Busting Brackets
Fansided

VCU Basketball: Keys for Rams Round of 64 game versus UCF

By Dave Ascoli

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 15: De'Riante Jenkins #0 of the Virginia Commonwealth Rams celebrates a basket against the Rhode Island Rams during their Atlantic 10 basketball tournament quarterfinal game at Barclays Center on March 15, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 15: De'Riante Jenkins #0 of the Virginia Commonwealth Rams celebrates a basket against the Rhode Island Rams during their Atlantic 10 basketball tournament quarterfinal game at Barclays Center on March 15, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 3
Next
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MARCH 15: Head Coach Mike Rhoades of the Virginia Commonwealth Rams looks on against the Rhode Island Rams during their Atlantic 10 basketball tournament quarterfinal game at Barclays Center on March 15, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MARCH 15: Head Coach Mike Rhoades of the Virginia Commonwealth Rams looks on against the Rhode Island Rams during their Atlantic 10 basketball tournament quarterfinal game at Barclays Center on March 15, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) /

3. March HAVOC

It started with Shaka Smart. Then Will Wade picked it up and ran with it, and now it’s Mike Rhoades turn. It’s HAVOC — VCU’s trademark brand of in-your-shirt defense… and it’s as present as ever this season. The Rams have the seventh-best defense in the country according to KenPom, and some of their other numbers are just as eye-popping.

VCU is turning teams over on 23.4 percent of possessions, good for eighth in the nation. Opponents have the third worse effective field goal percentage in the country, and the third and tenth worst percentages on two- and three-pointers, respectively. 7’6″ guys might be able to score over HAVOC, but good luck to everyone else.

Biggest takeaways from Day one of NCAA Tournament. dark. Next

Mix in some swarming full court pressure and it’s vintage VCU basketball. They say defense wins championships. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet, but if the Rams can lock down UCF, they’ll at least live to play in the round of 32.