HEAVY ON HAVOC, RAMS EXACT REVENGE FROM TRIBE
By Chris Kowalczyk
1-20-09

Athletes are supposed to have short memories, at least that’s what we’re led to believe. You couldn’t have convinced anyone of that Wednesday night, when an inspired VCU team thumped first-place William & Mary, 81-59, before a sellout crowd at the Verizon Wireless Arena.

The victory was the first of what the Rams hope will be two redemptive wins this week. William & Mary defeated VCU, 75-74, Dec. 5 in Williamsburg. The Rams will face Northeastern, which dealt the Black and Gold a 62-57 loss on Jan. 4, Saturday in Boston, Mass.

“We always say that our next game is our most important game, but I think with this one, there was a little payback in our blood this time,” said VCU’s Larry Sanders, who finished with 18 points and eight rebounds. “We had the fire, so we just went to work.”

It was a win that changed nothing and everything all at once. On Thursday, the Rams will still be tied for fifth place with Drexel, but they’ll do so riding a four-game winning streak with a boatload of confidence. Not only did the victory exact a measure of revenge from the upstart Tribe, but it allowed VCU to keep pace with CAA leaders George Mason, Northeastern and Old Dominion, who all won midweek games.

On Wednesday, the Rams tore up and down the court with unmatched intensity. Offensively, VCU was fantastic behind point guard Joey Rodriguez’s splendid, 18-point, 10-assist, one-turnover, performance. Defensively, they were even better, playing with unbridled enthusiasm that Head Coach Shaka Smart envisioned for his “Wreak Havoc” mantra.

“Our level of motivation that our guys displayed tonight was through the roof,” Smart said.

Using man-to-man full court pressure from the opening tip, VCU swarmed the ball and rattled a normally composed William & Mary team. Although the Tribe’s 14 turnovers were just a shade over their season average of 11.2 per game, the Rams altered a number of other William & Mary possessions and dictated the pace of the game.

“I though [our press] was disruptive, and I thought what it did was allowed the game to be played a little bit more our way, which is always key when you’re playing a team with a little bit different style of play,” said VCU Coach Shaka Smart.

William & Mary rode into the Verizon Wireless Arena Wednesday as winners of 14 of 15 games. The Tribe was the league’s top shooting team from the field (.459) and from the 3-point line (.388). It only took minutes for VCU to render those statistics irrelevant.

The Tribe missed its first three 3-point attempts and never recovered. William & Mary shot just 26 percent (7-of-27) from behind the arc and 39 percent (24-of-62) overall. The Tribe’s two leading scorers, David Schneider and Quinn McDowell were a combined 6-of-26. When the two teams met in December, they combined for 34 points on 12-of-22 shooting.

“We took a whoopin’, that’s for sure,” William & Mary Coach Tony Shaver said. “We know how they press. We know where they’re going to trap. But you can’t duplicate that type of speed in a practice environment, so you have to face it in a game.

“We played their pace, which was probably the biggest factor in the ballgame. Their pressure bothered us tonight. We only had 14 turnovers, which isn’t a lot for our ballclub, but I bet you all 14 led to a dunk or a three. It’s the price we paid for those turnovers that was so difficult tonight. “

When the teams met on Dec. 5, VCU blew a 15-point second half lead. Wednesday, the Rams led by as many as 11 points in the first half, only to watch the Tribe close to within 33-31 in the opening minutes of the second period. Rather than experience déjà vu, VCU cranked up its press and embarked on a 24-7 run that effectively sealed William & Mary’s fate.

Other than a 36-31 rebounding disadvantage, Wednesday’s win was arguably the Rams’ most complete game of the year.

“I don’t have a lot of critiques for our guys tonight,” Smart said. “The energy was extremely high tonight. We talked about having a sense of urgency in defending everything that they do. Our guys did that and got terrific efforts across the board, positions one through five.”

If they could, VCU would love to bottle Wednesday energy and efficiency for Saturday, when they face smoldering hot Northeastern at 2 p.m. The Huskies have won 10 in a row, including their victory over the Rams earlier this year. It’s a loss the Rams haven’t, and won’t forget.

“That’s what has really been on our guy’s minds coming into this week, playing against two teams that knocked us off earlier in the year, so, we’re halfway there,” Smart said.

“Saturday we’ve got to get another one,” said Rodriguez. “We’ve got to keep on knocking off those guys on the top. We’ve got to keep on knocking. They’re going to beat up on each other, so we’ve got to keep it up and doing what we’ve got to do and control what we can control.”

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