Rams clobber Huskies: VCU 90, NIU 63

Final Score: VCU 90, Northern Illinois 63
Location: Siegel Center in Richmond
Current Records: VCU 8-4, Northern Illinois 3-8

In a nutshell: The Rams, who scored at will, pulled away early and coasted to victory before a grateful home crowd. The points parade was led by redshirt sophomore forward Jamir Watkins, who scored a career-high 22 points. In all, eleven different Rams scored.

VCU led by 23 at halftime and its biggest second-half lead was 37 points. Although today's tilt didn't feature VCU's best defense in the second 20-minutes of play, well, it didn't exactly need to be the best. 

NOTES (Info provided by Chris Kowalczyk, VCU Assistant A.D.

• Watkins shot 8-of-12 from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line on the way to his new career-high of 22 points, topping his previous high of 15 against Western Carolina in 2020. Watkins also crashed the glass to the tune of seven rebounds.

• Sophomore forward Jalen DeLoach scored 16 points, tying the career-high he set earlier this month at Temple. He also grabbed nine rebounds.

• Senior forward David Shriver got his first start of the season in place of graduate student Brandon Johns Jr. (who was a late scratch due to a back injury). Shriver made the most of his turn in the starting five, notching a season-high 14 points and shooting 4-of-7 from the field, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. He sank three treys  in the game's first five minutes.
  

• Junior forward Ace Baldwin Jr. was the fourth Ram in double figures with 10 points. Baldwin dished for eight assists.

• Keshawn Williams and Zarique Nutter were bright spots on an otherwise dim night for Northern Illinois, scoring 16 and 11 points respectively for the visiting Huskies.

• The Rams wasted no time taking control from the opening tip, taking a 9-2 lead in the first 1:17 of the game. Then the Rams poured it on with a 15-4 run over the next 4:19, which included three straight treys by Shriver, to stretch it out to an 18-point lead at 24-6 with 14:24 left on the first half clock.
  

• VCU’s lead swelled to 26 with a 10-1 run over the course of 4:08 late in the first half. The Rams took a comfortable 49-26 lead into halftime.

• VCU continued their strong play to start the second half, going on a 9-2 run through the first 2:04, putting the game well out of reach with a thirty-point cushion over the Huskies at 58-28. Northern Illinois never got closer than 25 points the rest of the way.

• The Rams shot well on all fronts, hitting 53 percent (29-of 55) from the field, including, 44 percent (7-of-16) 3-point land. VCU also connected on 25-of-30 from the free throw line (83 percent).

• The 90 points scored is the Rams’ highest output this season by 16 points, and their highest point total since their first round NIT victory over Princeton last season, when they also put up 90 points on the Tigers.

• VCU never trailed in the game, leading for all but 29 seconds out of the 40 minutes.

QUOTES

• “We had offensive success today. Consistent offensive success. That's more important than 90 points, we played the right way for most of the game. We executed the right way for most of the game. We made extra passes, I thought driving the ball today, we were playing off two feet, we weren’t out of control. We had a couple of turnovers but we didn’t have two, three, four in a row and got shots at the rim. We had 18 assists on 29 baskets because guys were making the right plays so that creates points” – Head Coach Mike Rhoades on the team’s offensive success.

• “Seeing those first three go in is just a huge confidence booster. It got the momentum going just for the rest of the game. Just kept the foot on the pedal and just kept going.” – Shriver on starting the game strong .

• “When we see shots go in, I think that's better for us on the defense and it gets us going. We had a lot of turnovers in the backcourt and with the shots going in, that's a big thing.” – Baldwin on the team seeing shots go in.
  

BOX SCORE

UP NEXT

The Rams will wrap up non-conference play on Wednesday, Dec. 21, when they play host to the Navy Midshipmen. The game will tip-off at 7 p.m., and it will be televised on MASN and streamed on ESPN+.

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