AMHERST – VCU doesn’t quite wreak the havoc of its Final Four heyday anymore, but the Rams will still bring the pressure to the Mullins Center on Saturday to face the UMass men’s basketball team.
They lead the Atlantic 10 swiping 9.23 steals per game and force 17.3 turnovers per game, the most in the conference.
“VCU used to be a diamond press where they trap the first pass, and I haven’t seen them do that a ton this year. Not saying they won’t,” UMass coach Matt McCall said. “It’s similar to Dayton’s in the pressure they put on the ball and then once they get you in a speed dribble, try and run and jump.”
The Flyers pressured the Minutemen into nine turnovers Wednesday in a 20-point victory, scoring 15 points off those takeaways. But pressure is meant to shock and overwhelm. Spend enough time facing it, and the traps become easier to anticipate.
“It’s all about not putting yourself in compromising positions,” UMass guard Rich Kelly said. “It’s really just trying to stay out of those positions as much as possible and constantly keeping your eyes down court and not letting them speed you up.”
VCU (19-7, 12-3 A-10) is in second place in the A-10 after a midweek win over George Mason. The Rams have won their past six games. They’re an excellent road team at 8-1.
“Historically they’re a team that plays really hard,” UMass guard Noah Fernandes said. “Preparing for that is hard because you can’t really prepare to play hard, you have to just do it every day and hope that what you’re preparing for is enough.”
The Rams have one of the best defenses in the league, holding teams to just 60.8 points per game and 38.9 percent shooting from the floor, both second in the conference. Both marks rank in the top 15 nationally. They have the sixth best defense in the country according to kenpom.com, which weighs factors like pace and strength of opponents.
“Coach (Mike) Rhoades has always taken a lot of pride in his team being an aggressive, defensive minded team,” McCall said. “And that’s what makes them really good.”
While the press is the first point of contact for VCU’s defense, former Springfield Central standout Hason Ward is the backbone. The junior ranks 11th in the conference averaging 1.3 blocks per game and grabs five rebounds per game, second on the team.
VCU’s offense comes from balanced sources. Three Rams average double digits: power forward Vince Williams at 13 points per game, point guard Adrian Baldwin Jr. (11.3) and KeShawn Curry (10.3). They only put up 65.5 points per game as a team (second lowest in the A-10), so those three are responsible for 52.8 percent of VCU’s scoring.
“You look at the upper echelon point guards in this league, and they have a really good point guard, another game, another really good point guard,” McCall said. “Williams at the power forward spot is in the upper echelon of our league. Two terrific players, and then just really good pieces around them.”
Saturday at 4:30 p.m. will be UMass’ first meeting of the season with VCU. The Minutemen haven’t faced the Rams since Feb. 26, 2020, a 60-53 victory for UMass in the Mullins Center. They were supposed to face off in the Atlantic 10 tournament that year when the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the sports world, and their scheduled game last year was canceled, as well.
UMass (12-14, 5-9) will try to welcome the Rams with a measure of the intensity Dayton showed it Wednesday with a blackout crowd. The first 1,000 fans through the doors will receive a black “Massachusetts basketball” T-shirt in a graffiti font.
Blackout. Saturday. 4:30PM.
Free T- Shirts for the first 1k fans. #Flagship🚩 pic.twitter.com/4mlZF4seyh
— UMass Men’s Basketball (@UMassBasketball) February 21, 2022
The Minutemen are fighting to remain in the top 10 of the league standings to avoid playing the opening day of the conference tournament in early March. They have four games left in the regular season: two at home and two on the road.
“I want everybody to lay it on the line these next two weeks. I don’t want to have any regrets,” McCall said. “(I want them) to enjoy this team and being around this team and embrace the opportunity that we have.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.