The Rams and Longhorns wrap up the home-and-home series scheduled via former head coach Shaka Smart's buyout tonight in Austin, the black and gold looking to avenge last season's 4-point Siegel Center loss, Texas looking to shake off an upset home loss to the Highlanders of Radford. A win would give Mike Rhoades arguably his best win since joining the Rams and one VCU fans would likely remember for a very long time.
<h4>VCU (6-2)
TEXAS (5-2)</h4>
<h4>A QUICK LOOK AT TEXAS</h4>
In his fourth season since leaving VCU, Shaka Smart is looking to stay off the hot seat in Austin and a three-game losing streak is something the former Rams coach will hope to avoid tonight. Texas won their first five contests, a stretch that included top-100 wins over the likes of Arkansas (kenpom No.51) and North Carolina (No.7). After a strong opening half against Michigan State, the wheels came off a bit for UT, getting outscored by 18 in the second half to drop a 10-point loss to the Spartans, only to follow that up with a stunning home loss to a perhaps underrated Radford Highlanders team. The Longhorns shot a combined 14-61 from three in the two losses, highlighting a season-long weakness for Smart's squad. Texas ranks 298th nationally in three-point shooting at 29.3%, which has become a three-year trend for this group of guards at Texas. The Horns shot 29.2% two seasons ago and followed that up with 32% (316th nationally) last season. This past season UT helped make up for that weakness by not turning the ball over while attacking the hoop on offense -- UT finished 54% of their twos against VCU last season) -- and playing a suffocating defense. Smart's squad finished 12th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency last season thanks largely to the shot-blocking skills of the recently drafted Mo Bamba, and surprisingly have actually improved on their blocks percentage this year (up 0.3%) without him. This year's Texas group may be Smart's first season of havoc-wreakers at UT as well. The Longhorns rank 25th nationally in turnover percentage D, just 0.2% behind your VCU Rams. Offensively UT is led by returning leading scorers Kerwin Roach (16.7 ppg) and Dylan Osetkowski (11.9 ppg, 9.1 rpg) with 757 native, Matt Coleman (9.6 ppg, 3.6) joining Roach for the majority of backcourt minutes. That trio has been joined by promising freshman, Jaxson Hayes. The former top-100 recruit is averaging just 20.6 minutes for the Horns but checks in at third on the team in scoring at 10.1 points. Hayes has quickly become the Longhorns' most efficient offensive player and is surprisingly blocking almost an equal percentage (13%) as Bamba did last season (13.2%). In so many ways this Texas team is almost a mirror of VCU, which perhaps will surprise no one given the history of Shaka Smart at VCU and Mike Rhoades as the Rams' Associate Head Coach under him.
<h4>A QUICK LOOK AT VCU</h4>
The Rams put together perhaps their most complete performance of the season this past weekend, blowing out Iona 88-59, the biggest stat of the night coming in the form of a 23-8 turnover advantage. Iona's turnovers on offense were perhaps to be expected from the nation's 285th worst turnover O, but defensively the usually pesky Gaels ran into a VCU team they likely expected more success against. Even after VCU's mere 8 turnovers, Iona ranks 63rd nationally in turnover D at 21.5%. The win also saw the black and gold climb a bit out of the three-point gutter, connecting on 36.7% of their 30 attempts from downtown, VCU's second best performance of the season from distance. Of VCU's non-freshman who had taken a DI three prior to this season, five of the seven (Evans, Gilmore, Vann, Jenkins, Mobley) are currently shooting below their career three-point average while just two (Simms and Crowfield) are shooting above. The average percentage change for that entire group is -6.9%, so don't be surprised if VCU's team average improves overall after a larger sample.  The Rams are shooting 30.1% from three as a team this season, down from 35.2% this past season. Rhoades' final Rice team that included Evans finished at 38.9% with Evans hitting 39% of his threes as an Owl (he's hitting 29.7% as a Ram). While I expect the three-point percentage to improve, I'm hoping this new VCU defense doesn't do some sort of regression to the means itself. The Rams have been lockdown this year on that side of the ball and are currently ranked the 19th best defense in the country by kenpom.com. The Rams have the third best defensive effective field goal percentage in all of DI college hoops.
TALE OF THE TAPE[/HEADING=3]
<h4>VCU (6-2)
TEXAS (5-2)</h4>
<h4>A QUICK LOOK AT TEXAS</h4>
In his fourth season since leaving VCU, Shaka Smart is looking to stay off the hot seat in Austin and a three-game losing streak is something the former Rams coach will hope to avoid tonight. Texas won their first five contests, a stretch that included top-100 wins over the likes of Arkansas (kenpom No.51) and North Carolina (No.7). After a strong opening half against Michigan State, the wheels came off a bit for UT, getting outscored by 18 in the second half to drop a 10-point loss to the Spartans, only to follow that up with a stunning home loss to a perhaps underrated Radford Highlanders team. The Longhorns shot a combined 14-61 from three in the two losses, highlighting a season-long weakness for Smart's squad. Texas ranks 298th nationally in three-point shooting at 29.3%, which has become a three-year trend for this group of guards at Texas. The Horns shot 29.2% two seasons ago and followed that up with 32% (316th nationally) last season. This past season UT helped make up for that weakness by not turning the ball over while attacking the hoop on offense -- UT finished 54% of their twos against VCU last season) -- and playing a suffocating defense. Smart's squad finished 12th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency last season thanks largely to the shot-blocking skills of the recently drafted Mo Bamba, and surprisingly have actually improved on their blocks percentage this year (up 0.3%) without him. This year's Texas group may be Smart's first season of havoc-wreakers at UT as well. The Longhorns rank 25th nationally in turnover percentage D, just 0.2% behind your VCU Rams. Offensively UT is led by returning leading scorers Kerwin Roach (16.7 ppg) and Dylan Osetkowski (11.9 ppg, 9.1 rpg) with 757 native, Matt Coleman (9.6 ppg, 3.6) joining Roach for the majority of backcourt minutes. That trio has been joined by promising freshman, Jaxson Hayes. The former top-100 recruit is averaging just 20.6 minutes for the Horns but checks in at third on the team in scoring at 10.1 points. Hayes has quickly become the Longhorns' most efficient offensive player and is surprisingly blocking almost an equal percentage (13%) as Bamba did last season (13.2%). In so many ways this Texas team is almost a mirror of VCU, which perhaps will surprise no one given the history of Shaka Smart at VCU and Mike Rhoades as the Rams' Associate Head Coach under him.
<h4>A QUICK LOOK AT VCU</h4>
The Rams put together perhaps their most complete performance of the season this past weekend, blowing out Iona 88-59, the biggest stat of the night coming in the form of a 23-8 turnover advantage. Iona's turnovers on offense were perhaps to be expected from the nation's 285th worst turnover O, but defensively the usually pesky Gaels ran into a VCU team they likely expected more success against. Even after VCU's mere 8 turnovers, Iona ranks 63rd nationally in turnover D at 21.5%. The win also saw the black and gold climb a bit out of the three-point gutter, connecting on 36.7% of their 30 attempts from downtown, VCU's second best performance of the season from distance. Of VCU's non-freshman who had taken a DI three prior to this season, five of the seven (Evans, Gilmore, Vann, Jenkins, Mobley) are currently shooting below their career three-point average while just two (Simms and Crowfield) are shooting above. The average percentage change for that entire group is -6.9%, so don't be surprised if VCU's team average improves overall after a larger sample.  The Rams are shooting 30.1% from three as a team this season, down from 35.2% this past season. Rhoades' final Rice team that included Evans finished at 38.9% with Evans hitting 39% of his threes as an Owl (he's hitting 29.7% as a Ram). While I expect the three-point percentage to improve, I'm hoping this new VCU defense doesn't do some sort of regression to the means itself. The Rams have been lockdown this year on that side of the ball and are currently ranked the 19th best defense in the country by kenpom.com. The Rams have the third best defensive effective field goal percentage in all of DI college hoops.
