The Rams are all of a sudden one of the hottest and most-improved teams in the nation, but face a George Mason team tonight that brings a dangerous bit of balance and one of the A-10's best big men to the Siegel Center. A win would keep VCU atop the A-10 standings while stacking the sixth straight win for VCU, while the loss against GMU would be VCU' second to the Patriots at home within the past three seasons.
VCU RAMS (15-5, 6-1)
VCU RAMS (15-5, 6-1)
GEORGE MASON PATRIOTS (12-8, 4-3)[/HEADING=3]
A QUICK LOOK AT GEORGE MASON[/HEADING=3]
The Patriots are hoping to keep improving under second-year coach, Kim English, a program that was once one of the most dangerous mid-majors in college hoops during their CAA times, but one that has been mediocre at best since joining the Atlantic 10 conference. So far this season English and Co. are about where they were last season, with almost an identical efficiency margin, but want to end up with conference record in the black as opposed to last season's 7-9 go prior to a disappointing loss to Fordham in the first round of the Atlantic 10 tournament.
Mason is once again off to a 4-3 start, but with a fairly manageable remaining conference slate are on track to finish at around 10-8, according to kenpom.com. The Patriots' best win in-conference so far is a less-than-sexy five-point home win over Richmond, but Mason nearly picked up a huge feather for their cap, but ultimately lost at Saint Louis, 63-62.
The Patriots are a solidly balanced team, ranking No.25 nationally in effective field goal percentage offense and a solid 84th in EFG% defense. They shoot the ball well, rebound well, defend well in the halfcourt, but have a weakness that turns out to match up miserable against VCU: turnovers.
Mason currently ranks 293rd nationally in turnover percentage offense and don't balance that out on D, checking in at 308th in TO% D.
MASON TURNOVER TOTALS IN A-10 GAMES (TO%) [OPPONENT TO% NATIONAL RANKING]
10 (15.9%) v Richmond [276]
12 (18.2%) at St. Bonaventure [112]
8 (11.1%) v Loyola [201]
17 (25%) at Saint Louis [349]
12 (18.5%) v Davidson [208]
17 (23.3%) v GW [291]
17 (23%) at Rhode Island [278]
Mason's turnover matchups in conference have been beyond manageable, meaning Mason will be stepping up in weight class tonight at the Siegel Center against the nation's sixth-ranked turnover defense. The Patriots had mixed results there in the non-conference, fairing well against Maryland Eastern Shore's pesky defense, but getting extremely bothered by Tulane, albeit in a win.
The Patriots play a very experienced starting group led by all-conference big man, Josh Oduro (14.9 ppg, 8.1 rpg). He's joined by Tennessee transfer Victor Bailey (12.3 ppg, 48.9% 3p%), DeVon Cooper (11.1 ppg) and Ronald Polite (10.6 ppg, 4 asts) as the team's double-digit scorers.
Mason has been without fellow Tennessee transfer, Davonte "Ticket" Gaines, the past six contests.
Mason is a very good shooting team, with Bailey (62.5% true shooting percentage) being a particularly dangerous three-point weapon and Oduro a load in the paint.
A QUICK LOOK AT VCU[/HEADING=3]
No clue how he comes up with this statistic (and too lazy currently to research), but Erik Haslam (@haslametrics on Twitter) recently tweeted that per his momentum metic, VCU ranks second in the nation right now as a team "play above their season norm", which tells you just how hot the Rams are. The big question following that fact though, is will VCU regress back to the mean OR...is this a VCU team that has finally figured it all out and with that, this is the team we are getting going forward.
Realistically it's likely a combination of the two.
For starters, David Shriver's 58.3% Atlantic 10 three-point shooting percentage seems unsustainable for a career 40% guy as does Jayden Nunn's 55.6% for someone who shot 31.8% from distance in A-10 play last season, but seeing how dramatically different and super defined the roles for guys like Nick Kern and Zeb Jackson are, how VCU has dialed back the usage of Tobi Lawal at the five spot as he learns the system and gains more experience, etc etc...all these types of coaching decisions that it quite clearly took all of the non-conference to figure out, leads me to believe that outside of the insane three-point numbers, this is certainly an extremely improved VCU team to the one that lost to Jacksonville by double-digits in the Stu back in early December.
VCU will have another big test in seeing if this is their true identity tonight against a very balance George Mason squad.
TALE OF THE TAPE[/HEADING=3]
Scoring Offense: <span style="color: #000000;">VCU 71.5, MASON 71.5</span>
Scoring Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 64.1, MASON 67.7</span>
Effective Field Goal% Offense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">MASON 54.3%, VCU 52.2%</span>
Effective Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 47.2%, MASON 47.8%</span>
3-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #ff0000;">MASON 36.8%, VCU 35.9%</span>
3-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">MASON 30.8%, VCU 32%</span>
2-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #ff0000;">MASON 53.8%, VCU 51.3%</span>
2-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 46.8%, MASON 48.7%</span>
Rebounds per game: <span style="color: #ff0000;">MASON 36.8, VCU 32.3</span>
Turnover% Offense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">MASON 20.5%, VCU 21.7%</span>
Turnover% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 25.3%, MASON 16.4%</span>
VCU WINS IF[/HEADING=3]
This is just such an underrated and scary game to me with how balanced Mason is that it feels like one of those ones with back-and-forth potential and a scary ending. I think to keep it from that, VCU clearly has to make the "we over me" play on offense, but defensively just really needs to have this turn into one of those high-turnover Mason performances like their contest against Tulane (accept unlike Tulane, VCU needs to hit shots so they can actually win the game). Turnovers have clearly got to be a concern of Kim English as they were in last year's contests when VCU turned the Patriots over 24% and 26% of their possessions. Can it happen again?
Kenpom: 71-64 VCU win with a 73% chance of a Rams victory.
Game tips at 7PM 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>
The Patriots are hoping to keep improving under second-year coach, Kim English, a program that was once one of the most dangerous mid-majors in college hoops during their CAA times, but one that has been mediocre at best since joining the Atlantic 10 conference. So far this season English and Co. are about where they were last season, with almost an identical efficiency margin, but want to end up with conference record in the black as opposed to last season's 7-9 go prior to a disappointing loss to Fordham in the first round of the Atlantic 10 tournament.
Mason is once again off to a 4-3 start, but with a fairly manageable remaining conference slate are on track to finish at around 10-8, according to kenpom.com. The Patriots' best win in-conference so far is a less-than-sexy five-point home win over Richmond, but Mason nearly picked up a huge feather for their cap, but ultimately lost at Saint Louis, 63-62.
The Patriots are a solidly balanced team, ranking No.25 nationally in effective field goal percentage offense and a solid 84th in EFG% defense. They shoot the ball well, rebound well, defend well in the halfcourt, but have a weakness that turns out to match up miserable against VCU: turnovers.
Mason currently ranks 293rd nationally in turnover percentage offense and don't balance that out on D, checking in at 308th in TO% D.
MASON TURNOVER TOTALS IN A-10 GAMES (TO%) [OPPONENT TO% NATIONAL RANKING]
10 (15.9%) v Richmond [276]
12 (18.2%) at St. Bonaventure [112]
8 (11.1%) v Loyola [201]
17 (25%) at Saint Louis [349]
12 (18.5%) v Davidson [208]
17 (23.3%) v GW [291]
17 (23%) at Rhode Island [278]
Mason's turnover matchups in conference have been beyond manageable, meaning Mason will be stepping up in weight class tonight at the Siegel Center against the nation's sixth-ranked turnover defense. The Patriots had mixed results there in the non-conference, fairing well against Maryland Eastern Shore's pesky defense, but getting extremely bothered by Tulane, albeit in a win.
The Patriots play a very experienced starting group led by all-conference big man, Josh Oduro (14.9 ppg, 8.1 rpg). He's joined by Tennessee transfer Victor Bailey (12.3 ppg, 48.9% 3p%), DeVon Cooper (11.1 ppg) and Ronald Polite (10.6 ppg, 4 asts) as the team's double-digit scorers.
Mason has been without fellow Tennessee transfer, Davonte "Ticket" Gaines, the past six contests.
Mason is a very good shooting team, with Bailey (62.5% true shooting percentage) being a particularly dangerous three-point weapon and Oduro a load in the paint.
A QUICK LOOK AT VCU[/HEADING=3]
No clue how he comes up with this statistic (and too lazy currently to research), but Erik Haslam (@haslametrics on Twitter) recently tweeted that per his momentum metic, VCU ranks second in the nation right now as a team "play above their season norm", which tells you just how hot the Rams are. The big question following that fact though, is will VCU regress back to the mean OR...is this a VCU team that has finally figured it all out and with that, this is the team we are getting going forward.
Realistically it's likely a combination of the two.
For starters, David Shriver's 58.3% Atlantic 10 three-point shooting percentage seems unsustainable for a career 40% guy as does Jayden Nunn's 55.6% for someone who shot 31.8% from distance in A-10 play last season, but seeing how dramatically different and super defined the roles for guys like Nick Kern and Zeb Jackson are, how VCU has dialed back the usage of Tobi Lawal at the five spot as he learns the system and gains more experience, etc etc...all these types of coaching decisions that it quite clearly took all of the non-conference to figure out, leads me to believe that outside of the insane three-point numbers, this is certainly an extremely improved VCU team to the one that lost to Jacksonville by double-digits in the Stu back in early December.
VCU will have another big test in seeing if this is their true identity tonight against a very balance George Mason squad.
TALE OF THE TAPE[/HEADING=3]
Scoring Offense: <span style="color: #000000;">VCU 71.5, MASON 71.5</span>
Scoring Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 64.1, MASON 67.7</span>
Effective Field Goal% Offense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">MASON 54.3%, VCU 52.2%</span>
Effective Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 47.2%, MASON 47.8%</span>
3-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #ff0000;">MASON 36.8%, VCU 35.9%</span>
3-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">MASON 30.8%, VCU 32%</span>
2-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #ff0000;">MASON 53.8%, VCU 51.3%</span>
2-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 46.8%, MASON 48.7%</span>
Rebounds per game: <span style="color: #ff0000;">MASON 36.8, VCU 32.3</span>
Turnover% Offense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">MASON 20.5%, VCU 21.7%</span>
Turnover% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 25.3%, MASON 16.4%</span>
VCU WINS IF[/HEADING=3]
This is just such an underrated and scary game to me with how balanced Mason is that it feels like one of those ones with back-and-forth potential and a scary ending. I think to keep it from that, VCU clearly has to make the "we over me" play on offense, but defensively just really needs to have this turn into one of those high-turnover Mason performances like their contest against Tulane (accept unlike Tulane, VCU needs to hit shots so they can actually win the game). Turnovers have clearly got to be a concern of Kim English as they were in last year's contests when VCU turned the Patriots over 24% and 26% of their possessions. Can it happen again?
Kenpom: 71-64 VCU win with a 73% chance of a Rams victory.
Game tips at 7PM 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: #000000;">VCU 71.5, MASON 71.5</span>
Scoring Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 64.1, MASON 67.7</span>
Effective Field Goal% Offense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">MASON 54.3%, VCU 52.2%</span>
Effective Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 47.2%, MASON 47.8%</span>
3-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #ff0000;">MASON 36.8%, VCU 35.9%</span>
3-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">MASON 30.8%, VCU 32%</span>
2-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #ff0000;">MASON 53.8%, VCU 51.3%</span>
2-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 46.8%, MASON 48.7%</span>
Rebounds per game: <span style="color: #ff0000;">MASON 36.8, VCU 32.3</span>
Turnover% Offense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">MASON 20.5%, VCU 21.7%</span>
Turnover% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 25.3%, MASON 16.4%</span>
