RSS 2.0Thoughts and notes as VCU prepares to take on UNC Wilmington and Old Dominion:
* Several of VCU’s players made a point of walking around the Siegel Center and acknowledging the fans after Saturday’s 85-77 victory over Towson. The game drew a crowd of 6,463. “Coach [Anthony Grant] huddled us up after the game and said we should show our appreciation,“ VCU guard Jamal Shuler said. “They are our sixth man. They give us the energy we need.“
* How many points would Towson’s Gary Neal have scored had he not spent the first part of the game letting his teammates get involved? Neal didn’t score until the game was almost 12 minutes old. He then poured in 33 points in 28 minutes. In three games against VCU dating to last season, Neal has averaged 35 points. All were losses. The game he didn’t play in against the Rams—because of an injury—Towson won 59-57.
* Is there a better point guard in the CAA than VCU sophomore Eric Maynor? He’s smart with the ball while being creative, which is tough to do. He breaks down defenses, hangs in the air until he finds somebody open, nails that trademark runner in the lane, scores, plays defense, stays out of foul trouble, hits foul shots and is tireless. Maynor is the one guy VCU can’t do without. He’s averaging 34.1 minutes.
* Grant got his first technical against William and Mary, then said after the game he was “probably out of line.“ Maybe. But from a seat on press row, Grant had a beef. VCU’s Michael Anderson had position on a rebound, went after the ball and got called for a foul. Livid, Grant came several feet onto the floor.
* VCU redshirt freshman T.J. Gwynn sported a new, closely cropped ‘do before going out and scoring 22 points against William and Mary last week. Gwynn had been going mostly with a braided look. “I just looked at it from an image point of view,“ he said. “I don’t want to say it was a bad image. It just wasn’t for me.“
* It will be interesting to see how teams fare the second time around against VCU’s fullcourt pressure and traps. Towson had 22 turnovers in the first meeting but just 13 in the rematch. Many of those turnovers came in halfcourt sets.