Over the past four years that I was a student, there have been many clutch last second shots in those four years. I would like to explain to everyone all of these shots, what game they occurred in, and who made the shot. Some of these shots have been mentioned in some of my previous articles, but I will post them anyway. So here we go. These are the clutch shots that gave this article the title of “Mr. Clutch”
Jamie Skeen vs. Drexel (3/5/11):
This was the CAA quarterfinal game in the CAA Tournament. With ten seconds to go, Joey Rodriguez has the ball. He passes to Ed Nixon behind the arc with 5.5 seconds to go. Nixon passes the ball inside to Jamie Skeen with four seconds to go. Skeen dribbles inside, backs his defender in, spins around, and shoots a lay-up with 0.6 seconds to go. IT’S GOOD!! VCU wins 62-60.
Bradford Burgess vs. Florida State (3/25/11):
Rodriguez inbounds the ball baseline left to Bradford Burgess who jumps into the paint. He banks a shot off the glass with seven seconds to go. Singleton inbounds to Kitchen. Kitchen dribbles down the court and has three seconds to shoot the ball. He passes out to Singleton who has one second left and the shot gets BLOCKED by Rob Brandenberg (props to Brandenberg for the clutch block as well) VCU wins 72-71 in overtime.
Darius Theus at Akron (12/29/11):
With 20.5 seconds to go, Bradford Burgess inbounds the ball to Treveon Graham. Graham then passes to Theus immediately. Theus dribbles down the court then passes to Burgess with a little under nine seconds to go. Burgess dribbles inside and passes to Theus with five seconds to go. After Theus gets the pass, he immediately takes a lay-up and IT GOES IN with 2.7 seconds to go. Brian Walsh of Akron shoots a desperation shot and it’s no good. VCU wins 76-75 in overtime.
Darius Theus vs. William & Mary (1/19/12):
VCU with 19 seconds left gets the ball off a missed free throw. Theus dribbles down the court, drives inside the paint and spins. Shoots a lay-up and IT’S GOOD!! Thornton of W&M drives down the court with nine seconds to go. He tried to shoot a clutch jumper of his own and he missed. VCU wins 69-68 in overtime.
Darius Theus at ODU (2/11/12):
Bazemore of ODU throws a pass and it gets deflected and stolen by Juvonte Reddic. Reddic passes it to Darius Theus. Theus drives into the paint, shoots a lay-up, and it is GOOD AND ONE!! Theus ends up going to the line and making the shot. The end of the game is a missed three-pointer by Bazemore and a jumper by Delancey doesn’t go either as the rams beat ODU 68-64.
Troy Daniels vs. Drexel (3/5/12):
Troy Daniels is at the charity stripe to shoot two. He makes the first and makes the second. This is after he made two other free throws before these two. He hit four free throws in a row to give VCU the lead 59-56 with 11.9 seconds to go. Massenet of Drexel dribbles down the court and passes to Lee. Lee passes back to Massenet immediately. Massenet takes a three and it is NO GOOD!! VCU wins 59-56 as they move to their second NCAA tournament in a row.
Darius Theus vs. Wichita State (3/15/12):
Darius Theus, with the ball, drives inside guarded by Stutz of Wichita State. Theus throws up a tear dropper. It bounces off the front iron and back iron. It bounces off the back iron again and it GOES IN!! With 12.1 seconds to go, Wichita State gets the ball back. Stutz with about three seconds left shoots a three and it’s NO GOOD!! VCU moves on to the third round in the 2012 NCAA tournament beating the Shockers 62-59.
Darius Theus and Treveon Graham vs. St. Joseph’s (1/17/13):
After a Troy Daniels three-pointer, the score is 79-78 St. Joes ahead. Ronald Roberts Jr. of St. Joes is at the charity stripe for two. He misses the first and makes the second to make the score 80-78. With 11.9 seconds to go, the inbound pass goes to Darius Theus who dribbles inside with a crossover. Lays the ball up and IT’S GOOD!! WE ARE TIED 80-80!!
The game goes into overtime. In overtime after a Juvonte Reddic dunk that made the score 82-80, a shot clock violation is called on St. Joes. On the next VCU possession, Darius Theus has the ball and passes it to Treveon Graham who is behind the arc. Graham shoots the three-pointer. IT GOES IN AND HE IS FOULED!! He ends up making the free throw. The game ends with the score being 92-86 in overtime.
Treveon Graham at UVA (11/12/13):
With eight seconds left, Treveon Graham inbounds the ball to Rob Brandenberg. Rob Brandenberg dribbles left, picks up his dribble, and passes to Treveon Graham. Graham shoots the long NBA three and IT’S NOTHING BUT NYLON FOR TREVEON!! VCU leads 59-56 with 1.1 second to go. The next UVA possession, a desperation three is shot and it’s NO GOOD!! VCU beats UVA in dramatic fashion 59-56.
Melvin Johnson and Rob Brandenberg vs. Eastern Kentucky (12/5/13):
With 1:25 left in the game, VCU has the ball down 66-64. Briante Weber passes to Rob Brandenberg who then passes to Melvin Johnson. Johnson dribbles inside, spins, shoots his patented “Melvin” and THE MELVIN GOES IN!! We are tied 66-66. The game goes into overtime at 66-66.
In overtime, EKU can’t come up with anything on their first possession. On the other side of the court, Melvin Johnson passes to Rob Brandenberg who shoots a three and IT GOES IN!! The rams are ahead 69-66. After a couple free throws made by VCU, EKU is down by three. Cozy of EKU shoots a last second three and IT DOESN’T FALL!! VCU wins 71-68 in overtime.
Treveon Graham at La Salle (1/25/14):
Treveon Graham with less than a minute to go shoots an awkwardly balanced lay-up and it MIRACULOUSLY FALLS IN!! We are tied at 73-73. In overtime with under 30 seconds to go, Treveon Graham is at the free throw line the score is 80-78 La Salle ahead. Graham’s first free throw is good and the second one falls as well. Nothing else is scored so we go into double overtime. In double OT, VCU runs away with it outscoring La Salle 17-9 with the final score being 97-89 in double OT.
There you have it. These are all of the clutch shots from my time as a VCU student with probably many others that I forgot to include along the way. These are the shots that we remember years down the line. These are also the shots that gave all these VCU players the title of “Mr. Clutch”.
