DETERMINED VCU EYES SECOND ACT
By Chris Kowalczyk
1-27-10

Message to the opposition: You shouldn’t make the Rams angry. You wouldn’t like them when they're angry.

Still stinging from their loss to Northeastern, VCU rolled into the Siegel Center Wednesday night with a chip on its shoulder and laid a historic beating on an undermanned Towson squad, 112-53.  

It was never close. VCU dominated every aspect of the game, knocking down a school and conference-record 20 3-pointers, out rebounding the Tigers, 46-21 and shooting 63 percent from the floor.

When asked if this was his team’s best performance of the 2009-10 season, Rams’ Head Coach Shaka Smart paused and smiled.

“It was certainly indicated by the score,” Smart said. “I thought in some ways the game reminded me of the UNC Wilmington game because our guys shared the ball so well and we really looking for each other. “

VCU’s decisive victory highlighted the maddening duel personalities of this team. When they’re good, they’re very, very good. After losses, they’re scary good. Yet, in many ways, the Rams are first-place talent trapped in a fifth-place team’s body. VCU still has eight league games left to prove that this team is more like the squad that just hammered Towson, and less like the group that allowed Northeastern to shoot 59 percent on Saturday.  

“We came into practice on Monday, and we talked a little bit about where we were at this time in the season and we challenged each other to start this second half of the CAA season fresh,” said guard Joey Rodriguez, who finished with 13 assists on Wednesday. “We had good practices and I thought the state of mind was that we had to come out and get stops and play how we play.”

The loss to the Huskies Saturday in Boston hit the Rams hard. Never in their careers had these Rams experienced anything like Northeastern’s season sweep, or sixth place, which is where VCU sat prior to Wednesday’s victory.  They’re used to being favorites. Looking up in the standings is an uncomfortable feeling.

“It’s the second half of the conference season now and we’re just tired of losing,” Larry Sanders, who had 17 points and 14 rebounds against Towson, said. “It’s something none of us are used to. Right now I think that we’d do anything not to lose.”

Consistency down the stretch will be key to VCU’s hopes. It’s an area in which they’ve struggled all season.  There are plenty of times this year when the Rams have looked like Superman (see: Oklahoma, Richmond, Rhode Island, William & Mary), only to morph into Clark Kent (see: Western Michigan, Northeastern, Drexel). 

“I don’t think we’ve handled wins that well this year,” Rodriguez said. “We need to handle this win like we’re supposed to win and come out Saturday with the same attitude.”

It’s not just winning that can lead to complacency. It’s winning like VCU did on Wednesday.  At 4-16 overall and 1-9 in the CAA, Towson is clearly not Northeastern, George Mason or Old Dominion. Additionally, the Tigers were missing the league’s top rebounder in Robert Nwankwo. The Rams shredded Towson’s zone defense without so much as a second thought. In the final seven minutes of the game, VCU buried seven consecutive 3-pointers.

“It’s going to be a big challenge mentally,” said Smart. “Anytime you win by such a large margin, there’s a tendency to feel like you’re better than you are. As a coach, the last thing you want to do in the locker room after the game is take anything away from your guys after a terrific performance like that. There’s a ‘but’ to that, which is, we play again in three days against a team that’s highly motivated and a team that’s very, very capable and also a team that we had difficulty stopping with our man-to-man defense down in Atlanta.”

On Saturday, Georgia State will come to the Siegel Center. Which VCU team will greet them, Jekyl or Hyde? At the start of the second half of the CAA season, the Rams can’t afford any more missteps.  

“I was frank with the guys,” Smart said. “I told them, we’re behind, at halftime. We’re significantly behind and we need to play like that, with an urgency, because there’s very little room for error. We need to come out with that mentality every night.”

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