3. BUTLER AND VCU LOOK LIKE THE CLASS OF THE ATLANTIC 10
It’s only been a few games but right now the two high-profile additions to this conference look like they’re a cut above the rest. The Bulldogs won at two difficult road venues in Saint Joseph’s and Dayton, while VCU beat the Flyers at home and then won at St. Bonaventure. We’ll know more about both these teams this week. Butler will likely be without Rotnei Clarke due to a neck injury for Wednesday’s game vs. Richmond and VCU will have a tall task when they host Saint Joseph’s on Thursday night at the Siegel Center.
3. SAINT JOSEPH’S VOYAGE TO VCU WITHOUT HALIL KANACEVIC
Shaka Smart said a big reason why he wanted to join the Atlantic 10 was because it would create more higher profile opportunities for the players in his program. The Rams can’t ask for a better opportunity than the one they’re going to have on Thursday night at the Siegel Center. Saint Joseph’s was picked in the preseason to win the conference and while they’ve battled injuries and other issues early, the Hawks still have the talent to beat VCU on their home floor. Saint Joseph’s though, will be shorthanded as they’ll be without valuable forward Halil Kanacevic, who will miss the next few games due to a death in his family. Without Kanacevic, we’re really skeptical if Phil Martelli’s team has the depth to withstand the Rams’ vicious pressure.
Wichita State's loss opened up a spot for VCU. I have been trying the last couple of weeks to shoehorn VCU onto my ballot. It has been hard because to this point, the Rams' best win came on a neutral court over Memphis, and that was nearly two months ago. Still, there's something to be said for winning 11 in a row. Plus, the Rams don't just pass the eye test, they ace it.
VCU hosted the A10 preseason favorite, St. Joseph’s Hawks to the Siegel Center on Thursday night for a rare 9p.m. tip off that was nationally televised and the Rams did not disappoint. Needing 5 extra minutes to solidify a comeback, the Rams moved their win streak to 12 in a row after defeating the Hawks, 92 – 86 on a career night from Senior Darius Theus.
VCU hosted the A10 preseason favorite, St. Joseph’s Hawks to the Siegel Center on Thursday night for a rare 9p.m. tip off that was nationally televised and the Rams did not disappoint. Needing 5 extra minutes to solidify a comeback, the Rams moved their win streak to 12 in a row after defeating the Hawks, 92 – 86 on a career night from Senior Darius Theus.
St. Joe's must be pretty damn good to score 86 points (even in 45 minutes) against the Rams' swarming defense. I apologize for the comparison in advance but the VCU defense reminded me of the vintage Bob Huggins UC Bearcats when it seemed as though they had seven guys on the court against the opposition's 5! Unless XU's guards mature extremely quickly, the Muskies' showing vs VCU could be very u-g-l-y!
Rob Brandenberg scored a game-high 22 points as VCU routed Duquesne 90-63 to extend the Rams’ winning streak to 13 games.
Brandenberg hit five of his eight 3-pointers and was 7-11 from the field, scoring 20+ points for the first time since last February.
The Rams jumped out to a 44-18 first half lead and never looked back, getting a huge first half from Treveon Graham who finished the night with 20 points in just 21 minutes of play.
The win moves VCU to 16-3 on the season with an A-10 leading 4-0 conference record along with the Xavier Musketeers.
It also marks the 100th win of head coach Shaka Smart’s young career.
The Rams head home to Richmond but get set for another road game as VCU travels to the West End to take on the Spiders of UofR (12-7, 2-2) Thursday night at 7PM.
VCU returns to the Siegel Center next Saturday for an 8PM home tip against the Explorers of La Salle University (12-5, 2-2).
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - The VCU men's basketball team enters this week sporting a 13-game win streak, which is tied for the second-longest active streak in the country and is the third longest in the program's 44 year history.
During the streak, the Rams have hoped aboard "The Freight Train" and let him carry them to victory. Sophomore Treveon Graham, aka the Freight Train, did just that this past week with two 20-plus point outings in VCU's two wins. His outstanding efforts earned him Atlantic 10 Conference Co-Player of the Week honors, shared with Butler's Roosevelt Jones.
"My teammates are doing a good job of getting me good looks and I've been able to knock down some shots," Graham said. "I just want to do whatever I need to do to help the team win, whether that's getting a rebound or scoring baskets, whatever it takes to win, that's what I want to focus on."
We don't intend to either before, during, or after our visit to Kingston in as much as we can help it. I'm sure Shaka will have the guys' full attention after what you guys pulled off versus Saint Louis. The Hurleys have you guys on the way back.
I'm sure our guys will be working hard to keep winning and getting better. I have no doubt we'll be tested. The A-10 has been strong competition so far.
Rhody and VCU split their home and home series with each team taking a close victory in their building. Rhody beat NCAA-bound VCU in 2008-09 and VCU defended their home court the following year.
Yeah that was a good series. Wish we could have had that game at the Ryan Center back, but Jimmy Baron and the gang were pretty decent that year. No shame at all in that loss.
RAMS' WIN STREAK SNAPPED IN 86-74 OVERTIME LOSS TO RICHMOND
How It Happened
It was evident right away that it would be a back-and-forth battle all night as neither team led by more than four over the game's first 12:30 minutes of action.
Richmond was the first to gain some separation as three different Spiders hit buckets and VCU couldn't get a field-goal to drop for over four minutes as UR held a 21-14 cushion.
Freshman Melvin Johnson kept the Black & Gold close with nine points in the final five minutes of the half as the teams headed to the break with Richmond holding a slight 32-29 advantage.
UR would use the arc to its advantage in the second half, hitting seven threes and pushing its lead to eight with just under 12 minutes left in regulation.
Enter Rob Brandenberg, who scored five straight points followed by three straight from Reddic and the game was squared up at 52 with 8:36 remaining.
The teams would trade buckets before Graham scored four straight points to spark a 8-0 VCU run to give the Rams their largest lead of the game at 63-56 with 42 seconds left in regulation.
After the teams traded free-throws, Richmond's Kendall Anthony was fouled on a three-pointer and hit all three shots, cutting VCU's advantage to 66-63 with 21 seconds remaining.
Senior Troy Daniels went 3-of-4 from the charity stripe, but three-pointers by Anthony and Darien Brothers in the final 15 seconds helped the Spiders send the game to overtime.
Richmond hit the first to baskets in overtime, but Graham followed with a trey to bring VCU within 73-72 with 3:51 left in overtime. The Spiders would finish the overtime period on a 13-2 run to pick up the 86-74 victory.
48 hours after dropping a tough, overtime game to cross town rivals, University of Richmond, VCU looked to bounce back against LaSalle.
LaSalle, still riding the high of handing Butler their first conference loss, was determined to get out of Richmond with a win and they did, 69-61.
As a result of their two impressive wins this week, LaSalle got selected as the Team of the Week in ESPN's Pick 'n' Roll column (sorry you had to share it with Nova), and Galloway got a well-deserved call out as well. It's nice to see the Explorers get some recognition. That's a long-suffering fanbase even by Dayton standards.
VCU (17-5, 5-2) snapped a two-game losing streak tonight, surviving a 70-64 road battle at Rhode Island (6-13, 1-5).
Sophomore and VCU leading scorer, Treveon Graham, carried the Rams early, scoring 11 of his 19 points in the first half and giving the Rams a 1-point lead heading into the break.
Join us this Saturday starting at 2PM for a special Ram Nation homecoming bash at Baja Bean Company on the corner of Main and Lombardy in the Fan where we will be warming up for the Rams 7PM homecoming tip against Fordham University.
Our friends at Baja, Virginia Paint Company, Kraken Rum and Richmond Trolley Company have joined forces to help us secure an open air trolley that we will shuttle in VCU’s “Diet Peppas” pep band to the Bean for some live music, and then shuttle Ram fans from Baja to the game.
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