“Rockstar” Rams romp ODU

The Old Dominion University Monarchs couldn’t handle Virginia Commonwealth University’s “HAVOC” defense Saturday night as the Rams forced 25 turnovers and won 61-48 at home in Richmond.

January 22, 2012; 12:36 PM • by Aaron Williams

The Old Dominion University Monarchs couldn’t handle Virginia Commonwealth University’s “HAVOC” defense Saturday night as the Rams forced 25 turnovers and won 61-48 at home in Richmond.

At the CAA preseason media day Old Dominion Coach Blaine Taylor said, “”You can’t value yourself based on the tournament. The Tournament can make rock stars out of average people…the tournament is not really the litmus test on whether your team is strong.”

After the game, VCU coach Shaka Smart quipped, “I don’t know if we were rock stars tonight or average people…but a great team win.”

Things started slowly for the Rams as Old Dominion built a 7-0 lead and really made the Rams look lost. After almost five scoreless minutes, junior guard Troy Daniels drained a three pointer and got things going for the Rams. Saturdays game was a defensive battle between two of the best defensive teams in the CAA and it showed as both teams struggled to put up points.

With 2:52 remaining in the first half, the game was tied at 23 when Rob Brandenberg scored a quick three points that set up a 9-2 run to finish the first half.

Old Dominion pushed back in the second half, but with 13:52 remaining, Troy Daniels really caught fire. In under three minutes, the Rams forced five turnovers, Weber put up a lay up and Troy “Dirty” Daniels went 3-3 from beyond the arc.

The Rams never looked back as Old Dominion’s offense collapsed and continued to commit turnovers. On another night when VCU’s offense struggled, their defense flourished and forced Old Dominion to beat themselves.

Player of the Game

Troy Daniels and Darius Theus both had fantastic nights but the timeliness of Daniels’s shots was what the Rams needed on another subpar-shooting night. Daniels scored 16 points including four timely three pointers that energized the Rams and the crowd.

Bradford Burgess

Offensively the Rams are only scratching the surface of their potential. Last year’s team found success because the Rams’ five best players played their best basketball all at the same time. This year the Rams have struggled to find more than one player to play his best basketball at any given time. Despite being the Rams’ leading scorer, no ones offensive production has struggled as much as Bradford Burgess. 53% of his attempts this season have been from 3 point range where recently he has struggled to score points. Whatever his production is in the coming weeks, he deserves every minute as he is the teams leading defensive rebounder, is an excellent defender, and he can explode at any time.

5 stats

• VCU forced 25 turnovers and stole the ball 15 times. Every single Ram that played tallied a steal.
• ODU scored 23 points off of only 16 shot attempts in the second half.
• ODU senior guard and CAA Preseason Player of the Year Kent Bazemore turned the ball over seven times.
• Bradford Burgess has shot 19-78 (24.3%) in 2012.
• The last time VCU shot better than their season average of 40% was on January 2nd at Hofstra. The Rams are 4-2 during that drought.

Around the Conference

Old Dominion’s loss leaves George Mason in sole possession of first place at 7-1. Saturday Georgia State dropped its second game of the week to leave VCU, ODU, and Drexel tied in second place at 6-2.

Looking forward

VCU is now 2-0 in their stretch of four games in seven days. They finish the streak against two of the worst teams in the CAA:

• Monday. 7pm. Hofstra (7-13, 1-7). Siegel Center.
• Wednesday. 7pm. Towson (0-8, 0-20). Towson Center.

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Related

• What to expect: VCU vs. ODU; RVANews
• Instant recap: VCU vs. ODU; RVANews

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To stay up to date on all things VCU Basketball related, follow @rvaRAMnews on twitter

January 22, 2012 12:36 PM 0