Recap: Weber’s career night leads VCU past Winthrop

It wasn’t always pretty, but #14 Virginia Commonwealth University topped Winthrop 92-71 in the Stuart C. Siegel Center Saturday night.

November 16, 2013; 9:39 PM • by Aaron Williams

It wasn’t always pretty, but #14 Virginia Commonwealth University topped Winthrop 92-71 in the Stuart C. Siegel Center Saturday night.

Recap

It was not our best game [for execution].Coach Smart.

Days removed from an emotional victory over #24 Virginia and a few days before heading to Puerto Rico to play Florida State, Saturday night had trap game potential.

Winthrop had the hot hands early as they hit their first five 3-point attempts. VCU was quick at closing out on shooters, but it did little to slow down the Eagles. While undersized at the guard positions, they were quick and effective at dribbling through VCU’s full court pressure. Andre Smith finished with 14 points in the first half while hitting four of his five 3-point attempts.

VCU couldn’t string together stops, but they had no trouble scoring. Juvonte Reddic hit two 3-pointers; a new dimension of his game that may remind some of Jamie Skeen during his senior season.

Juvonte Reddic, Jarred Guest, and Mo Alie-Cox are a perfect five for five from 3-point range this season, but Coach Smart says they are not in Jamie Skeen’s league. Despite Reddic’s success from range and his established midrange game, Smart says Alie-Cox is the best 3-point shooter of the the three.

VCU led 45-41 at halftime.

In the second half, VCU struggled to create separation and their lead hovered around six points. With 13:53 remaining in the second half, Mo Alie-Cox drained a 3-pointer to spark a run. On the next possession, #11 Rob Brandenberg grabbed a steal and scored his 11th point to push the lead to 11. VCU is now 19-0 in the past two seasons when Brandenberg scores eleven or more points.

HAVOC! finally took its toll and Winthrop started looking exhausted and their 3-point shooting returned to human-levels. Andre Smith only scored one point in the second half and the Eagles turned the ball over 16 more times.

VCU finally pushed the margin beyond 20 behind the late game scoring of Melvin Johnson, and freshmen JeQuan Lewis and Mo Alie-Cox. Lewis finished with a career-high 11 points and Alie-Cox finished with a career-high 10 points.

Loudest Moment: 109 dB. On the fast break, Briante Weber dished the ball to Juvonte Reddic for an emphatic alley-oop.
Coach Smart’s Jacket: 19:38.

The Process

Coach Smart has results goals and process goals. Mo Alie-Cox finished with 10 points on perfect 4-4 shooting and 6 rebounds.

“For Mo, what I’m most excited about is the way he prepared for tonight’s game, his practice on Thursday, his practice on Friday, his approach to shoot-around – it was very clear that he was going to be successful. We just need for him to continue to follow the process of preparation and getting ready for games.”Coach Smart

After the game, Coach Smart said VCU needs to reset after an emotional week before preparing for Puerto Rico. If VCU follows the process and prepares well for the trip, they can win the tournament. They will likely play Florida State, #7 Michigan, and Georgetown/Kansas State.

Top performer: Briante Weber

16 points, 3-6 shooting, 10-11 free-throws, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 turnovers, 5 steals

Coach Smart doesn’t want his point guards to lead the team in field goal attempts. That’s the beauty of Weber’s night, he finished with 16 points on only six shot attempts thanks to a 10 for 11 performance from the charity stripe. VCU won the turnover battle 25-14 but they only led 9-7 at the half.

Five (and-1) Stats

• VCU finished 34-48 from the charity stripe. They were a combined 21-41 in their other two games.
• The Rams were +16 in rebounds, +11 in turnovers, and +11 in steals.
• Winthrop was 6-10 from 3-point range in the first half and 2-9 in the second half.
• Six Rams finished in double figures and eight have done such this season. Eight Rams scored in double figures last season.
• Referees called an average of 36 fouls per VCU game last season. This season they’re calling 48.3.
• VCU is 3-0 for only the second time since the Jeff Capel era. The other time was in 2011 before VCU went to the Final Four.

Box Score

Winthrop

Player	Min	TP	2FG	3FG	FT-FTA	OR	DR	PF	A	TO	Blk	Stl
Joab Jerome*	19	9	1-1	1-1	4-5	0	3	4	0	4	0	0
Keon Johnson*	16	11	2-6	2-3	3-4	1	0	4	1	4	0	1
Andre Smith*	33	15	0-1	4-9	3-4	0	7	2	3	4	0	1
James Bourne*	28	11	3-4	0-0	5-9	1	1	3	1	2	0	1
Larry Brown*	26	4	1-3	0-0	2-4	1	0	2	1	0	0	0
Brandon Vega	21	6	2-3	0-0	2-2	0	4	4	4	2	0	1
Tevin Prescott	14	6	3-3	0-0	0-0	1	1	4	0	2	1	1
Ivan Saicic	12	0	0-2	0-1	0-0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
Josh Davenport	11	4	2-5	0-0	0-0	0	1	2	1	1	0	0
Jarad Scott	10	2	1-1	0-1	0-0	0	1	1	0	1	0	0
Christian Farmer	9	3	0-0	1-4	0-0	1	0	2	1	0	0	0
Donovan Carter	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	200	71	15-29	8-19	17-25	7	20	30	12	25	3	8

VCU

Player	Min	TP	2FG	3FG	FT-FTA	OR	DR	PF	A	TO	Blk	Stl
Briante Weber*	25	16	3-6	0-0	10-11	0	2	3	4	2	0	5
Terrance Shannon*	11	4	2-4	0-0	0-0	0	1	2	0	4	1	1
Rob Brandenberg*	25	11	3-4	1-4	2-3	0	1	1	0	0	1	4
Juvonte Reddic*	28	11	1-2	2-2	3-10	2	2	3	2	3	0	4
Treveon Graham*	27	13	4-6	0-3	5-6	5	5	3	2	1	0	0
Melvin Johnson	18	8	1-3	2-3	0-0	1	1	3	1	1	0	0
JeQuan Lewis	16	11	3-5	0-2	5-7	3	1	3	2	1	0	3
Jordan Burgess	15	2	0-5	0-1	2-2	1	1	3	1	2	0	1
Mo Alie-Cox	14	10	3-3	1-1	1-3	2	4	1	0	0	0	0
Jarred Guest	13	2	0-4	0-0	2-2	4	4	2	1	0	0	0
Doug Brooks	4	4	0-0	0-1	4-4	1	1	4	0	0	0	1
Jairus Lyles	2	0	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Emerson Burk	1	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Torey Burston	1	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	200	92	20-43	6-17	34-48	19	24	24	13	14	3	19

Looking forward

VCU will look to move to 4-0 on Thursday against Florida State in Puerto Rico at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. The game will be broadcasted on ESPNU at 7:30PM. #7 Michigan, Georgetown, Kansas State, Charlotte, LBSU, and Northeastern round out the tournament field.

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Related

• What to expect: VCU looks to move to 3-0 against Winthrop
• Recap: Weber’s career night leads VCU past Winthrop
• PHOTOS: VCU vs. Winthrop

Photos by: Will Weaver

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November 16, 2013 9:39 PM 0