VCU vs Purdue: 2019-20 Emerald Coast Classic game preview, TV Schedule
By Cody Gerena
The #20 VCU Rams look to keep their undefeated season alive against the Purdue Boilermakers in the Emerald Coast Classic semifinals.
TV Schedule: Friday, November 29th, 9:30 PM EST on CBS Sports Network
Arena: The Arena at Northwest Florida State College in Niceville, Florida
The Emerald Coast Classic is a relatively new tournament, starting back in 2014. It features eight teams in total separated into two brackets, one with four top teams and the other with four mid-major programs. The two brackets only face each other through two campus games at each top team home arena.
Since it’s inception, the top bracket has proven to be a good collection of talent. The top bracket averages two teams making the NCAA Tournament with the winner of the classic always making it. Out of those 10 teams that made the tournament, half of them reached the round of 32. This VCU-Purdue match-up will be one of those games in the top bracket this year and is both of their debuts to the Emerald Coast Classic.
The #20 Virginia Commonwealth University Rams (6-0) will enter as one of the under 30 teams left undefeated in the NCAA. The best win that they have is an 84-82 home victory against a ranked LSU. After being the heavy favorite for the Atlantic 10 conference all year only to have the Dayton Flyers steak their spotlight by playing well in the Maui Invitational, VCU will be looking to get all the eyes back on then again and what better way to do that than by winning this tournament.
The VCU Ram offense is led by senior guard Marcus Evans, who leads the rams in scoring and assists with 15.2 points and 3.2 assists per game. VCU also has junior forward Marcus Santos-Silva, who leads the team in rebounds and is second in points with 11.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game.
The Purdue Boilermakers (3-2) has not had as well of a season of their opponents, but that doesn’t mean that they should be taken lightly. When you look at the games that they lost to Texas and Marquette it becomes apparent that they could’ve won those two games and be able to come in undefeated to today’s game such as losing an 18 point lead at Marquette. Since then they have won their next two games by double digits. It should be noted KenPom has Purdue ranked as a better team than VCU in addition to the ESPN Basketball Power Index favoring them to win.
The Purdue Boilermakers offense is led by senior guard Jahaad Proctor, who leads the team in points with 15.6 points per game. They also have sophomore guard Eric Hunter Jr who is third in points and rebounds and first in assists on the team with 10 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game.
VCU’s key to this game will be whether or not they can implement their HAVOC defense, which has allowed them to be the second-best team in blocking and stealing percentage in the country. This allowed them to beat a ranked LSU by getting them 26 turnovers and then scoring over 30 points on points generated from those turnovers. If Purdue wants to win they need to prevent VCU from getting their way, which they should be able to prevent as Purdue has one of the lowest offensive turnover percentages in the country.
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The winner of this game will have a tough challenge facing them in the next round as they will have to face the winner of the #17 Tennessee-Florida State match-up. The loser faces that game’s loser. In the end, VCU will be able to effectively use their defense which will allow them to win.