What a difference a year can make. Last season VCU had just competed a season sweep of Anthony Grant's Dayton Flyers and sat atop the A-10 conference standings at No.1. This season the Rams welcome the No.5 NATIONALLY RANKED Flyers to the Siegel Center, looking to avoid a revenge sweep of their own.
A win and the Rams pick up a massive resume-booster, stay within the top-4 race for the coveted A-10 tourney double-bye. A loss and VCU falls to a game over .500 in conference play and likely grabs sole possession of eighth place after picking picked to win the league.
NCAA tourney worth or bottom half of the A-10. That is what is at stake tonight for the VCU Rams.
<h4>VCU (17-8, 7-5)
No.5 Dayton (23-2, 12-0)</h4>
<h4>A QUICK LOOK AT DAYTON</h4>
The Flyers fly into RIC on a 14-game winning streak as one of the country's deadliest offenses, leading all 353 teams in DI hoops in effective field goal percentage offense at 59.6%. The Flyers perhaps not surprisingly have the A-10's No.1 offense in conference and boast the league's No.3 defense as well, just ahead of VCU who checks in at fourth on D, but seventh on the other side of the ball.
Dayton is led by Obi Topping, a 6'9 dunk machine that is staring down a likely top-3 selection in this year's upcoming NBA Draft. Toppin leads the team in points (19.7) and rebounds (7.8), but is joined by a supporting cast who can light it up even if Toppin is in the midst of a rare off night.
Guard Jalen Crutcher has earned the name "Clutcher" after hitting a number of high pressure shots for the Flyers this season, namely a monster road three-pointer to down Saint Louis in front of 10k Billiken fans. He shoots a blistering 42.4% from distance and is averaging 14.8 points and a team-high 5.1 assists.
Crutcher and Toppin are joined by point guard Rodney Chatman, the team's one inefficient scorer, as well as the versatile duo of 6'7 forward Ryan Mikesell and 6'5 Trey Landers.
As a team the Flyers boast a ridiculous 61.9% team true shooting percentage (VCU is at 53.1%), taking 40% of their attempts at the rim where they finish an almost automatic 71.2% down low.
The Flyers have looked beatable in A-10 play, needing overtime to win at Saint Louis and then surviving the Billikens by six at UD Arena, held don to win at Duquesne by four and were even recently challenged at kenpom No.191 UMass in a 71-63 Flyer win.
A QUICK LOOK AT VCU[/HEADING=3]
A win and the Rams pick up a massive resume-booster, stay within the top-4 race for the coveted A-10 tourney double-bye. A loss and VCU falls to a game over .500 in conference play and likely grabs sole possession of eighth place after picking picked to win the league.
NCAA tourney worth or bottom half of the A-10. That is what is at stake tonight for the VCU Rams.
<h4>VCU (17-8, 7-5)
No.5 Dayton (23-2, 12-0)</h4>
<h4>A QUICK LOOK AT DAYTON</h4>
The Flyers fly into RIC on a 14-game winning streak as one of the country's deadliest offenses, leading all 353 teams in DI hoops in effective field goal percentage offense at 59.6%. The Flyers perhaps not surprisingly have the A-10's No.1 offense in conference and boast the league's No.3 defense as well, just ahead of VCU who checks in at fourth on D, but seventh on the other side of the ball.
Dayton is led by Obi Topping, a 6'9 dunk machine that is staring down a likely top-3 selection in this year's upcoming NBA Draft. Toppin leads the team in points (19.7) and rebounds (7.8), but is joined by a supporting cast who can light it up even if Toppin is in the midst of a rare off night.
Guard Jalen Crutcher has earned the name "Clutcher" after hitting a number of high pressure shots for the Flyers this season, namely a monster road three-pointer to down Saint Louis in front of 10k Billiken fans. He shoots a blistering 42.4% from distance and is averaging 14.8 points and a team-high 5.1 assists.
Crutcher and Toppin are joined by point guard Rodney Chatman, the team's one inefficient scorer, as well as the versatile duo of 6'7 forward Ryan Mikesell and 6'5 Trey Landers.
As a team the Flyers boast a ridiculous 61.9% team true shooting percentage (VCU is at 53.1%), taking 40% of their attempts at the rim where they finish an almost automatic 71.2% down low.
The Flyers have looked beatable in A-10 play, needing overtime to win at Saint Louis and then surviving the Billikens by six at UD Arena, held don to win at Duquesne by four and were even recently challenged at kenpom No.191 UMass in a 71-63 Flyer win.
A QUICK LOOK AT VCU[/HEADING=3]
The wheels appear to have fallen off the VCU train as of late. It's not that the Rams lost at Rhode Island or at Richmond, two basically top-50 teams, it's that both led the black and gold by at least 20 points during those contests and that the Rams threw in a home loss to A-10 3-8 George Mason as well, another game the Rams trailed big.
VCU's defense was nowhere to be seen in the loss at Rhode Island, surrendering a season-worst 87 points to the Keaney Blue Rams, then in the other two losses the black and gold hit a combined 11 of their 44 three-point attempts and were out-rebounded in both contests.
Senior point guard, Marcus Evans, missed the Richmond game due to a knee injury and is questionable against the Flyers tonight. The Rams are 1-1 without Evans this season, having blown out St. Bonaventure in his first game missing, 91-63, then being on the opposite side of the woodshedding most recently at Richmond.
Evans' backup, Bones Hyland, has been one of VCU's most consistent offensive bright spots this season. The Wilmington, DE native has hit 44.6% of his threes in conference play, currently good for the third best mark in the A-10.
The Rams welcomed sophomore Vince Williams back from injury recently and gave him his first start in the road contest at Richmond. Williams grabbed an impressive five offensive rebounds in his 21 minutes of play, but saw his shooting woes continue. The 6'6 forward is just 23-69 on the season for an effective field goal percentage of just 37%, a number that has dipped to just 30% in conference games.
The foul disparity has been a major issue for VCU in conference games. The Rams rank rank 11th in the A-10 in offensive free throw rate and 12th on the defensive end.
TALE OF THE TAPE[/HEADING=3]
Scoring Offense: UD 81.2, VCU 72
Scoring Defense: VCU 64.3, UD 65.6
Effective Field Goal% Offense: UD 59.6%, VCU 49.7%
Effective Field Goal% Defense: UD 46.8%, VCU 47%
3-Point Field Goal%: UD 37.1%, VCU 34.7%
3-Point Field Goal% Defense: VCU 33.2%, UD 33.6%
2-Point Field Goal%: UD 62.1%, VCU 48.2%
2-Point Field Goal% Defense: UD 45.1%, VCU 44.5%
Rebounds per game: UD 35.1, VCU 34.1
Turnover% Offense: VCU 18%, UD 18.6%
Turnover% Defense: VCU 25.4%, UD 19.5%
VCU WINS IF[/HEADING=3]
The only way I see VCU pulling this one off is if they win the three-point battle by a considerable margin and if they wreak some serious havoc and turn the Flyers over a ton.
The best way to slow this Dayton offense down is by not letting them shoot it in the first place, but without Marcus Evans, arguably the team's best defensive guard, that becomes a lot harder to do as demonstrated by VCU's defensive display at Richmond. An off shooting night from the Flyers would be welcome as well.
Kenpom: 74-70 VCU loss with a 34% chance of a Rams victory.
Game tips at 8:30PM at the Stuart C. Siegel Center in Richmond, VA
Watch: ESPNU
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: UD 81.2, VCU 72
Scoring Defense: VCU 64.3, UD 65.6
Effective Field Goal% Offense: UD 59.6%, VCU 49.7%
Effective Field Goal% Defense: UD 46.8%, VCU 47%
3-Point Field Goal%: UD 37.1%, VCU 34.7%
3-Point Field Goal% Defense: VCU 33.2%, UD 33.6%
2-Point Field Goal%: UD 62.1%, VCU 48.2%
2-Point Field Goal% Defense: UD 45.1%, VCU 44.5%
Rebounds per game: UD 35.1, VCU 34.1
Turnover% Offense: VCU 18%, UD 18.6%
Turnover% Defense: VCU 25.4%, UD 19.5%
