Recently I ran a poll through the VCU Ram Nation Twitter account asking which Atlantic 10 opponent do Ram fans hate the most. While the winner was to no one's surprise, Richmond, receiving 54% of the vote, the Rhode Island Rams grabbed 37% of the 416 votes cast. That's been the mood between these two lately thanks largely to Rhode Island doing a good bit of dominating in this matchup including a 15-point Rhody win at the Siegel Center this past month. The Keaney blue Rams have snuck up as a new bitter rival of VCU's thanks to a recent 1-7 record against Mike Rhoades' Rams since he became head coach and winners of nine of the last 10 games in this series.
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VCU (12-4, 5-2)
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VCU (12-4, 5-2)
RHODE ISLAND (9-9, 6-5)[/HEADING=3]
A QUICK LOOK AT RHODE ISLAND[/HEADING=3]
For starters, Rhody enters tonight's contest with an injured Fatts Russell, who up to the posting of this article, appears to be set to play tonight with a couple of injuries (right heel, core muscle). Russell dropped 23 points on the black and gold in the previous meeting and hung 30 on VCU this past season in the last meeting between the two. Needless to say, his productivity has gone a long way in this matchup. His effectiveness though via his injuries remains to be seen. Russell played just 19 minutes in Rhody's last contest, an 11-point loss at Dayton. He was 1-6 from the field.
Whatever slack needs to be picked up will be placed upon the shoulders of Richmond native, Jeremy Sheppard, a John Marshall grad who went for 20 points in his first contest against the Rams on the Siegel Center floor he spent some time on during high school. Freshman Ish Leggett and Syracuse transfer, Jalen Carey, stand in line for the bulk of any other minutes potentially vacated by Russell. Leggett has been an efficient scoring guard so far to start his career, checking in with a 63.4% career true shooting percentage (he's great at drawing fouls) whereas Carey's efficiency struggles he saw at Syracuse have followed him to Kingston (a miserable 35.9% true shooting percentage).
Like VCU, Rhode Island has struggled with offensive consistency, but boasts a top-40 defense. Statistically Rhody has been a bit better in A-10 action offensively, but a hair behind the black and gold on D.
One area they have shined has been in dominating the free throw battle. Rhody ranks 3rd in the A-10 in free throw rate offense and tops in free throw rate D, a potentially annoying duo for VCU tonight.
One area they have really struggled however, has been in turnover offense. Rhody turned the ball over 19 times in the last matchup between these two (although VCU could not capitalize on those) and ranks 13th in-conference in turnover percentage offense. A limited Fatts Russell, the team's surest ball handler, could add to those struggles if he sees much time on the bench this evening.
A QUICK LOOK AT VCU[/HEADING=3]
The Rams bounced back from a miserable second half at St. Bonaventure to win their last two contests with relative ease, limiting Dayton to just 43 points in a 23-point win, then following it up with an 11-point victory over La Salle. A huge key in each win was in limiting their opponents from distance, holding Dayton to just 3-20 shooting beyond the arc followed by a 6-22 showing from La Salle.
Good old fashioned defense.
The Rams weren't lights out offensively in either contest, but won the way the best VCU teams have done in the post-Final 4 era, by playing top-25 caliber D.
A huge part of that has been via VCU ranking No.1 nationally in steals percentage and No.3 in defensive blocks percentage. Hard to score when the opposing teams is always stealing the ball from you and block your shots and that's exactly what VCU has been doing. The Rams boast two top-60 shot blockers in Corey Douglas (No.59 nationally at 8%) and Hason Ward (No.6 nationally at 13.6%) and have the nation's No.1 steals man in sophomore Tre Clark, who is swiping the ball from VCU's opponents 6.2% of their possessions.
TALE OF THE TAPE[/HEADING=3]
Scoring Offense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 74.3, URI 71.8</span>
Scoring Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 65.1, URI 68.6</span>
Effective Field Goal% Offense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 51.9%, URI 50.6%</span>
Effective Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 45.1%, URI 46.2%</span>
3-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 34%, URI 32.8%</span>
3-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 30.1%, URI 31.4%</span>
2-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 52.5%, URI 51.2%</span>
2-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 45.1%, VCU 45.6%</span>
Rebounds per game: <span style="color: #ff0000;">URI 38.4, VCU 34.9</span>
Turnover% Offense:<span style="color: #ff0000;"> URI 21.1%, VCU 21.6%</span>
Turnover% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 25.3%, URI 18%</span>
VCU WINS IF[/HEADING=3]
So many things clearly need to happen to get over the hump against a team that has had your number, but the key to me is winning the battle of the backcourt. Russell, Sheppard and Betrand combined for 56 of Rhody's 83 points a month ago. They went a combined 6-11 from 3 (54.5%) and scored 16 points at the stripe, each scoring over 1.2 points per possession (note: that's very good). It's been a lot of that in this matchup, so VCU needs to figure out a way to win that battle to turn the corner in this matchup and to continue our quest to compete for a 2021 A-10 regular season title despite being picked to finish 9th in the conference.
Kenpom: 68-67 VCU loss with a 46% chance of a Rams victory.
Game tips at 7PM at the Riley Center in Kingston, RI
Watch: ESPN+
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>
For starters, Rhody enters tonight's contest with an injured Fatts Russell, who up to the posting of this article, appears to be set to play tonight with a couple of injuries (right heel, core muscle). Russell dropped 23 points on the black and gold in the previous meeting and hung 30 on VCU this past season in the last meeting between the two. Needless to say, his productivity has gone a long way in this matchup. His effectiveness though via his injuries remains to be seen. Russell played just 19 minutes in Rhody's last contest, an 11-point loss at Dayton. He was 1-6 from the field.
Whatever slack needs to be picked up will be placed upon the shoulders of Richmond native, Jeremy Sheppard, a John Marshall grad who went for 20 points in his first contest against the Rams on the Siegel Center floor he spent some time on during high school. Freshman Ish Leggett and Syracuse transfer, Jalen Carey, stand in line for the bulk of any other minutes potentially vacated by Russell. Leggett has been an efficient scoring guard so far to start his career, checking in with a 63.4% career true shooting percentage (he's great at drawing fouls) whereas Carey's efficiency struggles he saw at Syracuse have followed him to Kingston (a miserable 35.9% true shooting percentage).
Like VCU, Rhode Island has struggled with offensive consistency, but boasts a top-40 defense. Statistically Rhody has been a bit better in A-10 action offensively, but a hair behind the black and gold on D.
One area they have shined has been in dominating the free throw battle. Rhody ranks 3rd in the A-10 in free throw rate offense and tops in free throw rate D, a potentially annoying duo for VCU tonight.
One area they have really struggled however, has been in turnover offense. Rhody turned the ball over 19 times in the last matchup between these two (although VCU could not capitalize on those) and ranks 13th in-conference in turnover percentage offense. A limited Fatts Russell, the team's surest ball handler, could add to those struggles if he sees much time on the bench this evening.
A QUICK LOOK AT VCU[/HEADING=3]
The Rams bounced back from a miserable second half at St. Bonaventure to win their last two contests with relative ease, limiting Dayton to just 43 points in a 23-point win, then following it up with an 11-point victory over La Salle. A huge key in each win was in limiting their opponents from distance, holding Dayton to just 3-20 shooting beyond the arc followed by a 6-22 showing from La Salle.
Good old fashioned defense.
The Rams weren't lights out offensively in either contest, but won the way the best VCU teams have done in the post-Final 4 era, by playing top-25 caliber D.
A huge part of that has been via VCU ranking No.1 nationally in steals percentage and No.3 in defensive blocks percentage. Hard to score when the opposing teams is always stealing the ball from you and block your shots and that's exactly what VCU has been doing. The Rams boast two top-60 shot blockers in Corey Douglas (No.59 nationally at 8%) and Hason Ward (No.6 nationally at 13.6%) and have the nation's No.1 steals man in sophomore Tre Clark, who is swiping the ball from VCU's opponents 6.2% of their possessions.
TALE OF THE TAPE[/HEADING=3]
Scoring Offense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 74.3, URI 71.8</span>
Scoring Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 65.1, URI 68.6</span>
Effective Field Goal% Offense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 51.9%, URI 50.6%</span>
Effective Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 45.1%, URI 46.2%</span>
3-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 34%, URI 32.8%</span>
3-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 30.1%, URI 31.4%</span>
2-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 52.5%, URI 51.2%</span>
2-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 45.1%, VCU 45.6%</span>
Rebounds per game: <span style="color: #ff0000;">URI 38.4, VCU 34.9</span>
Turnover% Offense:<span style="color: #ff0000;"> URI 21.1%, VCU 21.6%</span>
Turnover% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 25.3%, URI 18%</span>
VCU WINS IF[/HEADING=3]
So many things clearly need to happen to get over the hump against a team that has had your number, but the key to me is winning the battle of the backcourt. Russell, Sheppard and Betrand combined for 56 of Rhody's 83 points a month ago. They went a combined 6-11 from 3 (54.5%) and scored 16 points at the stripe, each scoring over 1.2 points per possession (note: that's very good). It's been a lot of that in this matchup, so VCU needs to figure out a way to win that battle to turn the corner in this matchup and to continue our quest to compete for a 2021 A-10 regular season title despite being picked to finish 9th in the conference.
Kenpom: 68-67 VCU loss with a 46% chance of a Rams victory.
Game tips at 7PM at the Riley Center in Kingston, RI
Watch: ESPN+
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 74.3, URI 71.8</span>
Scoring Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 65.1, URI 68.6</span>
Effective Field Goal% Offense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 51.9%, URI 50.6%</span>
Effective Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 45.1%, URI 46.2%</span>
3-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 34%, URI 32.8%</span>
3-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 30.1%, URI 31.4%</span>
2-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 52.5%, URI 51.2%</span>
2-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 45.1%, VCU 45.6%</span>
Rebounds per game: <span style="color: #ff0000;">URI 38.4, VCU 34.9</span>
Turnover% Offense:<span style="color: #ff0000;"> URI 21.1%, VCU 21.6%</span>
Turnover% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 25.3%, URI 18%</span>
