There was no one single storyline in tonight’s game against California University of Pennsylvania. There were plenty.
There is the Coach Smart vs his former mentor, Bill Brown, which always makes for great ink. There’s also the fact that this is the first game in 7 months since the Rams miraculous Final Four run. Maybe you were really stoked to see the new suites at The Stu (I know we were). It’d be nearly impossible not to be eager to see the incoming underclassman too. Or maybe you just wanted to see some ball at The Stu again. You could have taken your pick. There are no wrong answers.
Being an exhibition game didn’t stop fans from turning out in full force to get a look at the ’11-’12 Rams, led by the lone Senior, Bradford Burgess.
With the opening of the new Tommy J. West Club luxury suites, the Stu was looking sharper than it ever has before — well, until we drop that Final Four banner.
The Rams certainly got off to a slow start as they shook the rust off, scoring just 7 points in the first 10 minutes. VCU ended up shooting 19% in the first half and ended with 37% on the night.
The Cal U Vulcans didn’t fair much better themselves, hitting just 26% in the first, helping the black-and-gold notch their first unofficial win of the season, 71-48.
Ram fans saw their first glimpses of Freshmen Reco McCarter, Treveon Graham, Jarred Guest and Teddy Okereafor. Graham really put on a great debut with 16 points.
Fans also got a sneak peak at what we’ll hopefully see plenty of this season, a Reco McCarter dunk.
VCU certainly picked up the pace at the start of the second half with a couple threes from Sophomore Rob Brandenberg and Junior Troy Daniels. They ended with 10 and 11 points on the night respectively.
Rams also went on a scoring onslaught in the second half, shooting 50% from downtown.
The Rams will host St. Francis on November 11th as the official start of the regular season.
