Tying their most scored points of the season at 73, it was the Rams defense that betrayed the black and gold in Saturday's 10-point loss at Temple.
The former A-10 conference foes played a mostly competitive contest during yesterday's 40 minutes of action until a late scoring drought turned a one-point Rams deficit (55-54 with 12:03 to play) into an 11-point Owls advantage with 7:30 left in the game. It was an advantage that remained safe, as VCU was unable to string together enough stops/runs to threaten the Owls in the eventual loss, VCU's third of the season.
Temple hit 50% of their attempts in the win and added another 22 points on 27 attempts at the free throw stripes. It's havoc Temple did not fear, turning the ball over just 14 times compared to VCU's 18, a problem that has plagued the Rams' offense all season with the current 349th-ranked turnover offense in all of college hoops.
VCU had one of their better shooting nights in the loss, connecting on a season-best 50% of their 14 three-point attempts, including three of six from starting forward, Jamir Watkins. Watkins finished with 14 points as one of four Rams starters to finish in double-digits. Ace Baldwin once again led the Rams in scoring since returning from injury, tying starting center, JJ DeLoach, at 16 points. Baldwin dished out nine assists to just three turnovers. Jayden Nunn added 14 points as well.
VCU big man, Brandon Johns Jr., had a surprising off night for the black and gold, going just 1-5 from the field and with a team-hight fiver turnovers.
VCU's bench chipped in just seven points, going 3-13 from the field.
The loss drops the Rams to 5-3 on the season and out of kenpom's top-100, falling to No.101 at the time of this post. VCU was last ranked sub-100 on kenpom back in November of last season, but eventually were able to climb back into the 60s later in the season.
VCU will look to turn the page this Wednesday with a home contest against Jacksonville (4-2). It will be the first of five consecutive non-conference homes games to finish VCU's out-of-conference schedule.
The former A-10 conference foes played a mostly competitive contest during yesterday's 40 minutes of action until a late scoring drought turned a one-point Rams deficit (55-54 with 12:03 to play) into an 11-point Owls advantage with 7:30 left in the game. It was an advantage that remained safe, as VCU was unable to string together enough stops/runs to threaten the Owls in the eventual loss, VCU's third of the season.
Temple hit 50% of their attempts in the win and added another 22 points on 27 attempts at the free throw stripes. It's havoc Temple did not fear, turning the ball over just 14 times compared to VCU's 18, a problem that has plagued the Rams' offense all season with the current 349th-ranked turnover offense in all of college hoops.
VCU had one of their better shooting nights in the loss, connecting on a season-best 50% of their 14 three-point attempts, including three of six from starting forward, Jamir Watkins. Watkins finished with 14 points as one of four Rams starters to finish in double-digits. Ace Baldwin once again led the Rams in scoring since returning from injury, tying starting center, JJ DeLoach, at 16 points. Baldwin dished out nine assists to just three turnovers. Jayden Nunn added 14 points as well.
VCU big man, Brandon Johns Jr., had a surprising off night for the black and gold, going just 1-5 from the field and with a team-hight fiver turnovers.
VCU's bench chipped in just seven points, going 3-13 from the field.
The loss drops the Rams to 5-3 on the season and out of kenpom's top-100, falling to No.101 at the time of this post. VCU was last ranked sub-100 on kenpom back in November of last season, but eventually were able to climb back into the 60s later in the season.
VCU will look to turn the page this Wednesday with a home contest against Jacksonville (4-2). It will be the first of five consecutive non-conference homes games to finish VCU's out-of-conference schedule.
