A new season hits today as VCU welcomes the visiting La Salle Explorers to open conference play. The Rams ride a four-game winning streak into this one, dispatching their last two opponents by an average margin of 24.5 points. La Salle comes in following a road win at Howard, a victory that snapped a three-game losing streak prior to that.
VCU RAMS (9-4)
VCU RAMS (9-4)
LA SALLE EXPLORERS (6-7)[/HEADING=3]
A QUICK LOOK AT LA SALLE[/HEADING=3]
La Salle said goodbye to former head coach Ashley Howard this offseason after four consecutive disappointing seasons and made arguably one of the best hires of the offseason when bringing in alumnus and A-10 veteran, Fran Dunphy. Dunphy played his college hoops for the Explorers, but found coaching success at two Pennsylvania schools prior, leading both Penn and Temple to multiple NCAA tournaments, an impressive six with the Quakers and eight more with the Owls. He'll have perhaps his toughest challenge ahead of him at 20th and Olney, taking over a La Salle program who's resources rank well below their Atlantic 10 peers.
This year's Explorers showcase many of last season's players, while bringing in the Drame brothers as transfers from last season's surprise Elite 8 team, St. Peter's. So far things have gone about as well as you'd expect following last season's results with mostly the same group. La Salle's six wins (five shy of last season's total) have mostly come at home and against teams A-10 squads are expected to beat. La Salle has four wins over teams currently ranked 249th or worst on kenpom, three by single digits. Their two other wins came agains No.181 Queens without head coach Grant Leonard who was serving a suspension at the time and over Big 5 rival Pennsylvania in overtime.
The Explorers have struggled on both sides of the ball, ranking 288th in adjusted offensive efficiency and 216th on defense. What they've been decent at however, is something that could serve them well today, which is limiting offensive turnovers...somewhat.
La Salle ranks 132nd nationally in turnover percentage offense, BUT...that's one positive stat that could prove misleading, as La Salle has played just one top-100 turnover defense (Wagner at No.97) so far this season.
The Explorers and Rams met just once this past season, VCU winning that contest 85-66 at the Siegel Center.
A QUICK LOOK AT VCU[/HEADING=3]
The story of this year's Rams so far this season is one we've seen a bit on Broad St under Mike Rhoades and Co., that being a team that is typically carried by their defense and occasionally flashes some offensive potential. This season that offensive promise was on display in their last two contests, with the Rams showing incredible efficiency offensively against both Navy and Northern Illinois.
A huge part of that offensive efficiency has come or gone with the performances of Jamir Watkins and Jalen DeLoach. DeLoach has been incredibly efficiency scoring inside the arc for VCU as of late and more often than not, has been a bit improved when it comes to limiting turnovers.
Watkins has arguably the highest ceiling of any player on this year's team (or any VCU player to hit Broad St in some time) due to his rare combination of size, skill and athleticism, but like DeLoach has had some turnover issues early. More often than not, Watkins has limited those turnovers as of late and when more active inside the arc (averaging 8.5 attempts inside the three-point line over his last two) has really ramped up his efficiency.
VCU's biggest wart on the season has been a turnover offense that ranks 335th nationally. They have shown improvement there however, turning it over just nine times in the win against Navy and 13 in the game before that against Northern Illinois. They'll face an Explorers team today that hasn't been particularly deadly at turning teams over.
TALE OF THE TAPE[/HEADING=3]
Scoring Offense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 68.6, LAS 68.2</span>
Scoring Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 63.2, LAS 72.7</span>
Effective Field Goal% Offense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 49.4%, LAS 47.5%</span>
Effective Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 46.6%, LAS 51.4%</span>
3-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #ff0000;">LAS 33.1%, VCU 31%</span>
3-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 33.3%, LAS 35.3%</span>
2-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 51%, LAS 46.2%</span>
2-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 45%, LAS 50.5%</span>
Rebounds per game: <span style="color: #ff0000;">LAS 33.5, VCU 32.8</span>
Turnover% Offense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">LAS 18.2%, VCU 22.4%</span>
Turnover% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 25.2%, LAS 19%</span>
VCU WINS IF[/HEADING=3]
On paper this is really another one of those "if VCU doesn't beat themselves" games. That however, has been an issue thanks to the aforementioned turnover issue. So really the key to the black and gold starting A-10 play on the right side of the win column is by once again playing a focused game with the Rams playing inside out, keeping the ball hot (meaning more crisp passing, less dribbling) and doing what VCU tends to do defensively. I'm mostly looking forward to seeing the continued improvement of both Watkins and DeLoach. Their ceilings really are the ultimate ceiling of this team in my opinion. I'm confident in the consistency of Baldwin and Johns Jr. at this point, want to see more consitency from Nunn, but think the growth of VCU's two promising sophomores is the key to have far this Rams team can go this season.
Kenpom: 74-62 VCU win with an 87% chance of a Rams victory.
Game tips at 2PM at the Stuart C. Siegel Center in Richmond, VA
Watch: MASN
Listen: <a href="https://www.iheart.com/live/fox-sports-910-richmond-2461/?autoplay=true&pname=1248&campid=header&cid=index.html">Fox Sports 910 AM & 98.5 FM</a>
Live Tweets: <a href="https://twitter.com/vcuramnation">@VCURamNation</a>
La Salle said goodbye to former head coach Ashley Howard this offseason after four consecutive disappointing seasons and made arguably one of the best hires of the offseason when bringing in alumnus and A-10 veteran, Fran Dunphy. Dunphy played his college hoops for the Explorers, but found coaching success at two Pennsylvania schools prior, leading both Penn and Temple to multiple NCAA tournaments, an impressive six with the Quakers and eight more with the Owls. He'll have perhaps his toughest challenge ahead of him at 20th and Olney, taking over a La Salle program who's resources rank well below their Atlantic 10 peers.
This year's Explorers showcase many of last season's players, while bringing in the Drame brothers as transfers from last season's surprise Elite 8 team, St. Peter's. So far things have gone about as well as you'd expect following last season's results with mostly the same group. La Salle's six wins (five shy of last season's total) have mostly come at home and against teams A-10 squads are expected to beat. La Salle has four wins over teams currently ranked 249th or worst on kenpom, three by single digits. Their two other wins came agains No.181 Queens without head coach Grant Leonard who was serving a suspension at the time and over Big 5 rival Pennsylvania in overtime.
The Explorers have struggled on both sides of the ball, ranking 288th in adjusted offensive efficiency and 216th on defense. What they've been decent at however, is something that could serve them well today, which is limiting offensive turnovers...somewhat.
La Salle ranks 132nd nationally in turnover percentage offense, BUT...that's one positive stat that could prove misleading, as La Salle has played just one top-100 turnover defense (Wagner at No.97) so far this season.
The Explorers and Rams met just once this past season, VCU winning that contest 85-66 at the Siegel Center.
A QUICK LOOK AT VCU[/HEADING=3]
The story of this year's Rams so far this season is one we've seen a bit on Broad St under Mike Rhoades and Co., that being a team that is typically carried by their defense and occasionally flashes some offensive potential. This season that offensive promise was on display in their last two contests, with the Rams showing incredible efficiency offensively against both Navy and Northern Illinois.
A huge part of that offensive efficiency has come or gone with the performances of Jamir Watkins and Jalen DeLoach. DeLoach has been incredibly efficiency scoring inside the arc for VCU as of late and more often than not, has been a bit improved when it comes to limiting turnovers.
Watkins has arguably the highest ceiling of any player on this year's team (or any VCU player to hit Broad St in some time) due to his rare combination of size, skill and athleticism, but like DeLoach has had some turnover issues early. More often than not, Watkins has limited those turnovers as of late and when more active inside the arc (averaging 8.5 attempts inside the three-point line over his last two) has really ramped up his efficiency.
VCU's biggest wart on the season has been a turnover offense that ranks 335th nationally. They have shown improvement there however, turning it over just nine times in the win against Navy and 13 in the game before that against Northern Illinois. They'll face an Explorers team today that hasn't been particularly deadly at turning teams over.
TALE OF THE TAPE[/HEADING=3]
Scoring Offense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 68.6, LAS 68.2</span>
Scoring Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 63.2, LAS 72.7</span>
Effective Field Goal% Offense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 49.4%, LAS 47.5%</span>
Effective Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 46.6%, LAS 51.4%</span>
3-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #ff0000;">LAS 33.1%, VCU 31%</span>
3-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 33.3%, LAS 35.3%</span>
2-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 51%, LAS 46.2%</span>
2-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 45%, LAS 50.5%</span>
Rebounds per game: <span style="color: #ff0000;">LAS 33.5, VCU 32.8</span>
Turnover% Offense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">LAS 18.2%, VCU 22.4%</span>
Turnover% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 25.2%, LAS 19%</span>
VCU WINS IF[/HEADING=3]
On paper this is really another one of those "if VCU doesn't beat themselves" games. That however, has been an issue thanks to the aforementioned turnover issue. So really the key to the black and gold starting A-10 play on the right side of the win column is by once again playing a focused game with the Rams playing inside out, keeping the ball hot (meaning more crisp passing, less dribbling) and doing what VCU tends to do defensively. I'm mostly looking forward to seeing the continued improvement of both Watkins and DeLoach. Their ceilings really are the ultimate ceiling of this team in my opinion. I'm confident in the consistency of Baldwin and Johns Jr. at this point, want to see more consitency from Nunn, but think the growth of VCU's two promising sophomores is the key to have far this Rams team can go this season.
Kenpom: 74-62 VCU win with an 87% chance of a Rams victory.
Game tips at 2PM at the Stuart C. Siegel Center in Richmond, VA
Watch: MASN
Listen: <a href="https://www.iheart.com/live/fox-sports-910-richmond-2461/?autoplay=true&pname=1248&campid=header&cid=index.html">Fox Sports 910 AM & 98.5 FM</a>
Live Tweets: <a href="https://twitter.com/vcuramnation">@VCURamNation</a>
Scoring Offense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 68.6, LAS 68.2</span>
Scoring Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 63.2, LAS 72.7</span>
Effective Field Goal% Offense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 49.4%, LAS 47.5%</span>
Effective Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 46.6%, LAS 51.4%</span>
3-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #ff0000;">LAS 33.1%, VCU 31%</span>
3-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 33.3%, LAS 35.3%</span>
2-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 51%, LAS 46.2%</span>
2-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 45%, LAS 50.5%</span>
Rebounds per game: <span style="color: #ff0000;">LAS 33.5, VCU 32.8</span>
Turnover% Offense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">LAS 18.2%, VCU 22.4%</span>
Turnover% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 25.2%, LAS 19%</span>
