Will Wade returns to the Siegel Center tonight for the first time since leaving VCU as head coach to take his current position at LSU back in 2017. Both the Rams and Tigers have found success since his departure, but the former head coach's post-VCU journey has included some bumps along the road including a recent FBI probe involving Wade that briefly sidelined him as head coach of his SEC squad. Wade is back with the No.23 Tigers however, making for what should be one of the most electric atmospheres the Seigel Center has ever seen when VCU and LSU tip it up tonight at 6PM.
<h4>VCU (2-0)
No.23 LSU (1-0)</h4>
<h4>A QUICK LOOK AT LSU</h4>
Wade's third edition Tigers include a number of talented returning pieces from last season's Sweet 16 team, a group headlined by the trio of Skylar Mays, Javonte Smart and Emmitt Williams. Mays and Smart return as the team's leading scorers and wasted no time getting off to hot starts in LSU's one game of the season, combining for 39 points against a tough Bowling Green squad that hung around with the Tigers during much of last week's contest. Williams joined that duo as one of the team's four 30-plus minute players in the previous contest, tying Smart with a team-high 21 points in the win. Sophomore Charles Manning logged 32 minutes himself on a squad that used a very short bench, essentially playing six players in the win over the MAC squad.
Like VCU in their last win, the Tigers showed an improved three-point stroke over last season's average, one of the only real team struggles of last season's tough Tigers squad. In typical Wade-coached teams style however, LSU pounded the paint during that contest, taking 21 more twos than threes in the win. Last season's Tigers got 53.4% of their points inside the arc, making Wade's second LSU team the 63rd most basket-attacking team in the country.
This is also another young LSU team.
The Tigers started three sophomores and one freshman in their first contest of the season, brought freshman Williams off the bench for his 31 minutes, then played two more freshmen a combined 17 minutes off the bench.
This year's group is also a considerably smaller squad than last year's Sweet 16 team that saw big minutes from 6'10-plus Naz Reid and Kavell Bigby-Williams. Wade's 2019-2020 Tigers much more resemble a VCU type of squad, playing 6'9 235 freshmen, Trendon Watford, at the five spot with the 6'6 Williams as a small ball four man.
<h4>A QUICK LOOK AT VCU</h4>
VCU held yet another opponent to under 60 points for the second time in as many games this season, limiting North Texas to 40.4% shooting and 56 points in the win this past week at the Stu. The Rams pulled out to a double-digit halftime lead before watching the Mean Green briefly seize the lead late in the second half, VCU's ice-cold scoring inside the arc allowing the CUSA squad to threaten the black in gold in front of another sold out crowd before some clutch late shots from Mike'L Simms and two game-sealing free throws out of De'Riante Jenkins helped ice the game.
The Rams were a bit of a parallel universe VCU team offensively in that contest, struggling to score in the paint, a task the Rams rarely struggled with this past season with most of the same players, but bailing themselves out with a 38.5% three-point evening to get them just over the hump. That came a game after hitting 57% of their shots inside the arc, but just 23.1% beyond in a win against St. Francis (PA).
VCU's turnover issues from this past season plagued them in both wins this year, turning the ball over 18 times in both contests, allowing two inferior teams to keep games closer than Mike Rhoades and Co. would've perhaps preferred. That could be some serious cause for concern against a Tigers squad that ranked in the top-100 in turnover defense this past season and in the top-60 defensively overall.
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<h4>VCU (2-0)
No.23 LSU (1-0)</h4>
<h4>A QUICK LOOK AT LSU</h4>
Wade's third edition Tigers include a number of talented returning pieces from last season's Sweet 16 team, a group headlined by the trio of Skylar Mays, Javonte Smart and Emmitt Williams. Mays and Smart return as the team's leading scorers and wasted no time getting off to hot starts in LSU's one game of the season, combining for 39 points against a tough Bowling Green squad that hung around with the Tigers during much of last week's contest. Williams joined that duo as one of the team's four 30-plus minute players in the previous contest, tying Smart with a team-high 21 points in the win. Sophomore Charles Manning logged 32 minutes himself on a squad that used a very short bench, essentially playing six players in the win over the MAC squad.
Like VCU in their last win, the Tigers showed an improved three-point stroke over last season's average, one of the only real team struggles of last season's tough Tigers squad. In typical Wade-coached teams style however, LSU pounded the paint during that contest, taking 21 more twos than threes in the win. Last season's Tigers got 53.4% of their points inside the arc, making Wade's second LSU team the 63rd most basket-attacking team in the country.
This is also another young LSU team.
The Tigers started three sophomores and one freshman in their first contest of the season, brought freshman Williams off the bench for his 31 minutes, then played two more freshmen a combined 17 minutes off the bench.
This year's group is also a considerably smaller squad than last year's Sweet 16 team that saw big minutes from 6'10-plus Naz Reid and Kavell Bigby-Williams. Wade's 2019-2020 Tigers much more resemble a VCU type of squad, playing 6'9 235 freshmen, Trendon Watford, at the five spot with the 6'6 Williams as a small ball four man.
<h4>A QUICK LOOK AT VCU</h4>
VCU held yet another opponent to under 60 points for the second time in as many games this season, limiting North Texas to 40.4% shooting and 56 points in the win this past week at the Stu. The Rams pulled out to a double-digit halftime lead before watching the Mean Green briefly seize the lead late in the second half, VCU's ice-cold scoring inside the arc allowing the CUSA squad to threaten the black in gold in front of another sold out crowd before some clutch late shots from Mike'L Simms and two game-sealing free throws out of De'Riante Jenkins helped ice the game.
The Rams were a bit of a parallel universe VCU team offensively in that contest, struggling to score in the paint, a task the Rams rarely struggled with this past season with most of the same players, but bailing themselves out with a 38.5% three-point evening to get them just over the hump. That came a game after hitting 57% of their shots inside the arc, but just 23.1% beyond in a win against St. Francis (PA).
VCU's turnover issues from this past season plagued them in both wins this year, turning the ball over 18 times in both contests, allowing two inferior teams to keep games closer than Mike Rhoades and Co. would've perhaps preferred. That could be some serious cause for concern against a Tigers squad that ranked in the top-100 in turnover defense this past season and in the top-60 defensively overall.
