Location: Siegel Center in Richmond
Current records: Jacksonville 5-2. VCU 5-4.
In a nutshell: Although the Rams made a good effort in the last five minutes, overall, their effort this time was lackluster. Based on his team's last two surprisingly weak performances, Coach Rhoades has his work cut out for him. The hopeful news is, in early December a lot of good teams play a couple of bad games when roles are still forming..
Notes info provided by Chris Kowalczyk, VCU Assistant A.D.
NOTES
● Brandon Johns tied a career-high with his 20-point performance. He Shot 5-of-10 from the field and made 9-of-12 from the free-throw line
● Sophomore guard Jayden Nunn connected on 5-of-10 from the floor for the Black and Gold and scored 14 points
● In his first collegiate start, freshman forward Tobi Lawal added a career-high ten points and five boards for VCU
● VCU forced 13 turnovers, scoring 13 points off the mistakes and allowed just eight turnovers of their own. Junior guard Ace Baldwin led the Rams with three steals as the team totaled nine.
● Aside from Nolan’s 20 points and 8 assists, Jacksonville sought help from Mike Marsh’s 17 points and nine rebounds
● The Dolphins Shot 50 percent (9-of-18) from the 3-point line, while VCU struggled from beyond the arc, misfiring on 23 of 28 attempts
● Jacksonville used a 7-0 run, ignited by a pair of Marsh buckets, to take a 43-36 lead with 16:23 remaining. The Dolphins never trailed again and led by as many as 16 at 64-48 with 4:32 remaining
● VCU rallied to within 64-58 with 2:37 left behind a 9-0 run that included seven Johns free throws. But on the ensuing possession, Nolan buried a 3-pointer from the deep left wing as the shot clock expired to push the Dolphins advantage back to 67-58 with 2:04 on the clock
● Jacksonville owned a 38-30 rebounding advantage
● The Dolphins shot 90 percent (18-of-20) from the free-throw line
QUOTES
VCU Head Coach Mike Rhoades: “Credit to Jacksonville. They came in here and took it to us. They created some really good opportunities, really gave themselves some confidence and put us on our heels. For most of the game, they just played harder than us. I thought late in the game, we played harder and had more success on both ends of the court. We've got work to do. I like this team, I know what we’re capable of, but I’ve got to do a better job with these guys, and we’re going to have some heart-to-hearts and get to work.”
Brandon Johns Jr. on the last few minutes of the game: “Yeah, that was a spark of energy that we should have had from the beginning of the game. Unfortunately, it was too late. We need to do that all game. We need to start doing it from the jump.”
BOX SCORE
UP NEXT
The Rams play their second game of a six-game homestand of the season in a match-up against Howard on Sunday, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed on MASN and ESPN+.
