NO SANDERS, NO PROBLEM; VCU REBOUND COMES ON THE BOARDS
By Chris Kowalczyk
1-9-10

A fidgety Larry Sanders sat on the VCU bench in his neatly-pressed black pants, black shirt and contrasting red tie. Directly across sat four empty press row seats, reserved for NBA scouts who hadn’t bothered to show.

Had they decided to take in VCU’s 77-64 victory over Delaware Saturday, those scouts would’ve seen the Rams hammer the boards and lock up a win they absolutely had to have. They would have noticed VCU playing in a way that would make people believe that the menacing, 6-foot-11 Sanders had been swooping in for rebounds and denying entrance to the paint.

Without Sanders, who was suspended for throwing a flagrant elbow during Wednesday’s game at Drexel, the Rams still managed to outrebound the Blue Hens Saturday, 42-36. They outscored UD, 36-26 in the paint, and had 14 second-chance points compared to the ‘Hens’ 12.

“We talked about how we weren’t going to use Larry’s absence as an excuse, about how we’re going to have to step up,” VCU Head Coach Shaka Smart said. “I told our guys, our best rebounder is in street clothes right now. That’s a fact. Now, what are we going to do about it. Brad and some of our other players made a determination that they were going to do something about it.”

In Sanders’ absence, Jamie Skeen made his first start in a VCU uniform and provided a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Six-foot-five Bradford Burgess, who slid over to power forward on Saturday, scored 12 points and corralled 10 boards. Senior Kirill Pishchalnikov, who hadn’t played in two of the last four games, scored seven points with five rebounds in a season-high 18 minutes.

“Certainly, we’d much rather have [Sanders] in there, but you get in the situation where you have to play without him, and I thought our guys did that,” Smart said. “Obviously, it changes the complexion of our team and the way you play, particularly defensively. Kirill gave us great minutes when he came in. Jamie Skeen gave us a big lift and Terrance as well. I was pleased with those guys who came in and played the minutes Larry normally plays.”

Success didn’t come easy for the Rams, who looked as if they might blow a 13-point first half lead. The Rams led, 41-38, at the half, but Delaware shot 52 percent (13-of-25) in the period and outrebounded the Black and Gold, 18-13.

In the second, Skeen ripped nine rebounds and VCU out boarded Delaware, 29-18, led in second chance points, 13-3, and outscored UD in the paint, 20-8.

“At halftime, myself, I only had one rebound, and I was taking Larry’s spot,” Skeen said. “Larry probably would’ve had seven or eight by halftime. I was looking real bad, so the coaches talked to me and told me that I needed to step it up a little bit, so that’s what tried to do, was fill Larry’s shoes. It’s very hard.”

Coming off back-to-back CAA losses, VCU could not afford to fall to 1-4 in the league. Without Sanders in the middle, that wouldn’t be easy. But the Rams were able to stare adversity in the face and come out a winner in a game that could be worth as much in psyche as it is in the win column.

“Facing adversity is just something you have to do to win in this league,” Brandon Rozzell, who had 19 points, said. “Coming into the game, we had to start out facing some, without Larry, and we just rallied together and that led us to the victory.

“The attitude was just basically that we had to bounce back. We’d just lost two games back-to-back in the league and guys came into practice the last couple of days with a whole different focus and a different state of mind. “

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