VCU falls to .500 in the CAA after losing at Drexel

Sunday night the VCU Rams visited the preseason CAA favorite Drexel Dragons. Dictating pace with their physical play, Drexel handed VCU its second loss in the CAA 58-64.

January 9, 2012; 7:25 AM • by Aaron Williams

Sunday night the VCU Rams visited the preseason CAA favorite Drexel Dragons. Dictating pace with their physical play, Drexel handed VCU its second loss in the CAA 58-64.

In March of 2011, just days before VCU started its magical run to the Final 4, VCU squeaked by Drexel on a buzzer beating lay up by Jamie Skeen. The new-look Rams, after losing 61% of their scoring from last year, simply lacked the offensive fire power to beat the veteran Dragons–who returned 91% of last year’s scoring and a stingy defense.

Despite hitting seven threes in the first half, and limiting the offense of Samme Givens and Chris Fouch, the game was tied at half time. Just like last year, the Rams started the second half feeding and driving the paint and before long they built a comfortable lead.

Drexel’s defense proved too strong and VCU didn’t hit a three-pointer in the second half. With two minutes remaining, After slowly working their way back, the Dragons were ahead.

VCU couldn’t find the shots to fight their way back, and Drexel hit its free-throws down the stretch to pull out the six point victory.

The bottom line is: VCU lost this game by one or two possessions and if the Rams had hit at least 14 of their 20 free-throws, as their percentage would suggest they could, they would have won.

5 stats

• From the start of the season until December 17th, Troy Daniels hit 16-17 free throws. Since then he has hit 1-5. His attempts are down and his percentage is disappointing for the best shooter on the team.
• VCU only shot 9-20 from the charity stripe.
• Drexel connected on 27 of their 35 free throw attempts.
• Surprisingly VCU matched Drexel’s 33 rebounds.
• For the first time in his entire career, Briante Weber picked up zero steals.

Looking forward

On Thursday January 12th, the Rams host the James Madison University Dukes at 6pm.

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

January 9, 2012 7:25 AM 0