RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — The 4-2 Virginia Commonwealth University Rams play their first real away game on Wednesday night in Murfreesboro, Tenn. against the 4-1 Middle Tennessee State University Blue Raiders. The Blue Raiders, who are in Conference USA, are led by guard Giddy Potts (15.4 points a game).
The Rams are riding a two-game winning streak, but have only a 1-3 all-time record against the Blue Raiders.
VCU’s starters for tonight:
- Mo Alie-Cox, F
- Jordan Burgess, G
- Melvin Johnson, G
- JeQuan Lewis, G
- Korey Billbury, G
16:21 — Both teams are a little cold from the floor. 4-3 VCU.
Deep thought: The team that wins the battle of the boards will have a big advantage if both teams continue to shoot the ball poorly.
Stat line: Hamdy Mohamed has 4 of VCU’s 6 points.
8:40 — Missed shots and turnovers are hurting the Rams. MTSU 19 — VCU 16.
6:37 — Jordan Burgess for three! This is one of those games that Burgess might need to take over. Tie game: 19-19.
33.8 — A lot of back and forth, but Hamdy puts in another bucket to put VCU up by 3. VCU 30-27.
Stat line: Both teams have 20 boards — each team has three offensive boards and 17 defensive boards.
Halftime: VCU 30 — MTSU 28.
Stat line: JeQuan Lewis, a Tennessee-native, leads all VCU scorers with 9 points. Melvin Johnson and Hamdy Mohamed both have 8 points. Two players that are not making their presence known on the score sheet — Mo Alie-Cox (0 points) and Korey Billburry (2 points). Eight of the 10 players to hit the floor tonight have at least one board with Hamdy Mohamed leading the Rams with four.
Deep thought: Only eight bench points tonight and only two starters have significant points. No a good recipe for success.
13:43 — VCU has been held to four second half points. Not. A. Good. Start. 41-34 MTSU.
9:00 — Turnover after turnover, MTSU 45 — VCU 40.
5:58 — Big three from Korey Billbury cuts the lead to two. MTSU 49-47.
Injury: Lewis leaves game with leg injury. Hopefully it is just cramps.
5:01 — Who else but Melvin Johnson. His deep three-ball puts the Rams back on top. VCU 50– MTSU 49.
Stat line: Still only 8 points from VCU’s bench (all from Hamdy Mohamed). That. Will. Not. Get. It. Done.
2:01 — Big possession for the Rams leads to a HUGE 3-ball from Billbury. VCU 57 — MTSU 52.
24.2 — Story of the game for both teams. A bad turnover by MTSU sends VCU to the charity stripe. VCU on top 58-54.
10.0 — VCU 60 — MTSU 56. VCU will have to hit their free throws to win this game.
Final score: VCU 62 — MTSU 56. VCU hands MTSU their first home loss in December since Dec. 3, 2013.
Stat line: Melvin Johnson (19 points), JeQuan Lewis (14 points), and Korey Billbury (11 points) accounted for 44 of VCU’s 62 points. The bench and the remaining starters each accounted for 9 points. The Rams won the battle of the board 47-41 and there was great distribution among players for boards. All but two players had at least two boards and five players had at least five.
POG: How cool would it be if we could bring back POGs, only with VCU players as the art for them. Someone get on that! If you don’t know what a POG is, Google it. For our purposes, the POG is the Player Of the Game. Tonight, I’ll have to go with Melvin Johnson and his stat line of 19 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds.
Final thought: Not their best effort, but they were playing their first true “away” game. Outside of Melvin Johnson, no one has shown that they can take over a game. In order to have some success this season, they need two or three players (including Johnson) to take over games. I would not be surprised if the lineup continues to be tinkered with. Thanks for reading. Message me and let me know what you think.
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