Malik Bowden’s Basketball Blog
Last week taught VCU that you should never get overconfident during your success, and you cannot afford to sulk too much during your failures. After the Rams obliterated a top A-10 team in George Washington on Tuesday by 24 points, and had an article published about them on ESPN’s website about how dangerous of a team they’ll be in the month March, VCU saw their winning streak evaporate at the hands of their rivals the Richmond Spiders. Along with their first loss in over seven weeks Ram nation lost one of the most irreplaceable players in the country for the season in senior point guard, and leader Briante Weber.
On January 27 VCU turned what was supposed to be a picture perfect matchup on paper into a one sided rout of the George Washington Colonials 72-48. Entering the game George Washington was tied with Dayton for second place in the conference, and possessed a starting line up with four players that could handle the basketball against VCU’s full court pressure. At halftime the Rams lead 29-21 but the score didn’t show the true gap of how much VCU outplayed GW. In the second half the Rams proceeded to steamroll GW. VCU turned the colonials over 16 times. Three more turnovers than what GW averages, and held them to 26 percent shooting from the field, and five percent from the three point line. VCU’s pesky half-court defense proved that getting the ball across half court is only the tip of the iceberg when trying to score against them.
On the offensive end VCU fans were given a peak into the future where VCU will lean on Terry Larrier to lead them in scoring. On this night Larrier saw that senior guard Treveon Graham was struggling, and decided to pick up the slack leading the Rams with 15 points on only seven field goal attempts. The Rams also received double digit scoring outputs from Mo Alie-Cox(10 points), and JeQuan Lewis(13 points). VCU extended their winning streak to 12 games, and comfortably placed themselves in the driver’s seat of the Atlantic-10 conference.
That Saturday the Siegel center was sold out yet again with an all-black theme as the Richmond Spiders attempted to end the 12 game winning streak that VCU carried into the matchup. The game started with the Rams having full control with highlight blocks from Mo Alie-Cox, and the scoring spread almost evenly throughout the Rams rotation. VCU went into the locker room up 28-22 in a game they had the potential to break open similar to their previous opponent.
Although in the second half Richmond not only answered VCU’s strong first half performance but out executed them for virtually all of the final 20 minutes, outscoring VCU 42-27, and taking advantage of some ill-advised shots by the Rams. Richmond also leaned on their senior do it all guard Kendall Anthony who was without a doubt the best player on the floor in the second half. Anthony finished the game scoring 22 points, 20 of them came in the second half.
As the Rams tried to make a comeback that ended up falling nine points short the biggest loss of the day came when Briante Weber attempted to make a pass and came down awkwardly on his knee going down to the floor grimacing in pain. He was helped off the court, and finished the game on the sideline in crutches. Later that night VCU announced that Weber, only 12 steals away from the NCAA career record, had suffered from a torn ACL, MCL, and meniscus, and won’t be able to finish the season. Ram fans were all saddened by the news. Shaka Smart has yet to speak on the injury, and will have to rally his team around Briante in a situation similar to Kevin Ware when Louisville went on to win the national championship two years ago. The Rams had lost their first game in over seven weeks, and will look to get back on track when they travel to Fairfax to take on the George Mason Patriots who are currently 2-6 in conference play.
