Foul-plagued Rams dropped by Northeastern 68-63
Rams lose the game and the conference lead heading into the second half of CAA play.
The stakes were high: 1st place in the CAA. A national television audience. The tie-breaker for the CAA tournament top seed.
VCU, burdened by foul trouble and poor shooting, could not rise to the occasion, and the Northeastern Huskies took the contest and the sole spot atop the CAA. The Rams kept it close in the end, where they were a “Maynor Miracle” away from sending the game to overtime.
VCU’s 27 team fouls and 38 percent shooting were the only stats that mattered. Three starters, Larry Sanders, Kirill Pishchalnikov, and Bradford Burgess, wound up watching the game from the bench all having fouled out.
VCU, coming off seven straight wins, now looks to regroup as it heads into the 2nd half of the conference season tied for second place in the CAA.
First Half
The game was televised on ESPNU, a rare opportunity for the Rams to get national exposure. The lead-in game of Miami v. NC State went to overtime, so viewers were unable to see the opening minutes of this contest. They should consider themselves lucky.
The Rams committed four fouls in the first minute and a half, which led to Sanders riding the pine and VCU fielding two freshmen in the biggest conference game of the year so far.
A timing error led to a stoppage in play, which allowed Coach Anthony Grant to hold a refresher course of defense, pantomiming positionings. It was a Kodak moment, but the drill was not effective and the Rams went on to put the Huskies in the bonus within the first nine minutes of the game.
The Huskies capitalized on their free-throws, shooting 9-10 in the first half. The Huskies’ size advantage allowed them get position inside to draw fouls and helped open up the perimeter, where they shot 60% from 3.
With the Rams in foul trouble, Grant turned to freshman big man Terrance Saintil and sophomores Ed Nixon and Brandon Rozzell. Nixon and Saintil would prove to be ineffective, but Rozzell stepped up, scoring 10 points in the first half.
The Rams found themselves down 17 points with 4:30 left in the first half, but then began to show signs of life. The Rams rallied behind a rare 5-point play, where Rozzell knocked down a 3, a foul underneath gave the Rams the ball, and Sanders’s athletic reverse dunk completed the play.
By the end of the half, the Rams clawed had their way back to within four.
Second Half
The second half began as the first half started. The Huskies started out with a 15-3 run to take their lead back up to 16, and Sanders landed back on the bench. That would be the last time the Rams employed a lineup with 2 forwards; they managed the rest of the game with an undersized 4 guard set. Sanders’s foul trouble would once again haunt VCU, who are now 1-5 when Sanders fouls out.
The Rams’ celebrated full court press helped bring the game closer, netting 4 turnovers in the second half. All told, the Rams forced 12 turnovers in the 2nd half alone. The successful press set off VCU on an 11-2 run, narrowing the Huskies’ margin.
Senior Eric Maynor’s 16 2nd half points, combined with the Huskies focusing more on eating the clock than making good shots, helped bring the Rams back within 2 with 2 minutes left. The Rams would keep it close, but Maynor missed a long-distance 3 to tie the game with 20 seconds left, and the Rams were unable to force another turnover.
Takeaways
While a loss is always hard to swallow, Grant took advantage of several opportunities for a teaching moment with his young team. The 1st half defensive drill and instructions during several 2nd half official timeouts will pay dividends throughout the remainder of the season.
Rozzell was a bright spot, and he literally caught fire in the NBA Jam sense, hitting six straight buckets (four from behind the arc), scoring a career high 16 points. Look for Rozzell to play a bigger role in upcoming games.
VCU’s scrappy play may be rewarded more in the post-season than the regular season, where referees may be more lenient with the whistle. A skirmish on the court towards the end of the second half was ignited when Maynor drew a foul and landed hard, and his teammates were there protect their leader. Seeing the team rally together is a good sign, especially after the surprise departure of Lance Kearse from the team late last week, and Myk Brown leaving the team earlier in the year.
The buzz back in the media room and on media row was not centered only on VCU basketball, but drifted to VCU football. With U of R Stadium being vacated, and a new VCU president taking the helm, could VCU be on the path towards starting a football program?
-
Recommend this
on Facebook -
Report an error
-
Subscribe to our
Weekly Digest
Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
So, since you were there, Sam, tell me: did the refs call the game right or was it questionable? Looks like the lack of depth in VCU’s front court could be a problem. . .
Sam — Great Coverage of the game — — Thank You!!! I think Tom Yeager detailed it best on the long road it would be for VCU to start a Football team (http://rvanews.com/2009/01/vcu-ram-nation-tom-yeager-interview-2/) – We can always hope/pray that this day will come.
@Erik B,
The head referee Hess took a lot of heat. I did think the crew had a low threshold for calling fouls, but at least they were consistent.
Hess and Maynor had a questionable interaction after the skirmish at the end of the game – it was not appropriate for a ref to act like that. I don’t think we’ll see this crew at the CAA tourney.
As for the forward position, depth is a big problem. Saintil isn’t seasoned enough to be relied upon. When VCU went to a 1 forward set in the first half, the Huskies went on a 5-0 run. If these teams meet again in the CAA Finals, Grant has some work to do.
At least the refs were consistent — which I thought was a problem at the Mason game.
While there were questionable calls on BOTH ends of the game, you can’t really blame the refs for the game. That being said, this was by far one of the wildest college basketball games I have been to. Calling 3 off-the-ball fouls on an inbound 1 minute into the game? That is absolutely ridiculous. There was lots of bad calls on both ends, especially as the refs seemed to completely ignore all of the shoving going on before/during/after shots, as well as holding the jumpball rule to ludicrous standards, but I digress…
The reason VCU lost tonight is because of a lack of depth. Pischalnikov is kind of streaky, although he can be a weapon sometimes, and a little uncoordinated others, Sanders is a foul machine if he’s angry, Santil is very talented but not proven, and that’s pretty much the whole backcourt. The departure of Lance Kearse is not to blame for the lack of depth under the basket though. I think that Burgess needs to use his size a little better in the 3 position to get the rebounds that clang out and are missed by the 4 and 5 men.
Burgess and Nixon, when Pisch or Sanders are out, I think need to use their size and quit playing like guards, because we have enough of that with Maynor and Rodriguez and Rozzell. This is the CAA, you don’t have to be 7 feet tall to box out and get good offensive and defense rebounds.
Also, Northeastern is a very good team, while they looked a little sloppy in the second half on the press, their use of BALL FAKES really threw VCU for a loop and gave them a lot of open 3’s when Sanders/Nixon/Burgess would fly into their guys and leave someone un-guarded. (Note: Ball-Fakes are Bob Knights favorite move, and a sign of a very well-coached team. These are Shot fakes, pass fakes, and head fakes). NU did this on EVERY touch of the ball, and VCU seemed to be running around a lot on defense.
All around a solid defensive effort on the whole for both squads, with NU being a little more prepared (after they crushed ODU) on the defensive end and VCU’s press showing great promise.
Anyone else notice that Rodriguez has lost a step or two in the last couple of games? He usually sets up for rhythm jump-shots and 3’s several times, but he’s been hesitating, I wonder whats up with that.