Siegel Center, Richmond, Virginia
Friday, February 2, 2018
7:00PM
Media
TV: ESPN2
Replay:
Radio: B101, 101.5 FM
Previews:
Richmond.com
WHAT'S AT STEAK
Vegas:
Opponent
Record:
14-8 in Div I, 6-3 in the Atlantic-10 Conference
Road: 3-3
Neutral: 1-2
Home: 10-3
Last season: 26-7, 14-4 in the Atlantic-10 Conference
Rankings:
RPI: 107
BPI: 109
KenPom: 127
Leaders (returning from 2016-17):
Points - Justin Tillman, 12.2 ppg
Rebounds - Justin Tillman, 8.7 rpg
Assists - Jonathan Williams, 3.1 apg
Leaders (after the first 21 VCU games of 2017-18):
Points - Justin Tillman, 18.2 ppg
Rebounds - Justin Tillman, 9.6 rpg
Assists - Jonathan Williams, 5.8 apg
Preview
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university located in Richmond, Virginia. Founded in 1838, it has over 24,000 undergraduates and 7,000 graduate students.
VCU is a city university, an institute of higher learning that is located in the middle of a city. It has no "real" campus. The "milieu" at VCU is most graciously described as gritty and working class. It is dangerous to walk the VCU complex at night.
VCU's athletic teams are collectively known as the VCU Rams. Their colors are Black and Gold.
Befitting a city university, VCU has a strong basketball tradition. From 2011 to 2017, VCU has reached the NCAA tournament each year, reaching the Final Four in the 2011 NCAA tournament. Since joining the Atlantic-10 Conference in July 2012, VCU has reached the A-10 Tournament title game in every one of its five seasons in the Atlantic-10. In 2015, VCU M-BB won its first A-10 championship title. In 2016, VCU won its first Atlantic 10 conference regular season championship, tying with Dayton and St. Bonaventure.
The current Head Coach for men's basketball at Virginia Commonwealth University is Mike Rhoades, now in his first season as head coach at VCU. The 45-year-old Rhoades, a former VCU assistant coach and associate head coach under Shaka Smart from 2009-14, spent the past three seasons as the head coach at Rice.
The latest contestant in what has been a coaching carousel at VCU since the departure of Smart, Rhoades is the third coach that VCU has had in four years. And this year, as Coach Rhoades is apt to remind people, VCU has only 4 players returning. A new coach can always get away with proclaiming "this is a rebuilding year", even though VCU was selected fourth in the Atlantic 10 Conference's Preseason Poll.
So far this season, halfway through Coach Rhoades' first A-10 season since his return from Texas, VCU is 14-8 overall (6-3 in Atlantic-10 Conference play):
RPI DATE OPPONENT W/L SCORE 261 Nov 10 Grambling W 94-65 212 Nov 13 North Florida W 95-85 1 Nov 17 Virginia L 67-76 50 Nov 20 Marquette* L 83-94 170 Nov 21 California* W 83-69 34 Nov 22 Michigan* L 60-68 275 Nov 28 Appalachian St W 85-72 104 Dec 2 Old Dominion W 82-75 36 Dec 5 Texas L 67-71 18 Dec 9 @ Seton Hall L 67-90 89 Dec 16 Bucknell W 85-79 172 Dec 19 Winthrop W 69-55 292 Dec 22 VMI W 75-65 264 Dec 30 Fordham W 76-63 93 Jan 12 @ Dayton L 79-106 193 Jan 3 @ Saint Joseph's L 81-87 164 Jan 6 @ La Salle W 80-74 217 Jan 9 Duquesne W 78-67 162 Jan 17 Richmond L 52-67 187 Jan 20 Geo Washington W 87-63 142 Jan 23 @ Saint Louis W 75-74 208 Jan 27 @ George Mason W 84-76 VCU .vs. RPI TOP 150 == 3-6 VCU .vs. RPI SUB 150 == 11-2
In the M-BB games that VCU has played so far this season, Coach Rhoades has pretty much gone with a nine player rotation (likely starters in bold)
- Jonathan "Johnny" Williams (6-1 200) senior guard from Richmond, Virginia. Named to the A-10 Preseason All-Defensive Team. Starting point guard who is averaging 10 points per game and is also the assist leader with 5.8 assists per game.
- Malik Crowfield (6-4 195) sophomore guard from Laplace, Louisiana. Three point shooter. Last year as a freshman at VCU, he appeared in 34 of 35 contests, including four starts, and averaged 2.1 points, while shooting 36% (21-of-59) from beyond the arc. This season, he is averaging 6.7 points per game, while shooting 37% from beyond the arc. He starts some games, and comes in off the bench for other games. His better games this year were at the beginning of the season, and he has not started (or shot particularly well) in the last three VCU games, so will likely not start against Rhody.
- De'Riante Jenkins (6-5 195) sophomore guard from Eutaville, South Carolina. A monster in transition, Jenkins is currently averaging 13 points, 4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game. Fully half his shots come from behind the 3-point line, where he shoots with 43% efficiency. Jenkins was the guy that hit that game-tying 3-pointer late in regulation to lead VCU to a 75-74 overtime win last Tuesday night in St. Louis.
- Mike'l Simms (6-5 220) sophomore guard... Richmond native... played four years at Highland Springs High School, then did a prep year at Bull City Prep in Durham, North Carolina... played last year at Cowley Community College (Kansas), where he averaged 14 points and 4 rebounds per game... JUCO transfer recruited to VCU in June-2017 by Coach Rhoades... solid defender... tough as nails... rebounds well... currently averaging 6 ppg and 2.4 rpg for VCU.
- Issac Vann (6-6 210) red-shirt sophomore forward from Bridgeport, Connecticut. A forward who can shoot the trey, Vann sat out last season as a transfer from Maine. This season, Vann is averaging 10 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. For the overtime victory at St Louis, Vann had 10 points and 3 assists.
- Khris Lane (6-7 245) Fifth-year graduate student forward, originally from Richmond, Virginia, where he attended Benedictine High School. Transferred in to VCU last spring following his graduation from Longwood, which he led in scoring (17.1) and rebounding (7.3) last season (other schools looking at him last spring were Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, and Rhode Island). After starting at VCU for the first 15 games of this season, Lane was replaced in the starting lineup beginning with the 6-Jan-2018 game at La Salle. After getting single-digit minutes in each of the next 5 games, Lane had a 27-minute outing at Saint Louis a week ago Tuesday in which he had 10 points and four rebounds. Most recently, in the away game Saturday against in-state foe George Mason, Lane came off the bench to have his best game ever as a VCU Ram, scoring 25 points in 25 minutes on 11-for-13 shooting (almost all on layups and dunks) and adding 12 rebounds. He may or may not start against Rhode Island, but he will definitely be a presence.
- Marcus Santos-Silva (6-7 255) freshman forward originally from Taunton, Massachusetts; he prepped at Vermont Academy and played AAU ball for BABC. Originally recruited by Will Wade to come to VCU, Santos-Silva chose to honor his commitment and is now playing for Coach Rhoades. A robust left-hander, he brings a strong physical presence. A good man-to-man post defender, but so-so on offense. In the rotation, but still just a freshman.
- Justin Tillman (6-8 220) senior forward from Detroit, Michigan. A-10 Player of the Year candidate. Long and lanky, with neither the heft nor the strength of a traditional post player, Tillman is nevertheless the rebounding leader (9.6 rpg) and the scoring leader (18.2 ppg) for VCU. The cheeto-headed Tillman scored 19 points after halftime in the 75-74 overtime victory a week ago Tuesday in St. Louis, finishing with a game-high 25 points and team-high 12 rebounds. Most recently, in the George Mason game Saturday, Tillman, before fouling out, double-doubled racking 18 points and 11 rebounds, his eleventh double-double of the season. Energetic and relentless in his pursuit of rebounds, Tillman is sure to give the Rhody frontcourt fits at both ends of the court.
- Sean Mobley (6-8 240) Freshman from Cocoa Beach, Forida, where he was a 4-star performer at Monteverde Academy. Originally recruited out of high school by Will Wade to come to VCU, Mobley honored his commitment even after Wade exited abruptly for LSU. Now a freshman for Coach Rhoades, Mobley has been part of the VCU rotation as a "stretch-4" since the first regular season game. He has been a starter for the last three games, and so will likely start Friday against Rhode Island. In his last outing, the road game against George Mason, he had 3 rebounds and 7 points (1-for-2 on treys and 4-for-4 from the charity stripe) in 18 minutes. Mobley can grab rebounds and can hit open threes. For the season, he is shooting the three at 37%; his inside-outside scoring ability may cause some problems for the Rhody defenders.
- Tyler Maye (6-1 175) freshman guard from Farmville, North Cackalacky. An explosive point guard in high school, his rocket ship has not yet blasted off at VCU. Maye has seen courttime in all 22 VCU games this his freshman season, and is averaging about 8 minutes per game, but he remains largely on the wrong side of the rotational cut.
- Dylan "Yay-Yay" Sheehy-Guiseppi (6-1 195) freshman guard from Lake Havasu City, Arizona. The VCU website says he is from Arizona, but he went to high school in Upper Peninsula Michigan. Walk-on. Chasing his dream.
- Marcus Evans (6-2 190) junior guard from the greater Norfolk, Virginia, area. Played two seasons for VCU Coach Mike Rhoades at Rice. Will sit out 2017-18 in accordance with NCAA transfer regulations and have two years of eligibility remaining.
- Xavier Jackson (6-3 190) junior guard from Hinesville, Georgia. JUCO from Sheridan Junior College (Wyoming). At the start of the season, he was getting double-digit minutes per game; now in A-10 conference play, he is averaging a minute or so per game, when he does happen to get in.
- Lewis Djonkam (6-9 245) freshman forward from Springfield, Virginia. Did a prep school year at Hargrave Military Academy. This season, his first at VCU, he has seen some playing time (3 or 4 minutes most games) but has not done much statistically, except perhaps to commit fouls. At this point, I am not sure whether anyone really knows what (if anything) Big Lew will do against Rhody on Friday night, but I would think that if he is in the game for longer than 4 minutes, it is most likely because Rhoades' squad is having big problems against the visiting league champions.
VCU, currently tied for second place in the Atlantic-10, has won its last three games (and nine of its last twelve games) as it heads into Friday’s showdown with Rhode Island, who is in first-place and is currently undefeated in conference play. The VCU team will be well-rested on Friday, as the past week has been their "bye" week. Coming off last Saturday's road victory over George Mason, the VCU team will be brimming with confidence and will be ready to battle in what for them is one of their biggest games of the season. As in all the A-10 games so far this season played by Rhode Island, VCU will be bringing their best game, thinking "hey -- why not us to be the giant slayer?"
Since his return to VCU as the head coach, Mike Rhoades has attempted to continue the pressing, trapping, high-octane "Havoc" approach that has been the calling card of VCU men's basketball since the beginning of the Shaka Smart era. However, there has been a recurring problem: the current VCU squad, though long and athletic, are not particularly quick. Full court defensive pressure is always susceptible to offensive ball movement, and this season, either due to lack of familiarity with the system or due to their own inherent lack of agility, the VCU players have ended up running what is basically a weak man-to-man press defense, kind of a Havoc-lite, that has not always worked well in every contest. The "HAVOC Lives Here" banner still hangs in the west end zone of the Siegel Center, but it now seems to be more brag than fact, merely a familiar slogan that maintains the VCU brand.
VCU has shown at times this season that it is capable of playing pretty well defensively, but just cannot seem to do so on a consistent basis. Perhaps it is because VCU does not yet have the proper players or perhaps it is because the players that they do have have not yet bought completely into the playbook, but whatever it is, it just is not there at 100% for 100% of the time. Further exacerbating VCU's defensive difficulties is the fact that, while Mike Rhoades is a good coach, his lack of adjustments made on defense has been questionable this season.
Actually, VCU’s up-tempo system would seem to favor the strengths found in Hurley's four guard attack plan, especially this season at least, as the current edition of VCU M-BB is just not as fast as the guys in Keaney Blue.
Justin Tillman and the other members of the VCU frontcourt are perhaps the pivotal pieces of the VCU puzzle. The team that owns the glass Friday night will strongly influence the other aspects of the contest, and so the bigman match-ups will be the game within the game. Given Rhody's paucity of talent in the post, Tillman and company pose particular problems for Rhody. Perhaps the best approach for Rhode Island may be for Hurley's kids to attack the middle of the VCU defense with the hope of getting the VCU bigs in foul trouble. On several occasions this season, the VCU on-court lineup was unable to stay cohesive (offensively or defensively) without their bigmen starters.
For the past 5 years, VCU has been one of the standard bearers in the A-10. It is now time for URI to assert its claim as the head of the pack. Friday will be the first time that the two teams have faced each other since last year’s A-10 tournament final (which by the way Rhode Island won 70-63). Only, now the game is at the "the Stu", VCU's home court, the emotional deck stacked in VCU's favor, the puerile rants of the VCU fanbase readied and set to create a bellicose environment in the Siegal Arena.
Look -- yes, I know, even with VCU having kind of a rebuilding year what with the new coach and the new players, playing VCU on the road is just not going to be a push-over game for Rhody, but ——— come on ——— what do you really think is going to be the end result in Richmond on Friday? Remember that old Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day ? For the fans of URI M-BB, Atlantic-10 Conference play is beginning to have a Groundhog Day feel to it: Rhody keeps winning conference games and winning conference games. Friday, on Groundhog Day, it will be VCU's turn to face the URI basketball program that Dan Hurley has created.
GO RHODY!