VCU and Richmond tip it up for the first time of two scheduled regular season A-10 meetings. Both are looking to keep pace with first place Dayton, but perhaps more realistically, are simply trying to stay within the A-10's top-4 to keep the Brooklyn double-bye that comes with that. The black and gold swept the Spiders last season, winning at the Siegel Center in convincing fashion, 81-60, then picking up a three-point road victory in a game they led by double-digits at the half.
VCU (15-5, 5-2)
VCU (15-5, 5-2)
RICHMOND (15-5, 5-2)[/HEADING=3]
A QUICK LOOK AT RICHMOND[/HEADING=3]
The huge difference for this year's Spider team that's fighting for a possible at-large bid and last season's group that finished 13-20 on the year is Mooney and Co. have aged up and healed up. Back is the junior trio of Jacob Gilyard, Grant Golden and Nathan Cayo, but rejoining them is Nick Sherod (13.6 ppg), a now-redshirt junior who played just six games to start last season before a knee injury shelved him for the year. Richmond also added Wagner transfer, Blake Francis, a Gilyard clone of sorts who was averaging a team-high 17.6 points before injuring his sternum against Saint Louis five games ago. Francis will likely miss both meetings with the Rams as he heels and prepares for an A-10 tourney comeback.
Without Francis the Spiders go about seven deep with Gilyard virtually never leaving the floor. The 5'9 guard has played a full 40 minutes in three of Richmond's last four and is coming off a 29-point, 4-assist night in UofR's recent home loss to Dayton.
The Spiders rank 51st nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency (110), up from 125th last season (107). Where they've improved the most however, is on the defensive side of the ball.
Richmond was worse defensively than they were good offensively, checking in at 287th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency and 13th out of 14 in A-10 play. Heading into tonight's game, the Spiders ranks sixth in A-10 defensive efficiency and 97th overall.
The Spiders once again struggle to rebound, particularly on the offensive end (blame it on the system), but almost never need to with the nation's 23rd-ranked effective field goal percentage offense.
Richmond has gone 3-4 against the kenpom top-100 this season, picking up a huge non-conference win against Wisconsin (with the help of a game-high 19 points from the injured Francis) and own two top-100 road wins including one against a Rhode Island team that defeated VCU at the Siegel Center by nine.
Their one somewhat questionable loss came against former VCU assistant, Mike Jones and his Radford Highlanders, a 15-point neutral court win for the Big South squad. Radford limited Richmond to just 58 points in the game, limiting all of Richmond's key pieces to a sub-95 offensive rating.
A QUICK LOOK AT VCU[/HEADING=3]
The Rams are of to a solid start and are very much in the at-large discussion, yet still it feels like this team has underachieved. But why?
In short, two of VCU's star players, Marcus Evans and Issac Vann, haven't touched a gear Ram fans know they are capable of. Evans is coming off an A-10 First Team selection this past season, but currently posting a career-worst offensive rating of 95.5 (just 88.3 in-conference). Vann has seen similar struggles offensively, posting a career-worst 92 offensive rating his senior season, down to just 80.6 in A-10 action.
Evans and Vann check in at third and fourth on the team in minutes averaged per game, just ahead of fellow senior, Mike'L Simms at fifth. That trio however ranks 8th (Evans at +3.2, down from +7.5 last season), 9th (Simms at +3.2) and 12th (Vann at +1.1, down from +4.8) on the team in overall box plus/minus.
Therein lies the frustration with this year's team: VCU has done well, but is likely a top-25 team (still) with more efficient performances from their star players, players who have a massive amount of data of them playing just so much better.
Blogger's note: Put me on record as being the captain of the "We Want More Corey Douglas" club. The 6'9 big ranks fourth on the team in overall box +/- (second on D behind only Hasan Ward) and from what I've viewed, makes VCU soooo much more difficult to score on when he's at the four beside Marcus Santos-Silva. He rebounds and defends and in my opinion, makes VCU such a better team when the Rams decide to go big.
TALE OF THE TAPE[/HEADING=3]
Scoring Offense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 76.2, VCU 72</span>
Scoring Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 62.1, UR 69</span>
Effective Field Goal% Offense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 54.3%, VCU 49.8%</span>
Effective Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 45.9%, UR 47.9%</span>
3-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 37.7%, VCU 34.8%</span>
3-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 30%, VCU 32.5%</span>
2-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 52.8%, VCU 48.3%</span>
2-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 44.4%, UR 49.9%</span>
Rebounds per game: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 34.9, UR 33.3</span>
Turnover% Offense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 15.8%, VCU 18.2%</span>
Turnover% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 25.6%, UR 19.8%</span>
<h4>VCU WINS IF</h4>
The one constant in last season's sweep was VCU's efficiency inside the arc. The Rams went 17-25 (68%) in game-1 inside, then 22-34 (64.7%) in game-2. Go back a season to VCU's 67-52 loss to Richmond...AT THE SIEGEL CENTER...where the Rams hit just 44.7% of their deuces (and an abysmal 17.4% from three) and I'd say VCU finding a way to get easy buckets is pretty important tonight. Win the paint and defend without fouling and the Rams can pick up a very important win at the Siegel Center this evening.
Kenpom: 73-67 VCU win with an 70% chance of a Rams victory.
Game tips at 7PM at the Stuart C. Siegel Center in Richmond, VA
Watch: CBS Sports Network
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 huge difference for this year's Spider team that's fighting for a possible at-large bid and last season's group that finished 13-20 on the year is Mooney and Co. have aged up and healed up. Back is the junior trio of Jacob Gilyard, Grant Golden and Nathan Cayo, but rejoining them is Nick Sherod (13.6 ppg), a now-redshirt junior who played just six games to start last season before a knee injury shelved him for the year. Richmond also added Wagner transfer, Blake Francis, a Gilyard clone of sorts who was averaging a team-high 17.6 points before injuring his sternum against Saint Louis five games ago. Francis will likely miss both meetings with the Rams as he heels and prepares for an A-10 tourney comeback.
Without Francis the Spiders go about seven deep with Gilyard virtually never leaving the floor. The 5'9 guard has played a full 40 minutes in three of Richmond's last four and is coming off a 29-point, 4-assist night in UofR's recent home loss to Dayton.
The Spiders rank 51st nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency (110), up from 125th last season (107). Where they've improved the most however, is on the defensive side of the ball.
Richmond was worse defensively than they were good offensively, checking in at 287th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency and 13th out of 14 in A-10 play. Heading into tonight's game, the Spiders ranks sixth in A-10 defensive efficiency and 97th overall.
The Spiders once again struggle to rebound, particularly on the offensive end (blame it on the system), but almost never need to with the nation's 23rd-ranked effective field goal percentage offense.
Richmond has gone 3-4 against the kenpom top-100 this season, picking up a huge non-conference win against Wisconsin (with the help of a game-high 19 points from the injured Francis) and own two top-100 road wins including one against a Rhode Island team that defeated VCU at the Siegel Center by nine.
Their one somewhat questionable loss came against former VCU assistant, Mike Jones and his Radford Highlanders, a 15-point neutral court win for the Big South squad. Radford limited Richmond to just 58 points in the game, limiting all of Richmond's key pieces to a sub-95 offensive rating.
A QUICK LOOK AT VCU[/HEADING=3]
The Rams are of to a solid start and are very much in the at-large discussion, yet still it feels like this team has underachieved. But why?
In short, two of VCU's star players, Marcus Evans and Issac Vann, haven't touched a gear Ram fans know they are capable of. Evans is coming off an A-10 First Team selection this past season, but currently posting a career-worst offensive rating of 95.5 (just 88.3 in-conference). Vann has seen similar struggles offensively, posting a career-worst 92 offensive rating his senior season, down to just 80.6 in A-10 action.
Evans and Vann check in at third and fourth on the team in minutes averaged per game, just ahead of fellow senior, Mike'L Simms at fifth. That trio however ranks 8th (Evans at +3.2, down from +7.5 last season), 9th (Simms at +3.2) and 12th (Vann at +1.1, down from +4.8) on the team in overall box plus/minus.
Therein lies the frustration with this year's team: VCU has done well, but is likely a top-25 team (still) with more efficient performances from their star players, players who have a massive amount of data of them playing just so much better.
Blogger's note: Put me on record as being the captain of the "We Want More Corey Douglas" club. The 6'9 big ranks fourth on the team in overall box +/- (second on D behind only Hasan Ward) and from what I've viewed, makes VCU soooo much more difficult to score on when he's at the four beside Marcus Santos-Silva. He rebounds and defends and in my opinion, makes VCU such a better team when the Rams decide to go big.
TALE OF THE TAPE[/HEADING=3]
Scoring Offense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 76.2, VCU 72</span>
Scoring Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 62.1, UR 69</span>
Effective Field Goal% Offense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 54.3%, VCU 49.8%</span>
Effective Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 45.9%, UR 47.9%</span>
3-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 37.7%, VCU 34.8%</span>
3-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 30%, VCU 32.5%</span>
2-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 52.8%, VCU 48.3%</span>
2-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 44.4%, UR 49.9%</span>
Rebounds per game: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 34.9, UR 33.3</span>
Turnover% Offense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 15.8%, VCU 18.2%</span>
Turnover% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 25.6%, UR 19.8%</span>
<h4>VCU WINS IF</h4>
The one constant in last season's sweep was VCU's efficiency inside the arc. The Rams went 17-25 (68%) in game-1 inside, then 22-34 (64.7%) in game-2. Go back a season to VCU's 67-52 loss to Richmond...AT THE SIEGEL CENTER...where the Rams hit just 44.7% of their deuces (and an abysmal 17.4% from three) and I'd say VCU finding a way to get easy buckets is pretty important tonight. Win the paint and defend without fouling and the Rams can pick up a very important win at the Siegel Center this evening.
Kenpom: 73-67 VCU win with an 70% chance of a Rams victory.
Game tips at 7PM at the Stuart C. Siegel Center in Richmond, VA
Watch: CBS Sports Network
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: #ff0000;">UR 76.2, VCU 72</span>
Scoring Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 62.1, UR 69</span>
Effective Field Goal% Offense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 54.3%, VCU 49.8%</span>
Effective Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 45.9%, UR 47.9%</span>
3-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 37.7%, VCU 34.8%</span>
3-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 30%, VCU 32.5%</span>
2-Point Field Goal%: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 52.8%, VCU 48.3%</span>
2-Point Field Goal% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 44.4%, UR 49.9%</span>
Rebounds per game: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 34.9, UR 33.3</span>
Turnover% Offense: <span style="color: #ff0000;">UR 15.8%, VCU 18.2%</span>
Turnover% Defense: <span style="color: #339966;">VCU 25.6%, UR 19.8%</span>
<h4>VCU WINS IF</h4>
The one constant in last season's sweep was VCU's efficiency inside the arc. The Rams went 17-25 (68%) in game-1 inside, then 22-34 (64.7%) in game-2. Go back a season to VCU's 67-52 loss to Richmond...AT THE SIEGEL CENTER...where the Rams hit just 44.7% of their deuces (and an abysmal 17.4% from three) and I'd say VCU finding a way to get easy buckets is pretty important tonight. Win the paint and defend without fouling and the Rams can pick up a very important win at the Siegel Center this evening.
Kenpom: 73-67 VCU win with an 70% chance of a Rams victory.
Game tips at 7PM at the Stuart C. Siegel Center in Richmond, VA
Watch: CBS Sports Network
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>
