Crosstown rivals will tip it up for the first game in an A-10 home-and-home series that has been historically controlled by the black and gold. Despite Richmond's experience and preseason hype, they have found themselves a disappointing 1-6 as of right now against kenpom top-100 teams and enter today's contest against the 70th-ranked Rams hoping to avoid their third Atlantic 10 home loss. VCU avenged a home loss to Davidson with a tight road W in Belk and are looking for another resume-helping road victory today at the Robins Center. It will be VCU's first game there since Feb 15, 2020, an 18-point blowout loss that featured an almost identical roster to the one VCU will take on today.
[am4show have='' not_have='' user_error='' guest_error='' require_all='']
VCU (12-6, 5-2)
[am4show have='' not_have='' user_error='' guest_error='' require_all='']
VCU (12-6, 5-2)
RICHMOND (13-7, 4-3)[/HEADING=3]
A QUICK LOOK AT RICHMOND[/HEADING=3]
The thought with this extremely experienced/old Richmond team is that experience would somehow guarantee one of Chris Mooney's best seasons ever at UofR, potentially a job-saving season even. That has not been the case. The Spiders have for the most part avoided bad losses -- a bizarre 27-point home L to kenpom No.148 St. Joe's being the exception -- but have lost pretty much every single big game they have played in, highlighting the mediocrity of the Chris Mooney tenure that just a couple of seasons ago led anonymous Spider fans to pay for a building demanding he lose his job.
Statistically this is the worst Spider offense since the 2019 edition of this group that finished 13-20 on the year, not a bad offense at all, top-100 in fact, but not enough offense to bail out what has been a pretty mediocre defense. The last two seasons for Richmond saw top-100 adjusted defensively rankings, but so far the Spiders rank No.117 in that stat through 20 games this season. Not bad, but not living up to expectations either.
So all-in-all what you have here is a team coming nowhere close to expectations, but one that has still be solid and is a very dangerous group for VCU today.
Jacob Gilyard, Grant Gold and Nick Sherod are once again three key pieces to this group, but junior Tyler Burton is now arguably the team's best player. The versatile/athletic 6'7 wing leads Richmond in scoring at 16.6 per contest and has been the team's most dependable three-point shooter at 41.2% on a squad that otherwise has struggled with consistency there. Burton along with the aforementioned trio see big minutes for the Spiders and are joined by power forward Nathan Cayo, senior forward Andrew Gustavson and Golden's backup, Matt Grace, as really the core group of this team. Sophomore guard, Isaiah Wilson caught big minutes early in the year, but has played 11 or fewer in Richmond's last four contests.
Like always, the Spiders have their struggles with rebounding and defense, but stay dangerous thanks to Chris Mooney's Princetown hybrid offense that finds easy buckets all day long and can be exhausting for opposing defenses to defend. They also help themselves by not hurting themselves, ranking sixth nationally in turnover percentage offense and third in non-steal turnover percentage, something to watch against VCU's second-ranked turnover defense today.
<h4>A QUICK LOOK AT VCU</h4>
You're familiar with these guys, so you know just how elite the VCU defense is. But did you know the Rams currently ranked first in Atlantic 10 play in three-point offense? That is a scary new wrinkle that I pray nightly will continue. Senior, Vince Williams, has hit 51.4% of his threes in conference games while sophomore, Ace Baldwin, is attempting to keep pace at 50% himself. Both are just barely outpacing Marcus Tsohonis' 48%, while Jayden Nunn has been inconsistent, but when hot gives VCU yet another surprisingly dangerous three-point threat for a VCU offense that has otherwise struggled all season.
VCU's biggest challenge on that side of the ball has come via turnovers. The Rams rank 326th nationally in turnover percentage offense on the year and rank 10th there in A-10 play. But VCU's main issue within the league has been their massive negative free throw margin.
Free throw attempts margin in VCU’s A-10 games
@ Dayton -25
@ La Salle even
v GW -4
@ St. Bonaventure -19
v Davidson -5
v St. Joe’s -5
@ Davidson -15
So there you have it, a -10.4 free throw disadvantage average per game in A-10 play this season. The Rams have had a tough time getting the whistle on offense and a terrible time avoiding it on D. The fact they wont both those road contests at Dayton and Davidson though shows you just how hard this Rams squad is to kill. Imagine how dangerous they'd be with a friendly whistle one night?
TALE OF THE TAPE[/HEADING=3]
Scoring Offense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 74.1, VCU 63.4</span>
Scoring Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 58.7, UR 70.5</span>
Effective Field Goal% Offense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 52.4%, VCU 49.4%</span>
Effective Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 42.6%, UR 51%</span>
3-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 34.1%, UR 33.7%</span>
3-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 26.1%, UR 35.7%</span>
2-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 53.7%, VCU 48.6%</span>
2-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 44.4%, UR 49.5%</span>
Rebounds per game: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 32.7, VCU 31.9</span>
Turnover% Offense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 13.7%, VCU 21.6%</span>
Turnover% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 26.8%, UR 19.5%</span>
VCU WINS IF[/HEADING=3]
The Rams actually lost the turnover battle in this one the last time they played by 10, but managed to win by 12 by dominating the paint and completely erasing the three-point line for Richmond. The Rams out-rebounded Richmond by 16 in the win and finished 63.9% of their shots inside the arc. Bones Hyland led VCU with 20 in the win, while Jamie Watkins finished with 10, almost half of the Rams points the day, so if the Rams are to replicate that formula it will have to be with some new faces. To me, this is an extremely similar matchup to the one VCU just saw at Davidson. I really think what allowed the Rams to survive that one was a more controlled offense from the black and gold (plus that consistent VCU D that just always seems to show up). The Rams finished with just seven turnovers and I thought past up some shots they'd normally take for more much better shots. That type of control is a must today against a Spiders team that creates a lot turnovers on D and a lot of easy buckets on the other end.
Kenpom: 64-63 VCU loss with a 45% chance of a Rams victory.
Game tips at 4PM at the Robins Center in Richmond, VA
Watch: CBS SportsNet
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>
The thought with this extremely experienced/old Richmond team is that experience would somehow guarantee one of Chris Mooney's best seasons ever at UofR, potentially a job-saving season even. That has not been the case. The Spiders have for the most part avoided bad losses -- a bizarre 27-point home L to kenpom No.148 St. Joe's being the exception -- but have lost pretty much every single big game they have played in, highlighting the mediocrity of the Chris Mooney tenure that just a couple of seasons ago led anonymous Spider fans to pay for a building demanding he lose his job.
Statistically this is the worst Spider offense since the 2019 edition of this group that finished 13-20 on the year, not a bad offense at all, top-100 in fact, but not enough offense to bail out what has been a pretty mediocre defense. The last two seasons for Richmond saw top-100 adjusted defensively rankings, but so far the Spiders rank No.117 in that stat through 20 games this season. Not bad, but not living up to expectations either.
So all-in-all what you have here is a team coming nowhere close to expectations, but one that has still be solid and is a very dangerous group for VCU today.
Jacob Gilyard, Grant Gold and Nick Sherod are once again three key pieces to this group, but junior Tyler Burton is now arguably the team's best player. The versatile/athletic 6'7 wing leads Richmond in scoring at 16.6 per contest and has been the team's most dependable three-point shooter at 41.2% on a squad that otherwise has struggled with consistency there. Burton along with the aforementioned trio see big minutes for the Spiders and are joined by power forward Nathan Cayo, senior forward Andrew Gustavson and Golden's backup, Matt Grace, as really the core group of this team. Sophomore guard, Isaiah Wilson caught big minutes early in the year, but has played 11 or fewer in Richmond's last four contests.
Like always, the Spiders have their struggles with rebounding and defense, but stay dangerous thanks to Chris Mooney's Princetown hybrid offense that finds easy buckets all day long and can be exhausting for opposing defenses to defend. They also help themselves by not hurting themselves, ranking sixth nationally in turnover percentage offense and third in non-steal turnover percentage, something to watch against VCU's second-ranked turnover defense today.
<h4>A QUICK LOOK AT VCU</h4>
You're familiar with these guys, so you know just how elite the VCU defense is. But did you know the Rams currently ranked first in Atlantic 10 play in three-point offense? That is a scary new wrinkle that I pray nightly will continue. Senior, Vince Williams, has hit 51.4% of his threes in conference games while sophomore, Ace Baldwin, is attempting to keep pace at 50% himself. Both are just barely outpacing Marcus Tsohonis' 48%, while Jayden Nunn has been inconsistent, but when hot gives VCU yet another surprisingly dangerous three-point threat for a VCU offense that has otherwise struggled all season.
VCU's biggest challenge on that side of the ball has come via turnovers. The Rams rank 326th nationally in turnover percentage offense on the year and rank 10th there in A-10 play. But VCU's main issue within the league has been their massive negative free throw margin.
Free throw attempts margin in VCU’s A-10 games
@ Dayton -25
@ La Salle even
v GW -4
@ St. Bonaventure -19
v Davidson -5
v St. Joe’s -5
@ Davidson -15
So there you have it, a -10.4 free throw disadvantage average per game in A-10 play this season. The Rams have had a tough time getting the whistle on offense and a terrible time avoiding it on D. The fact they wont both those road contests at Dayton and Davidson though shows you just how hard this Rams squad is to kill. Imagine how dangerous they'd be with a friendly whistle one night?
TALE OF THE TAPE[/HEADING=3]
Scoring Offense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 74.1, VCU 63.4</span>
Scoring Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 58.7, UR 70.5</span>
Effective Field Goal% Offense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 52.4%, VCU 49.4%</span>
Effective Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 42.6%, UR 51%</span>
3-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 34.1%, UR 33.7%</span>
3-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 26.1%, UR 35.7%</span>
2-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 53.7%, VCU 48.6%</span>
2-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 44.4%, UR 49.5%</span>
Rebounds per game: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 32.7, VCU 31.9</span>
Turnover% Offense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 13.7%, VCU 21.6%</span>
Turnover% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 26.8%, UR 19.5%</span>
VCU WINS IF[/HEADING=3]
The Rams actually lost the turnover battle in this one the last time they played by 10, but managed to win by 12 by dominating the paint and completely erasing the three-point line for Richmond. The Rams out-rebounded Richmond by 16 in the win and finished 63.9% of their shots inside the arc. Bones Hyland led VCU with 20 in the win, while Jamie Watkins finished with 10, almost half of the Rams points the day, so if the Rams are to replicate that formula it will have to be with some new faces. To me, this is an extremely similar matchup to the one VCU just saw at Davidson. I really think what allowed the Rams to survive that one was a more controlled offense from the black and gold (plus that consistent VCU D that just always seems to show up). The Rams finished with just seven turnovers and I thought past up some shots they'd normally take for more much better shots. That type of control is a must today against a Spiders team that creates a lot turnovers on D and a lot of easy buckets on the other end.
Kenpom: 64-63 VCU loss with a 45% chance of a Rams victory.
Game tips at 4PM at the Robins Center in Richmond, VA
Watch: CBS SportsNet
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>
The Rams actually lost the turnover battle in this one the last time they played by 10, but managed to win by 12 by dominating the paint and completely erasing the three-point line for Richmond. The Rams out-rebounded Richmond by 16 in the win and finished 63.9% of their shots inside the arc. Bones Hyland led VCU with 20 in the win, while Jamie Watkins finished with 10, almost half of the Rams points the day, so if the Rams are to replicate that formula it will have to be with some new faces. To me, this is an extremely similar matchup to the one VCU just saw at Davidson. I really think what allowed the Rams to survive that one was a more controlled offense from the black and gold (plus that consistent VCU D that just always seems to show up). The Rams finished with just seven turnovers and I thought past up some shots they'd normally take for more much better shots. That type of control is a must today against a Spiders team that creates a lot turnovers on D and a lot of easy buckets on the other end.
Kenpom: 64-63 VCU loss with a 45% chance of a Rams victory.
Game tips at 4PM at the Robins Center in Richmond, VA
Watch: CBS SportsNet
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>
