The Rams look to go 2-0 within Philadelphia city limits this week, taking on La Salle today after making easy work of Saint Joseph's on Tuesday. It's a crucial road contest against a current A-10 bottom half team that has struggled in-conference (1-5). Having suffered two losses in A-10 play already, VCU must climb the rankings to keep pace with the four teams currently ahead of them for the crucial double-bye in the A-10 standings and that means taking care of business against Ashley Howard and Co. today at Tom Gola Arena.
VCU (14-5, 4-2)
VCU (14-5, 4-2)
LA SALLE (10-8, 1-5)[/HEADING=3]
A QUICK LOOK AT LA SALLE[/HEADING=3]
It's year-two of Ashley Howard's rebuild in Gola and the results have been pretty inconclusive. La Salle has done most of their damage this season against serious cupcakes and have competed against a couple of top-100s, namely near-misses against Temple (70-65) and at Rhode Island (66-63, plus a neutral court win over No.106 Wright State), but have yet to pick up the big win that moves the needle enough to get Explorer fans back on the bandwagon. What's worse is the Explorers have at times shown a tendency to look vulnerable against some bad teams as well, losing at home to Mason by double-digits, needing overtime to survive a home-opener against a struggling Iona team and getting throttled crosstown against Ivy League rival, Penn.
A lot of those struggles can be pinned to Howard's squad having a heck of a time figuring things out on offense.
La Salle has been one of the worst teams in the country at holding on to the ball offensively, ranking 310th nationally in offensive turnover percentage by handing it over one of every five trips down the court (VCU fans lick their lips). When they do manage to get a shot off, they've found little efficiency there, just a hair more accurate than last season's effective field goal percentage offense that ranked 311th in the nation.
Defensively however, La Salle appears to have taken some positive steps. The Explorers rank in the top-100 in adjusted defensive efficiency on the season, but have really struggled to maintain that level within conference, currently checking in at 12th in the A-10 thanks to the league's current worst effective field goal percentage D at 54.3%.
Like VCU, La Salle goes pretty deep into their bench, currently ranking 33rd in the country in bench minutes played. In tight games however, the Explorers go with a roughly seven-man rotation, headlined by leading scorer, Isiah Deas.
Deas is far from the team's most efficient hooper, but gets up just about 10 shots per contest, almost half of which come beyond the three-point arc. He leads the team with La Salle's only double-digit scoring average at 11.9 points and is shooting a solid 36.3% from distance.
He's joined in the starting lineup by sophomore rebounding machine, Ed Crosswell. The 6'8 Philly native has been the A-10's most aggressive big man on the offensive glass this season in-conference, snatching up 22% of his team's own missed shots when on the floor to currently rank tops in the conference. Crosswell is averaging and impressive 9.2 points and 7.2 rebounds in just 19.4 minutes per game.
That duo is joined by arguably the team's most dangerous player when on, 6'4 senior guard, Saul Phiri. Phiri connected on 43.2% of his threes in A-10 play last season and is getting shots up (about 4.5 per game) from distance. He's struggled a bit with his stroke this season, but on a good night gives La Salle a much-needed sniper for their struggling offense.
La Salle is not as three-point dependent as the Saint Joseph's team VCU just defeated, but do take 41.5% of their attempts from beyond the arc.
<h4>A QUICK LOOK AT VCU</h4>
VCU has been dipping deeper into their roster than ever before over their last two games, playing 10 players double-digit minutes at Saint Joseph's and just doing just about the same versus St. Bonaventure (Jarren McAllister played just over 9 minutes in that one) and so far the results from which have been pretty impressive.
The Rams have won their last two contests by an average margin of 20.5 points per game, never really being challenged in either.
Marcus Evans went down with a head injury at Saint Joseph's but is expected to play today. He had missed VCU's entire game against St. Bonaventure due to a nasty combo of the flu and concussion protocol, but should be back today to join what is become one of the A-10's best point guard duo's thanks to the emergence of freshman, Bones Hyland.
Hyland struggled to hit shots in the Rams recent win at Saint Joseph's, but is still one of the team's most reliable shooters this season, checking in at fourth on the teams in effective field goal percentage behind bigs Marcus Santos-Silva and Hasan Ward and senior sniper, Malik Crowfield.
The Rams have experimented with a Hyland/Evans backcourt at times and over the last two games have shown more double-big looks as well, allowing Corey Douglas to join Marcus Santos-Silva in the lineup, typically around the 16-minute mark of the first half, then having freshman Larry Sanders-clone, Hasan Ward, joining Douglas to give Santos-Silva a breather.
Even with the new two-big look, 6'5 senior wing, Mike'L Simms is grabbing most of the power forward minutes. Simms ranks fifth on the teams in minutes at 22.9 per contest.
On the year VCU has been improved offensively, but statistically have struggled a bit in-conference. The Rams looked much-improved from three during most of non-conference play, but are hitting just 29.5% of their Atlantic 10 threes heading into today's contest against a La Salle team that ranks 24th on the year in three-point defense (note however, La Salle ranks 12th among 14th A-10 teams in in-conference three-point D).
Fun stat: VCU's current leader on the season in overall box +/- is freshman Jarren McAllister at +8.6, just ahead of Marcus Santos-Silva's +8.1 and De'Riante Jenkins +8.
TALE OF THE TAPE[/HEADING=3]
Scoring Offense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 71.8, LAS 68.7</span>
Scoring Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 61.9, LAS 69.3</span>
Effective Field Goal% Offense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 49.5%, LAS 48.7%</span>
Effective Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 45.6%, LAS 47%</span>
3-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 34.2%, LAS 33.6%</span>
3-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">LAS 29.3%, VCU 31.9%</span>
2-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 48.5%, LAS 47.5%</span>
2-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 44.5%, LAS 48.7%</span>
Rebounds per game: <span style="color: #ff0000;">LAS 35.9, VCU 34.8</span>
Turnover% Offense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 18.1%, LAS 21.7%</span>
Turnover% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 25.8%, LAS 21%</span>
VCU WINS IF[/HEADING=3]
VCU's ability to limit La Salle from distance (while taking smart shots themselves on offense) will go a long way toward's how close this one is today. La Salle's best win of the season, a 72-70 victory over Wright State, took a 42.9% three-point shooting effort from the Explorers. The Rams would prefer La Salle got nowhere near that today in hopes of moving to 5-2 in conference heading into next week's huge games at home against Richmond and then on the road at Rhode Island.
Kenpom: 70-63 VCU win with an 73% chance of a Rams victory.
Game tips at noon at Tom Gola Arena in Philadelphia, PA
Watch: NBC Sports Network
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>
It's year-two of Ashley Howard's rebuild in Gola and the results have been pretty inconclusive. La Salle has done most of their damage this season against serious cupcakes and have competed against a couple of top-100s, namely near-misses against Temple (70-65) and at Rhode Island (66-63, plus a neutral court win over No.106 Wright State), but have yet to pick up the big win that moves the needle enough to get Explorer fans back on the bandwagon. What's worse is the Explorers have at times shown a tendency to look vulnerable against some bad teams as well, losing at home to Mason by double-digits, needing overtime to survive a home-opener against a struggling Iona team and getting throttled crosstown against Ivy League rival, Penn.
A lot of those struggles can be pinned to Howard's squad having a heck of a time figuring things out on offense.
La Salle has been one of the worst teams in the country at holding on to the ball offensively, ranking 310th nationally in offensive turnover percentage by handing it over one of every five trips down the court (VCU fans lick their lips). When they do manage to get a shot off, they've found little efficiency there, just a hair more accurate than last season's effective field goal percentage offense that ranked 311th in the nation.
Defensively however, La Salle appears to have taken some positive steps. The Explorers rank in the top-100 in adjusted defensive efficiency on the season, but have really struggled to maintain that level within conference, currently checking in at 12th in the A-10 thanks to the league's current worst effective field goal percentage D at 54.3%.
Like VCU, La Salle goes pretty deep into their bench, currently ranking 33rd in the country in bench minutes played. In tight games however, the Explorers go with a roughly seven-man rotation, headlined by leading scorer, Isiah Deas.
Deas is far from the team's most efficient hooper, but gets up just about 10 shots per contest, almost half of which come beyond the three-point arc. He leads the team with La Salle's only double-digit scoring average at 11.9 points and is shooting a solid 36.3% from distance.
He's joined in the starting lineup by sophomore rebounding machine, Ed Crosswell. The 6'8 Philly native has been the A-10's most aggressive big man on the offensive glass this season in-conference, snatching up 22% of his team's own missed shots when on the floor to currently rank tops in the conference. Crosswell is averaging and impressive 9.2 points and 7.2 rebounds in just 19.4 minutes per game.
That duo is joined by arguably the team's most dangerous player when on, 6'4 senior guard, Saul Phiri. Phiri connected on 43.2% of his threes in A-10 play last season and is getting shots up (about 4.5 per game) from distance. He's struggled a bit with his stroke this season, but on a good night gives La Salle a much-needed sniper for their struggling offense.
La Salle is not as three-point dependent as the Saint Joseph's team VCU just defeated, but do take 41.5% of their attempts from beyond the arc.
<h4>A QUICK LOOK AT VCU</h4>
VCU has been dipping deeper into their roster than ever before over their last two games, playing 10 players double-digit minutes at Saint Joseph's and just doing just about the same versus St. Bonaventure (Jarren McAllister played just over 9 minutes in that one) and so far the results from which have been pretty impressive.
The Rams have won their last two contests by an average margin of 20.5 points per game, never really being challenged in either.
Marcus Evans went down with a head injury at Saint Joseph's but is expected to play today. He had missed VCU's entire game against St. Bonaventure due to a nasty combo of the flu and concussion protocol, but should be back today to join what is become one of the A-10's best point guard duo's thanks to the emergence of freshman, Bones Hyland.
Hyland struggled to hit shots in the Rams recent win at Saint Joseph's, but is still one of the team's most reliable shooters this season, checking in at fourth on the teams in effective field goal percentage behind bigs Marcus Santos-Silva and Hasan Ward and senior sniper, Malik Crowfield.
The Rams have experimented with a Hyland/Evans backcourt at times and over the last two games have shown more double-big looks as well, allowing Corey Douglas to join Marcus Santos-Silva in the lineup, typically around the 16-minute mark of the first half, then having freshman Larry Sanders-clone, Hasan Ward, joining Douglas to give Santos-Silva a breather.
Even with the new two-big look, 6'5 senior wing, Mike'L Simms is grabbing most of the power forward minutes. Simms ranks fifth on the teams in minutes at 22.9 per contest.
On the year VCU has been improved offensively, but statistically have struggled a bit in-conference. The Rams looked much-improved from three during most of non-conference play, but are hitting just 29.5% of their Atlantic 10 threes heading into today's contest against a La Salle team that ranks 24th on the year in three-point defense (note however, La Salle ranks 12th among 14th A-10 teams in in-conference three-point D).
Fun stat: VCU's current leader on the season in overall box +/- is freshman Jarren McAllister at +8.6, just ahead of Marcus Santos-Silva's +8.1 and De'Riante Jenkins +8.
TALE OF THE TAPE[/HEADING=3]
Scoring Offense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 71.8, LAS 68.7</span>
Scoring Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 61.9, LAS 69.3</span>
Effective Field Goal% Offense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 49.5%, LAS 48.7%</span>
Effective Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 45.6%, LAS 47%</span>
3-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 34.2%, LAS 33.6%</span>
3-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">LAS 29.3%, VCU 31.9%</span>
2-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 48.5%, LAS 47.5%</span>
2-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 44.5%, LAS 48.7%</span>
Rebounds per game: <span style="color: #ff0000;">LAS 35.9, VCU 34.8</span>
Turnover% Offense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 18.1%, LAS 21.7%</span>
Turnover% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 25.8%, LAS 21%</span>
VCU WINS IF[/HEADING=3]
VCU's ability to limit La Salle from distance (while taking smart shots themselves on offense) will go a long way toward's how close this one is today. La Salle's best win of the season, a 72-70 victory over Wright State, took a 42.9% three-point shooting effort from the Explorers. The Rams would prefer La Salle got nowhere near that today in hopes of moving to 5-2 in conference heading into next week's huge games at home against Richmond and then on the road at Rhode Island.
Kenpom: 70-63 VCU win with an 73% chance of a Rams victory.
Game tips at noon at Tom Gola Arena in Philadelphia, PA
Watch: NBC Sports Network
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>
VCU's ability to limit La Salle from distance (while taking smart shots themselves on offense) will go a long way toward's how close this one is today. La Salle's best win of the season, a 72-70 victory over Wright State, took a 42.9% three-point shooting effort from the Explorers. The Rams would prefer La Salle got nowhere near that today in hopes of moving to 5-2 in conference heading into next week's huge games at home against Richmond and then on the road at Rhode Island.
Kenpom: 70-63 VCU win with an 73% chance of a Rams victory.
Game tips at noon at Tom Gola Arena in Philadelphia, PA
Watch: NBC Sports Network
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>
