After nine consecutive wins, VCU’s impressive streak came to an end Saturday afternoon with a 69-59 loss at Rhode Island.
The Rams ran into one of the A-10’s toughest defenses and couldn’t get anything to fall all afternoon, shooting 34.5% from the field and an ice-cold 1-15 from three-point range. VCU held Rhode Island to just 35.4% shooting themselves, but thanks to 31 made free throws via 30 VCU fouls, weren’t able to outshoot URI at the charity stripe.
It was the Rams first loss since a road loss to another Rams team, Fordham, back on January 18.
Starting the day just a half of a game behind Dayton, VCU had an opportunity to keep pace with the Flyers atop the A-10 standings but will now head into a tough road contest at Dayton on Wednesday a full game back with a must-win road game in order to have any shot at winning an A-10 regular season title.
Jonathan Williams led the Rams off the bench with 14 points, his third consecutive double-digit effort. Ahmed Hamdy came off the bench with Williams to add 10 more points for the black and gold.
Only one VCU starter hit double-digits, JeQuan Lewis scoring 10 points on 5-12 shooting but missed all of his six three-point attempts in the loss.
Doug Brooks added six points but was just 1-5 from the field but led the Rams with eight rebounds on a night VCU was dominated on the glass, 47-32.
With the loss VCU falls to 23-6 on the season and 13-3 in A-10 play, now two games ahead of third place Rhode Island and Richmond.
A win on Wednesday would tie the Rams with Dayton but thanks to one win over the Flyers already would secure a head-to-head tie-breaker over UD if the two were to end up tied in the A-10 standings.
