VCU avenges their January 4th loss to Georgia State

Aaron Williams — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:01:43 +0000

Recap

By the look of things around the CAA, the Rams are going to need to rack up a lot more W's, but for now, the VCU Rams will take this win. It was the most physical game of the season, and the Rams barely escaped the Georgia State Panthers, 59-58, Saturday afternoon in Atlanta.

An extremely physical first half--in which the Rams attempted zero free throws--left VCU with a slight 25-24 lead. Coming out of halftime, the tide turned for Rams as they played aggressively and used penetration to set up their 3-point game.

With 8:25 remaining, the Rams led 44-33 and they looked in control of the ball game. Then the Rams committed a few uncharacteristically awful turnovers, their defense failed to create turnovers, and the Panthers positioned themselves for the strike. Senior Josh Micheaux pounced at the opportunity draining two three pointers and scoring six of the Panthers eight points in the final 39 seconds.

The Rams only completed seven of their fourteen free-throw attempts in the second half. Despite the lackluster performance from the chairty stripe, Briante Weber hit the game clincher right before Micheaux hit a half court shot that would have tied the game.

A win is a win, and the Rams needed this one whether it was by a point or 40 points.

Player of the Game

With a game of this nature, the player of the game award goes to the entire team. No one performed brilliantly and each player had his bright moments and lackluster plays. This was a role game. Troy Daniels hit threes, Juvonte Reddic rebounded, Darius Theus distributed, and each player performed like a cog in a well-oiled, defense-first, "HAVOC" wrecking machine.

5 stats

VCU broke the Panthers 10 game home winning streak.
In the first 23 games of the season, Josh Micheaux hit two three pointers. In the final 39 seconds of the game he hit two 3-pointers including a half court shot.
GSU guard Jihad Ali is averaging 17.5 PPG and 8 RPG against VCU this season.
Juvonte Reddic posted his third double-double of the season.
Despite having a strong season, GSU's home attendance is an abysmal 1,378 people per game. Only Towson (1-22, 1-10) ranks lower in the CAA.

Looking forward

While the Rams beat William & Mary earlier this month, VCU will get an opportunity to seek revenge against an inferior team that took them to overtime on January 19th:

Wednesday February 1st. 7pm. William & Mary (4-19, 2-9). Kaplan Arena.

Around the Conference

There is only one story worth reporting:

After losing an NCAA record 41 consecutive games spanning 395 days, the Towson Tigers finally recorded a W!

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