VCU Moves On to Round Two

An ugly opening half defensive slugfest turned into a hot second half for both teams, but the VCU Rams survived and moved on in the second round of the CAA tournament today against the Georgia State Panthers, 61 to 52.

March 7, 2009; 6:48 PM • by Justin Morgan

Georgia State’s standout guard Joe Dukes had a season-high 24 points, but couldn’t get much help from a team that was overmatched athletically for most of the night. Meanwhile, outside shooting from VCU’s Bradford Burgess and Brandon Rozzell and the superpowers of Eric Maynor kept the Rams just out of the Panthers’ reach throughout the second half.

Bradford Burgess made all four shots he took, including the first two shots for VCU in the second half, both from outside the arc. Rozzell racked up 12 points on 4/9 shooting. And Maynor drained 7 of his 11 shots with the sort of zen-like calm we’ve gotten used to from Eric over the past four years.

Maynor wasn’t calm for the whole afternoon, though. With around 6 minutes left and VCU leading by 10 following a Maynor 3-pointer, Eric was called for his third foul on the defensive end. To the Ram-friendly crowd, it didn’t look like Maynor fouled anything but the basketball. As he was walking away from the scene of the crime, Maynor found himself muttering angrily at a referee. It was likely only the weight of his second CAA Player of the Year award that kept the ref’s whistle out of his mouth.

It was the hot shooting in the second half that kept VCU on top, but the Rams gained their dominating lead in the first half with smothering defense and some athletic play. For example, with 11 seconds left in the half, Maynor brought the ball down the floor and tried to penetrate, like he typically does in last-second situations. The Georgia State defense naturally collapsed, so Maynor kicked the ball out to Rozzell for a last second three point shot. Off the mark. But then Sanders materialized out of nowhere to collect the short rebound from a foot above the rim and throw it downwards through the basket an instant prior to the buzzer to take the 60% lead, 24 to 15.

The crowd was the most puzzling aspect of the game for me. Cheering after the exciting plays and angry yelling embarrassing things at refs isn’t the way to be a home crowd. Making some noise on defense might be a good idea in the semifinal.