RAMBLINGS FROM EAST CAROLINA
By Chris Kowalczyk
12-30-09

For the second time this season, a former VCU coach visited the Verizon Wireless Arena Tuesday night, as East Carolina and Mack McCarthy paid the Rams a visit.

It wasn’t met with the same fanfare as Jeff Capel’s return on Nov. 21, when VCU beat Oklahoma, but it was every bit as significant.

McCarthy, who joined VCU as its associate head coach in 1997-98 under Sonny Smith, directed the Rams to a 66-55 record over four seasons. VCU was 37-25 in his final two seasons, including a 21-11 campaign in 2001-02. McCarthy stepped down prior to the 2002-03 season and was replaced by Capel.

Capel and Anthony Grant are often credited with VCU’s return to prominence, as they should. However, McCarthy took over a 9-19 squad in 1998 and forged the Rams into a winner. McCarthy was on the sidelines when VCU opened the Siegel Center with a thrilling, 79-74 victory over Louisville on Nov. 19, 1999.

“It’s a really special place,” McCarthy said. “I really liked the people here. I got to see Dr. Trani and his wife and a lot of friends that had the vision to build this place, and it has become what everybody dreamed that it might. That’s a nice thing.”

Despite the Pirates’ 82-74 loss Tuesday night to VCU, McCarthy enjoyed his return to Richmond.

“It was fun, actually,” said McCarthy, in his second year at the helm of ECU. “I hadn’t really put a lot of thought into it. I knew the game was on the schedule. Two years ago I knew the game was on the schedule. But until I walked in for practice, I didn’t really realize all the emotion that would come back.”

SPRINGERS STAR
McCarthy wasn’t the only one enjoying his old haunts Tuesday. East Carolina’s Jamar Abrams, a product of nearby Highland Springs High School and former prep teammate of VCU’s Brandon Rozzell, poured in a career-high 26 points for the Pirates.

At times, it looked as if Abrams would carry the Pirates to the win, much like he and Rozzell did for Highland Springs in 2007, when the duo hoisted the AAA State Championship trophy on the Siegel Center floor. Abrams hit 10-of-15 field goals Tuesday, including 5-of-8 from 3-point range.

Rozzell, who is still close with Abrams, knew better than to exchange words with the East Carolina gunner.

“No. You talk trash to him and it’ll get worse,” Rozzell said. “Just leave him alone. He had to cool off eventually. I didn’t talk trash until there was like 30 seconds left on the clock. I didn’t talk too much trash before that. It’s like feeding the devil.”

SIX MINUTES OF HELL
For 34 minutes it looked as if VCU would repeat the sins of last season’s, 93-90, defensively challenged overtime loss to East Carolina in Greenville, N.C.

With a little more than six minutes left, the Rams trailed, 69-63, and looked helpless to stop the Pirates’ offensive attack. However, VCU closed with a 19-5 run to earn an 82-74 victory. The Rams quick turnaround was not an accident, but rather, a product of hard work.

“We’ve been working on what we call six minute games,” VCU Coach Shaka Smart said. “It’s something we’ve practiced quite a bit over the last couple of weeks because we’ve had a lot of practice. We haven’t had a lot of games. That’s the best thing I can say about tonight. I thought the way we played in the six minute game was terrific.”

East Carolina shot nearly 60 percent from the field in the first 34 minutes, but in the final 5:20, the Pirates went 1-of-7 from the floor.

“We do it all the time [in practice],” Joey Rodriguez said. “These past couple of weeks we’ve been going over that, and right when we had a timeout we had that discussion. Coach said this was the six minute game and we got that in our heads and started attacking. People started making plays.”

Now, if the Rams could play that same way for 40 minutes, Smart might be able to rest easy.

“The 34 minutes before that six minute game, I was not proud of,” he said. “As we say in our program, there’s acceptable and unacceptable. That 34 minutes was unacceptable. We have got to be better. I think our players know that, but we did what winning teams do down the stretch. Our guys made enough plays down the stretch to win. “

BUZZ BIN
Jay Gavin regained some of his old shooting stroke last night, hitting 2-of-4 3-pointers on the way to an eight-point night. In his previous five games, Gavin shot 1-of-16 from beyond the arc… VCU’s win over East Carolina is its fourth over a team it lost to during last season…Jamie Skeen made his home debut, scoring seven points and grabbing seven boards in 24 minutes…VCU tied a season high with 11 3-pointers Tuesday…The Rams have shown incredible offensive balance this year. Eight players are currently averaging at least 7.6 points per game…From Dec. 13 through Dec. 29, VCU played two games. However, including Tuesday’s game with ECU, the Rams will play four games over eight days.

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