VCU Men’s Basketball strolled into Siegel Center Monday night in search of another victory in the Legends Classic – Richmond Regional. The Rams took on Bowling Green for the first time in school history and found themselves trapping the Falcons defensively while racking up points in bunches on offense.
Trey-Trey To Start The Day
Corey Douglas didn’t take long to relish in the moment of his first VCU start as he drained his first shot attempt from three. Dylan Frye quickly responded for BSGU from downtown on their first possession. De’Riante Jenkins made it a three-point party as the birthday boy knocked down VCU’s second trey.
Marcus Santos-Silva and Demajeo Wiggins went to battle down low. Santos-Silva got a rebound and followed that with two VCU free throws. Wiggins collected an offensive rebound for the Falcons that turned into a second chance bucket. BGSU held a narrow 10-8 lead at the Under-16 timeout after Frye knocked down his second three ball.
A Little Chilly From Downtown
The three ball continued to connect with Mike’l Simms knocking one from the VCU bench. Santos-Silva found himself on the wrong side of the whistle picking up his 2ndpersonal foul with 14:07 remaining. BGSU started to get into a rhythm on offense while the Rams missed their next 6 three-point attempts.
Michael Gilmore kept the Black & Gold at bay with a deep mid-range jay then taking a physical charge to get the ball back. Turnovers became an eyebrow raise of concern for the Falcons with 5 in the opening 10 minutes of the contest. Gilmore kept the Ram fans on their feet with And-1 bucket through heavy contact at the rim then turning that into a 3 point play via a free throw.
Visiting Issues, Home From Free Throw
Bowling Green had another issue in foul trouble mixed with their turnovers. To make matters worse, VCU was in the bonus and went 8-for-10 on their next 10 free throw attempts as a squad. An 8-0 VCU scoring run for the free throw line and 5 BGSU turnovers in under 4 minutes had the home team rolling.
Issac Vann scored his first bucket of the night on a run-and-gun to the basket for the VCU layup. The Rams continued hitting free throws while Vann kept making way for a layup after layup increasing in difficulty. Foul trouble came to VCU’s doorstep with Michael Gilmore picking up his third personal foul while Douglas and Santos-Silva sat on two fouls each.
Boogie To The Half
VCU laid down one more streak of offense with an 11-1 run towards halftime. Vince Williams got inside for a handful of buckets under the rim. Evans leaped for a steal at half-court then turned that into a layup in transition for VCU. The exclamation point came from Williams on an And-1 bucket that had the entire Siegel Center shaking due to the noise levels.
Dylan Frye gave Bowling Green some hope with a prayer of a three-point attempt in front of the VCU bench that was answered before the buzzer. VCU finished the half shooting 45% from the field and went 12-of-15 (80%) on free throw attempts to storm ahead 42-28
2nd Half Looks Familiar…
Douglas kept the Rams offense production going with the opening bucket inside the paint. BGSU called an early timeout after Jenkins hit his third three-pointer to put VCU ahead 47-28 and on a 5-0 scoring run out the gates.
After Vann put the Rams up 20 points with a free throw, the Rams went on a scoring drought for nearly three minutes. Bowling Green could not take advantage with turnovers against VCU’s defense and shots not falling at 20% from the field. Evans got VCU back on page on an alley to Douglas who slammed the oop down with both hands.
No Fly…Zone!
HAVOC was having its way on Bowling Green defensively. VCU kept the pressure on throughout the night and BGSU could not get in a rhythm. Even with point contributions from Dylan Frye and Demajeo Wiggins the Falcons kept turning over the basketball. Wiggins led Bowling Green with a double-double performance of 18 points and 13 rebounds.
Another Marcus Evans highlight appeared with a steal that led to Frye committing his third personal foul. Frye would get his fourth foul on a three-pointer from Evans that turned into a four-point play at the free throw line.
Closing Time & Staying Perfect
VCU Head Coach Mike Rhoades went to his reserves to finish out the night. There were some turnovers for the Black & Gold, however, Douglas kept Bowling Green down for the count with another monster block. Byrd, Simms, and Williams add extra reinforcement at the guard positions to take the game home.
Monday was a good day to be a Ram in RVA as VCU improved to 3-0 overall with a 72-56 victory over Bowling Green in the Legends Classic – Richmond Regional. Marcus Evans and Vince Williams co-led VCU with 12 points each. VCU scored 30 points off of BGSU’s 27 turnovers and only committed 15 turnovers on the night. The Rams went 22-of-28 from the free throw line.
Sean Mobley is Day-to-Day with a knee injury. Coach Rhoades believes that Mobley will be ready to play before VCU’s trip to the Barclays Center.
A Trip to the Big Apple Awaits!
VCU now prepares for a road trip to Brooklyn for the remainder of the Legends Classic. The Rams take on Temple inside the Barclays Center on Monday, November 19th at 9:30 PM. This game will be shown on ESPN 3.
