VCU 70, Memphis 59: Rams leave S.D. with a 2-1 Record

Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic
Score: VCU 70, Memphis 59
Location: Sioux Falls, S.D. (Sanford Pentagon)
Records: VCU 2-1, Memphis 1-2

 

The story: Junior Vince Williams led three VCU players in double figures with 15 points and the Rams clamped down on defense to topple Memphis 70-59 Friday in the finale of the Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic.

 

OPENING TIP

·      Williams knocked down 3-of-5 from beyond the 3-point arc and connected on 6-of-8 free throws

·      Junior guard KeShawn Curry added 14 points and five rebounds, while sophomore guard Bones Hyland scored all 12 of his points in the second half for the Rams

·      VCU freshman point guard Ace Baldwin, playing in just his third collegiate game, provided a steady hand. He contributed three points, six assists, six rebounds and a pair of steals

·      In addition, sophomore forward Hason Ward supplied his best effort of the young season for the Black and Gold with nine points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots

·      D.J. Jeffries led all scorers with 17 points for Memphis

 

THE DIFFERENCE

·      VCU swamped the Tigers defensively, forcing 19 turnovers that resulted in 25 points. The Rams held Memphis to 35 percent (20-of-57) shooting from the field, including 6-of-23 from 3-point range

·      The Rams extended what had been a 33-29 halftime lead partially on the strength of a 19-15 second-half rebounding advantage. VCU led Memphis on the boards 35-34 overall

·      VCU took a 12-9 lead on a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Tre Clark at the 11:29 mark of the first half and never looked back

·      Memphis drew within five points, at 41-36 on a jumper by Jayden Hardaway with 15:31 remaining, but VCU answered with a 12-1 burst, fueled by a pair of Williams 3-pointers, to take a commanding 52-37 lead with 11:20 left. The Tigers got no closer than eight points the rest of the night

 

NOTABLE

·      VCU led for 32:17 of Friday’s contest

·      Hyland was named to the Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic All-Tournament Team

-    Box Score

 

UP NEXT

The Rams will head to State College, Pa. to take on Penn State on Wednesday, Dec. 2 at 5 p.m. The game will be broadcast nationally on Fox Sports 1.

-- Game notes from Chris Kowalczyk, VCU Assistant A.D

Mountaineers' Defense Stifles Rams

From: Chris Kowalczyk, VCU Assistant A.D.

Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic - Semifinals

Score: #15 West Virginia 78, VCU 66

Location: Sioux Falls, S.D. (Sanford Pentagon)

Records: #15 West Virginia 2-0, VCU 1-1

 

The Short Story: Sophomore guard Bones Hyland scored a team-high 13 points, and VCU forced 21 turnovers, but ultimately 15^th-ranked West Virginia held off the Rams in a Thanksgiving Day contest in Sioux Falls, S.D.

 

OPENING TIP

·      Hyland led the Rams in scoring for the second straight day, but the defensive-minded Mountaineers did not make it easy, limiting him to 5-of-16 shooting from the field. Hyland added three rebounds, three steals and a pair of assists.

·      Junior forward Vince Williams provided another double-digit performance off the bench for the Rams with 11 points and three rebounds

·      Junior guard KeShawn Curry supplied eight points and four rebounds for the Black and Gold, while freshman point guard Ace Baldwin handed out six assists and grabbed a pair of steals. He committed just two turnovers

·      Derek Culver led all players with 23 points and 15 rebounds for West Virginia

 

THE DIFFERENCE

·      West Virginia used an early 10-2 advantage on the glass to fuel a 13-0 start. The Mountaineers finished the game with a 49-34 rebounding edge. WVU grabbed 23 offensive rebounds and turned them into 25 points

·      While neither team shot the ball particularly well overall, West Virginia managed to connect on 45 percent (14-of-31) of its attempts in the second half

·      VCU shot 3-of-21 from beyond the 3-point arc

·      The Rams used a 10-0 burst midway through the first half, punctuated by back-to-back buckets by Clark, to pull within 29-27. But West Virginia answered with a 14-4 burst to close the half

 

NOTABLE

·      Baldwin managed another steady performance at the point. In two games, the 6-foot point guard has dished out 13 assists with just four turnovers

·      Freshman forward Jamir Watkins turned in a seven-point, four-rebound effort for the Rams

 -   Box score 

NEXT UP

VCU will meet Memphis on Friday, Nov. 27 at 9 p.m. (EST) in the final day of the Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic.

VCU Wins Season Opener: Rams 85, Aggies 69

 Game No. 1 Notes from: Chris Kowalczyk, VCU Assistant A.D.

 

Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic

Score: VCU 85, Utah State 69

Location: Sioux Falls, S.D.

Records: VCU 1-0, Utah State 0-1

 

The short story: Sophomore Bones Hyland set a career-high with 23 points and junior Vince Williams helped key a decisive second-half blitz as VCU rushed past Utah State Wednesday to kick off the 2020-21 season.

 

OPENING TIP

·      Hyland scored 15 of his 23 points in the first half. He finished 6-of-12 from the floor, including 5-of-10 from 3-point range

·      Williams poured in 13 of his career-high 15 points in the second half to help VCU’s late surge. The Toledo, Ohio native also provided five rebounds, four assists and a steal

·      Junior guard KeShawn Curry added 10 points and six rebounds to the mix for VCU, while senior forward Corey Douglas and sophomore guard Tre Clark supplied eight each

·      Neemias Queta recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Aggies

 

THE DIFFERENCE

·      VCU trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half, but Hyland buried a 3-pointer, and Curry scooped up back-to-back Utah State turnovers for fast break buckets to spark an 18-0 Rams run that gave them a 74-63 lead with 5:00 remaining

·      The Rams held Utah State without a field goal for nearly 11 minutes down the stretch. VCU outscored the Aggies 29-6 the final 10:56

·      The Rams shot 53 percent (28-of-53) from the field, including 10-of-24 from 3-point range

·      VCU limited Utah State to 32 percent (9-of-28) shooting in the second half. 

·      VCU scored 28 points off of 18 turnovers in the game. The Rams turned the ball over just four times in the second half.   

 

NOTABLE

-   All 12 Rams who played scored. 

-     Box score. 

 

NEXT UP

VCU will take on 15^th-ranked West Virginia at 2:30 p.m. (EST) in the semifinals of the Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic in Sioux Falls, S.D. (ESPN).

Ashby to Join VCU Basketball Radio Broadcast Team

This news comes from VCU's Chris Kowalczyk:

VCU Sports Properties announced on Friday that Rodney Ashby will join Robby Robinson on the men’s basketball radio team. Ashby replaces veteran announcer Mike Litos, who stepped away from the role following an eight-year run as color analyst.

Ashby, a VCU Basketball alumnus, has spent the past six seasons assisting the radio and television teams in a variety of ways, including as TV color analyst and pregame, halftime and postgame analyst on the radio broadcasts. He will continue to provide color to VCU’s TV broadcasts when needed.

“Right before the year ended, Mike Litos told me he thought it was a good time to step aside. A few years ago he and his wife moved to the Northern Neck, and he wanted to spend more time out there,” Robinson said. “I spent most of the summer trying to convince him to stay, but in the end, he felt comfortable with his decision to move on to the next phase of his life. Fortunately, we had someone in Rodney who Rams fans are familiar with and will do a tremendous job on the broadcasts.”

Ashby’s first game as the full-time analyst will be on Thursday, Nov. 26 as the Rams open the 2020-21 season against the Charlotte 49ers. The pregame radio broadcast will begin at 6 p.m. That contest will tip-off at 6:30 p.m.

All VCU home and away games are broadcast on Entercom Richmond’s Sports Radio 910 (AM) The Fan and Big 98.5 (FM). They are also streamed on TuneIn radio and the Radio.com app.

Update from VCU on Seating Capacity at The Stu

 From Chris Kowalczyk,

Assistant A.D. for Athletics Communications at VCU: 

VCU Athletics will begin basketball season with a capacity of 250 spectators inside the Stuart C. Siegel Center. Tuesday’s capacity adjustment was made in accordance with new COVID-19 safety guidance from the Commonwealth of Virginia, announced last week.

Should the State issue new guidance in the future, VCU Athletics will adjust accordingly.

A limited number of tickets will be made available to VCU students and guests of student-athletes. Approximately 175 seats will be reserved for season ticket holders.

Season ticket holders will receive notice by Wednesday, Nov. 18 if they qualify for the new limited capacity model.

VCU 2020/21 Men's Basketball Schedule

From Chris Kowalczyk, Assistant A.D. for Athletics Communications at VCU:

Non-conference road contests at Tennessee, Penn State and LSU, as well as a loaded 18-game Atlantic 10 Conference slate, highlight VCU’s 2020-21 men’s basketball schedule, released Monday.

Click here to see the full schedule.

 

VCU will open the 2020-21 campaign against Charlotte on Thanksgiving, Thursday, Nov. 26, at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn. The Rams will take on host Tennessee, which it battled last season in the Emerald Coast Classic, on Friday, Nov. 27. The Volunteers are ranked No. 12 in the Associated Press’ Preseason Top 25 Poll.

 

The Rams will also make December non-conference road trips to Penn State (Dec. 2) and LSU (Dec. 22). VCU topped LSU 84-82 last season at the Stuart C. Siegel Center. VCU and Penn State have never met.

 

VCU will open the home portion of its schedule on Saturday, Dec. 5 when it hosts Mount St. Mary’s at the Siegel Center. The Rams will also welcome North A&T (Dec. 9), longtime rival Old Dominion (Dec. 12), Western Carolina (Dec. 15) and Louisiana (Dec. 18) in non-conference match-ups.

 

Twelve of VCU’s 18 Atlantic 10 Conference games will be broadcast on national television. Home-and-home league match-ups with cross-town rival Richmond, Dayton, Rhode Island, George Mason and Davidson await the Rams.

 

VCU will head to the Robins Center to take on the Spiders on Jan. 16 in a contest that will be televised nationally by CBS Sports Network. Richmond will return the game on Feb. 12 at the Siegel Center, a tilt that will air on the ESPN family of networks.

 

The Rams will also host Fordham, UMass La Salle and Saint Louis in league action. VCU will head out for additional road contests at Saint Joseph’s, George Washington, Duquesne and St. Bonaventure. VCU will close out regular season play on March 3 at Dayton on CBS Sports Network.

 

The 2021 Atlantic 10 Conference Championship Tournament is scheduled for March 10-14 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

 

Additional TV information for games outside of the A-10 package will be available soon.

 

VCU is coming off an 18-13 campaign, its 20^th consecutive winning season. The Rams welcome six newcomers, including transfers Brendan Medley-Bacon (Baltimore, Md.) and Levi Stockard III (St. Louis, Mo.) from Coppin State and Kansas State, respectively. The Rams return a number of regulars, including A-10 All-Rookie selection Nah’Shon “Bones” Hyland (Wilmington, Del.), who was named to the league’s preseason Third Team Tuesday.

VCU Basketball Capacity Set at 1,000 Spectators

From: Chris Kowalczyk, Assistant A.D. for VCU Athletics Communications

 

VCU will begin its 2020-21 men’s and women’s basketball seasons with a capacity of 1,000 inside the Stuart C. Siegel Center, Vice President and Director of Athletics Ed McLaughlin announced today (Nov. 11, 2020). The decision mirrors current guidelines set by the Commonwealth of Virginia for sporting events. If guidance from the Commonwealth changes throughout the 2020-21 season, VCU Athletics will adjust accordingly.

 

'We regret that we cannot have our usual full capacity to start the men’s basketball season,' McLaughlin said. 'Our loyal, dedicated fans make our home games the best environment in college basketball and we will miss everyone who cannot attend in person. We will continue to work with all parties in an effort to maximize capacity beyond the current guidelines as the season progresses.'

 

VCU Athletics will limit seating to the arena bowl in a socially-distanced manner, with a buffer zone around the court to prevent contact between fans and participants. Courtside seating and the Tommy J. West Club will be closed. Ticket holders in those areas will have the opportunity to sit in the bowl area.

 

VCU Athletics will determine access to season tickets based on giving level and rank within each giving level, consistent with the Seat Equity model. Ticket allocations for student-athlete guests, coaches’ guests and students will leave approximately 650 for season ticket holders. VCU Athletics has created protocols to make unused tickets available to Ram Athletic Fund members on a single-game basis.

 

Season ticket holders will receive notification by Tuesday, Nov. 17, if they qualify for the current limited-capacity model. Ticket holders who do not meet the limited capacity qualifications will have a variety of options, including the ability to transfer their season ticket donation to a Ram Athletic Fund gift for 2021-22 or a refund.

Update: 

Jalen DeLoach (Savannah, Ga./The Skill Factory) and Nick Kern (St. Louis, Mo./Vashon) have signed National Letters of Intent with VCU, Rams Head Coach Mike Rhoades announced Wednesday.

A versatile, 6-foot-9, 190-pound forward, DeLoach is currently averaging 17 points, 10.3 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.5 blocks per game, while shooting 64 percent from the floor, for The Skill Academy, a prep school in Atlanta, Ga. He starred at Berkmar High School in Lilburn, Ga. last year, where he posted 18 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks per game. He is a standout product of the Team Huncho AAU program.

 

DeLoach, rated the 19^th-best prospect in the State of Georgia by recruiting service 247Sports, chose VCU over interest from South Carolina, Georgia, Ole Miss and Texas Southern.

 

'We are excited to have Jalen and his family join our program,' Rhoades said. 'He is exactly what we want in a player for our style of play.  Jalen is super versatile with great length, mobility and instincts. He has a great feel with lots of potential. Jalen was a top target for our staff due to the combination of playing in winning programs, a great foundation set by his parents, Rob and Ivy, and a great fit in our VCU family. He is having a great year of growth playing at The Skill Factory under Rob Johnson. We are looking forward to having Jalen on campus as a Ram.'

 

Fast fact: DeLoach comes from an athletic family. His sister is a senior on the Ohio State Track & Field team, while his brother is a sophomore linebacker on the football team at Florida State.

 

A 6-6 guard, Kern is rated the No. 7 recruit in Missouri by 247Sports. He was named First Team All-State and First Team All-Conference in 2019-20 after averaging 12.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.0 blocks for Vashon High School and Coach Tony Irons. Kern has also starred for the TruVision and Brad Beal Elite AAU programs.

 

Kern committed to VCU after receiving interest from DePaul, Saint Louis, TCU and others.

 

'We are fired up to have Nick Kern and his family as a part of our program,' said Rhoades. 'His commitment gives us a versatile and aggressive guard that we all like around here. Nick fits our style tremendously with his skill, length and aggressive approach. Nick comes from a very successful high school program playing for Head Coach Tony Irons and knows what it will take to succeed at VCU. He will impact our program in so many ways. We are looking forward to getting Nick on campus and watching him grow as a Ram.'

Fast fact: Kern attends the same high school as current VCU senior forward Levi Stockard III.

Dignity

Suddenly, it dawned on Rebus what must have mattered to many voters. After all, Trump is driven to humiliate people, especially those who naturally demonstrate they have something he can't buy or steal -- dignity. 

Given our current troubles, many of last week's voters may get COVID-19. They may go broke. Nonetheless, I think plenty of folks voted with preserving their dignity -- preserving our collective dignity -- on their minds. It's a factor that doesn't get much mention.

The Cheaters

This 1916 photograph of my grandfather, Frank W. Owen (1893-1968), was shot when he was in the Richmond Light Infantry Blues. At the time he was stationed in Brownsville, Texas, as part of a contingent called up, converted into a calvary unit and assigned to protect the border. Mexican revolutionary/bandit Pancho Villa had been crossing over to raid small towns ... or so it was said. The next year the Richmond Blues were thrown into WWI in France. 

The piece below is about my grandfather and his method for teaching me a lesson about playing by the rules. Always. The story is set in the summer of 1959. 

Please note: I wrote it originally some 30 years ago for SLANT. So I was still playing basketball regularly. Then 10 years later an edited/scaled down version of it, this one, was published as a Back Page commentary in STYLE Weekly in 2000. 

The Cheaters

by F.T. Rea

Having devoted countless hours to competitive sports and games of all sorts, nothing in that realm is quite as galling to this grizzled scribbler as the cheater’s averted eye of denial, or the practiced tones of his shameless spiel.

In the middle of a pick-up basketball game, or a friendly Frisbee-golf round, too often, my barbed outspokenness over what I have perceived as deliberate cheating has ruffled feathers. Alas, it's my nature. I can't help it any more than a watchful blue jay can resist dive-bombing an alley cat.

The reader might wonder about whether I'm overcompensating for dishonest aspects of myself, or if I could be dwelling on memories of feeling cheated out of something dear.

OK, fair enough, I don't deny any of that. Still, truth be told, it mostly goes back to a particular afternoon's mischief gone wrong.

*

A blue-collar architect with the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway for decades, my maternal grandfather, Frank Wingo Owen was a natural entertainer. Blessed with a resonant baritone/bass voice, he began singing professionally in his teens and continued performing, as a soloist and with barbershop quartets, into his mid-60s.

Shortly after his retirement, at 65, the lifelong grip on good health he had enjoyed failed; an infection he picked up during a routine hernia surgery at a VA hospital nearly killed him. It left him with no sense of touch in his extremities. Once he got some of his strength back, he found comfort in returning to his role as umpire of the baseball games played in his yard by the neighborhood's boys. He couldn't stand up behind home plate, anymore, but he did alright sitting in the shade of the plum tree, some 25 feet away.

This was the summer he taught me, along with a few of my friends, the fundamentals of poker. To learn the game we didn’t play for real money. Each player got so many poker chips. If his chips ran out, he became a spectator.

The poker professor said he’d never let us beat him, claiming he owed it to the game itself to win if he could, which he always did. Woven throughout his lessons on betting strategy were stories about poker hands and football games from his cavalry days, serving with the Richmond Blues during World War I.

As likely as not, the stories he told would end up underlining points he saw as standards: He challenged us to expose the true coward at the heart of every bully. "Punch him in the nose," he'd chuckle, "and even if you get whipped he'll never bother you again." In team sports, the success of the team trumped all else. Moreover, withholding one’s best effort in any game, no matter the score, was beyond the pale.

Such lazy afternoons came and went so easily that summer there was no way then, at 11, I could have appreciated how precious they would seem looking back on them.

On the other hand, there were occasions he would make it tough on me. Especially when he spotted a boy breaking the yard's rules or playing dirty. It was more than a little embarrassing when he would wave his cane and bellow his rulings. For flagrant violations, or protesting his call too much, he barred the guilty boy from the yard for a day or two.

F. W. Owen’s hard-edged opinions about fair play, and looking directly in the eye at whatever comes along, were not particularly modern. Nor were they always easy for know-it-all adolescent boys to swallow.

Predictably, the day came when a plot was hatched. We decided to see if artful subterfuge could beat him at poker just once. The conspirators practiced in secret for hours, passing cards under the table with bare feet and developing signals. It was accepted that we would not get away with it for long, but to pull it off for a few hands would be pure fun.

Following baseball, with the post-game watermelon consumed, I fetched the cards and chips. Then the four card sharks moved in to put the caper in play.

To our amazement, the plan went off smoothly. After hands of what we saw as sly tricks we went blatant, expecting/needing to get caught, so we could gloat over having tricked the great master. Later, as he told the boys' favorite story -- the one about a Spanish women who bit him on the arm at a train station in France -- one-eyed jacks tucked between dirty toes were being passed under the table.

Then the joy began to drain out of the adventure. With semi-secret gestures I called the ruse off. A couple of hands were played with no shenanigans but he ran out of chips, anyway.

Head bowed, he sighed, “Today I can’t win for loosing; you boys are just too good for me.” Utterly dependent on his cane for balance he slowly walked into the shadows toward the back porch. It was agonizing.

The game was over; we were no longer pranksters. We were cheaters.

As he carefully negotiated the steps, my last chance to save the day came and went without a syllable out of me to set the record straight. It was hard to believe that he hadn’t seen what we were doing, but my guilt burned so deeply I didn't wonder enough about that, then.

*

My grandfather didn’t play poker with us again. He went on umpiring, and telling his salty stories afterwards over watermelon. We tried playing poker the same way without him, but it didn’t work; the value the chips had magically represented was gone. The boys had outgrown poker without real money on the line.

Although I thought about that afternoon's shame many times before he died nine years later, neither of us ever mentioned it. For my part, when I tried to bring it up, to clear the air, the words always stuck in my throat.

Eventually, I grew to become as intolerant of petty cheating as F.W. Owen was in his day, maybe even more so. And, as it was for him, the blue jay has always been my favorite bird.

-- 30 --