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Winners in nine of ten, VCU looks to have things figured out in Atlantic 10 play

While the average college basketball fans have been caught up with Auburn and Duke’s dominance and the drama across the Big Ten and the SEC, the VCU Rams are once again making waves in the Atlantic 10. The Rams have climbed up to 33rd in KenPom, and have won nine of their last ten games, the lone loss coming on the road to Saint Louis.

Last night, VCU battled for a full 40 minutes on the road in Dayton, taking down the Flyers 73-68 to claim its fifth Quad 2 win, likely to move to Quad 1 if Dayton finishes the season strong. On a night where VCU didn’t shoot it the greatest, the story of the game comes from the free throw line, where backup guard Zeb Jackson hit 13 of his 14 attempts en route to 17 points, even after going 2-11 from the field. Dayton struggled just as much from the field in a defensive battle, shooting 37.3% to VCU’s 36.2%. The Flyers were led in scoring by Nate Santos and Javon Bennett, who finished with 18 points and 16 points respectively, combining to go 12 of 13 from the free throw line.

It’s more than just last night’s big win for VCU though, who needed the quality victory, but have had the efficiency numbers way up all season. The defense has been the calling card, now 22nd at KenPom in adjusted defensive efficiency, and ranking top 20 in both opponent effective field goal percentage and opponent turnover percentage. The Rams hold teams to under 31% from three on the season as well, ranking inside the top 50 nationally. A defense that shuts down everything you want to do and a backcourt full of experienced veterans is something no 5-7 seed wants to see in the NCAA Tournament.

Max Shulga (15.3 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 3.9 apg) is the leader of the backcourt, a guy who does a bit of everything and the one whose hands you want the ball in under pressure. Nearly transferring to Villanova in the offseason, if you ask Shulga at this point, I think he’s more than happy with his decision to stick around in Richmond. Next to Shulga are three electric scorers, most notably Joe Bamisile (15.8 ppg, 5.2 rpg), a three-time transfer who joined the Rams a few games into 2023-24 and has now had his chance to shine with his first full season at VCU.

Phillip Russell (11.7 ppg), another guy on his fourth college basketball team, won WAC Sixth Man of the Year last year at UT Arlington but has taken a starting role this season for the Rams. Russell is the ultimate microwave scorer, a guy who can get hot and stay hot in a given game, proven by his 26-point and 25-point performances back-to-back early on in conference play against St. Bonaventure and Loyola-Chicago.

Rounding out the backcourt full of fifth-year seniors is Zeb Jackson (10.5 ppg), who moved into a bench role this season with the addition of Russell. While his numbers have taken a slight dip, he got a late start to the season due to injury and his most efficient games may still be in front of him.

There’s a lot to love about this VCU team, and I think it starts with the elite defense and the overload of experience in the backcourt. With a home game against George Mason still to come, even a half-game back in the standings to the Patriots, VCU seems to be in the driver’s seat when it comes to earning the Atlantic 10 regular season title.

Other Things to Note:

• #12 St. John’s win it late in Storrs, take down #19 UConn 68-62 behind 21 points from RJ Luis Jr.
• Top 15 matchup in Columbia as #10 Texas A&M visits #15 Missouri (3:30 ET, SECN)
• #6 Florida, #1 Auburn meet at Neville Arena in massive SEC contest (4:00 ET, ESPN2)
• Dick Vitale returns to ESPN as #2 Duke visits Clemson at Littlejohn Coliseum (6:30 ET, ESPN)
• Winners in 12 of its last 13, #20 Arizona looks to avenge its lone loss of that stretch, #13 Texas Tech, in rematch (10:30 ET, ESPN)