Rams avoid the trap and dispatch Hofstra

After an emotional victory against rival Old Dominion on Saturday, Monday night’s matchup against the Hofstra Pride could have easily been a “trap game.” Despite 17 turnovers the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams beat The Pride 61-49 at the Stuart C. Siegel Center.

January 24, 2012; 7:28 AM • by Aaron Williams

After an emotional victory against rival Old Dominion on Saturday, Monday night’s matchup against the Hofstra Pride could have easily been a “trap game.” Despite 17 turnovers the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams beat The Pride 61-49 at the Stuart C. Siegel Center.

There were positives and negatives on Monday night. The Rams forced turnovers at their usual clip during the first half, but they also turned the ball over at a season high pace. They put up an unexpected 35 points, but their defense allowed The Pride to score 32 points.

In the second half the Rams’ offense slowed down but their defense kicked it into overdrive as The Pride shot 4 of 20 and only scored 17 points. The Rams turned, what was, a three-point lead into a solid 12-point victory. It was VCU’s third game in five days so fatigue and limited practice time might have played a role in their sloppy offense, but they still won 50-50 balls and out-hustled Hofstra.

Darius Theus seemed enthusiastic about playing games with less practice time and Juvonte Reddic even said, “It’s not a problem at all it’s actually fun we get to do what we love… I actually like it.”

Player of the Game

Darius Theus scored 10 points on four of five shooting, with six assists, and two steals.

Being the successor to Eric Maynor and Joey Rodriguez isn’t easy, but Darius Theus is quickly growing into his role as point guard. At the beginning of the season, Coach Shaka Smart wrote “Theus=Team and Team=Theus” and in a lot of ways that has proven true.

Over the past three games Theus has shot 54%. In the final five minutes of the William & Mary and Old Dominion Games, Theus shot a perfect five for five including the game winning bucket against W&M.

5 stats

• In the second half, The Rams held the Pride to only four field goals and 17 points.
• VCU has held three of its last five opponents to under 50 points.
• VCU is .2 points behind its single season season defense record of 58.8 PPG.
• The Rams shot a disappointing 12-21 from the FT line.
• The Rams turned the ball over a season high 17 times.

Around the Conference

George Mason held on to beat UNCW to maintain their one-game lead in first place. Drexel and Old Dominion won their games to stay even with VCU in 2nd place.

Looking forward

After playing three games in the comfort of the Stuart C. Siegel Center, the Rams return to the road for three games:

• Wednesday January 25th. 7pm. Towson (0-21, 0-9). Towson Center.
• Saturday January 28th. 4pm. Georgia State (14-6, 6-3). GSU Sports Arena.
• Wednesday February 1st. 7pm. William & Mary (4-17, 2-7). Kaplan Arena.

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Related

• What to expect: VCU vs. Hofstra; RVANews
• Instant recap: VCU vs. Hofstra; RVANews
• Video: VCU completes Hofstra sweep; VCU Ram Nation

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January 24, 2012 7:28 AM 0