulga gets hot.

“We rebound for him, and we know what kind of shooter he is,” Odom said. “We want to try to get him cleaner looks game in and game out. The ball found him tonight and he knocked them home.”

Shulga’s sharpshooting helped VCU gain momentum as they would go on a four-minute, 15-0 run halfway through the first, according to StatBroadcast.

The Rams began playing their usual aggressive playstyle on both sides, piling on the scoring and only allowing UMass to make three field goals in the final five minutes of the first, according to StatBroadcast.

VCU graduate student guard Joe Bamisile excited the crowd with back-to-back dunks.

“God gave me the ability to dunk, so I dunk,” Bamisile said. 

The black and gold would go into halftime hot, making five of their last six shots to extend their lead to 24, according to StatBroadcast.

The Rams held a commanding lead at halftime up 46-22. VCU held UMass to zero three-pointers made in the first half, while also forcing them to shoot 29% from the field, according to StatBroadcast. 

Shulga led the Rams in points with 14 and five assists. Additionally, both Shulga and third-year forward Christian Fermin made all four of their shots in the first half, according to StatBroadcast. 

The second half started slowly after both teams scored in the first minute of play. 

Things took a defensive turn with both teams going on a two-minute scoring drought, which was highlighted by two blocks from VCU first-year forward Luke Bamgboye on back-to-back Minutemen possessions. Bamgboye ended the night with a career-high seven blocks, according to StatBroadcast.

UMass started to claw back into the game, cutting the VCU lead 55-34 at the 13-minute mark. The maroon and white took advantage of multiple missed shots, and successfully turned defense into offense, capitalizing off a VCU turnover.

The Rams struggled offensively for the first half of the second period. VCU graduate student forward Jack Clark’s three-pointer at the start of the half was one of the only shots to go in on VCU’s first 12 attempts.

Bamisile and Clark put the Rams back in the driver’s seat at the 10-minute mark of the second half, with three-pointers on back-to-back VCU possessions. 

The teams went back and forth exchanging baskets for three minutes before VCU went on a 7-0 run coming out of the under eight-minute media timeout.

The black and gold’s defense continued to keep their foot on the gas. UMass went 2-11 on field goal attempts in the final five minutes of play and did not have a single three-pointer connect all night, according to StatBroadcast.

UMass fourth-year forward Malek Abdelgowad hit a consolation jumper in the paint to make the final score 80-51 in favor of the Rams.

VCU men’s basketball went on to play against George Mason University at the Siegel Center on Saturday, Feb. 22.