In what looked to be a nice out of conference “W” for VCU against former Sunbelt rival UAB Blazers, the Rams managed to snatch defeat from the hands of victory by surrendering a 19 point second half lead and were outscored by 12 in the final 1:50 of tonight’s matchup, losing 68-65 in Birmingham.
Once again the Rams were a tale of two halves, holding the Blazers to 21 first half points before giving up 47 in the second.
VCU’s 8 point lead in the closing minutes vanished behind 6 of the Rams 21 turnovers on the evening, as the Blazers caught fire hitting their final two 3-point attempts and added 6 additional points at the free throw line.
The loss was the Rams fourth of the season, and another road “L” in heartbreaking fashion after falling by 1 in overtime at South Florida.
Bradford Burgess lead the Rams with 26 points and hit 10-of-14 shots from the field. The junior from Benedictine added 6 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block in the effort.
Jamie Skeen notched his third double-double on the season scoring 14 points to go along with a team leading 10 rebounds.
Joey Rodriguez followed Skeen with 7 rebounds of his own, but continued to struggle shooting the ball hitting 1-of-5 shots from the floor. Rodriguez started the season with a 17 assist effort but could only manage 2 on the evening to go along with a team leading 6 turnovers.
Rodriguez has hit just 5 of his 32 attempts in all of VCU’s losses this year.
VCU will have 8 days to enjoy the lump of cole UAB gift wrapped their old rival before the Rams take on a 5-6 Wofford team out of the Southern Conference.
