By Palmer Johnson
Your George Mason Patriots look to move to 14-2 and 3-0 in conference play as they take on the 8-7 (and 0-2) VCU Rams.
The Rams are coached by former Utah State head coach Ryan Odom, who some thought had a chance to be Mason’s next coach.
VCU is in a similar team-building situation as Mason, a new coach and tons of new players.
The Rams are coming off a heartbreaking loss to George Washington where they couldn’t get a stop forever and James Bishop hit an unbelievably well-contested shot for the win.
This will be VCU’s first true road game.
VCU has recently gotten Sean Bairstow and Joe Bamisile back, who both take lots of shots.
VCU By The Numbers
VCU is the 110th ranked team on KenPom, with the 91st ranked offense and 133rd ranked defense.
Since Joe Bamisile has come back, he has taken 36% of VCU’s shots while he is on the floor. Bamisile is averaging 13.6 points on 43.4% shooting from the field and 36.7% from three, giving him an eFG of 53.8%.
Max Shulga is the Rams’ leading scorer. He is one of the players, along with Sean Bairstow, who came from Utah State with Ryan Odom. Shulga is averaging 15.5 points on 38.3% shooting from three.
6’8 Toibu Lawal can jump out of the gym, reportedly jumping a 49.5 inch vertical.
VCU plays with a pretty slow tempo at 66.2 possessions per game, not much faster than Mason.
The Rams are a pretty tall team, with their average height being about 6’6, 65th tallest in the nation.
On offense, VCU is an efficient team. They have a 53.4 eFG%, 67th in the country, shoot 34.4% from three, 138th in the country, shoot 54.7% from two, 49th in the country, and shoot 77.8% from the line, 14th in the country. Not only are they making a lot of shots, but they have a 56.7% assist rate, which is 58th in the nation.
When the Rams do miss, they have a 31.3% offensive rebounding percentage, which is 119th in the country.
This is probably partially a product of how many threes they shoot, but only 6.2% of the Rams shots are blocked, 20th lowest in the country.
The only reason their offense isn’t elite is because they a 19.1% turnover percentage, 260th in the country. That is by far their biggest weakness on offense. The Rams do not have a pure point guard on the roster.
VCU shoots a lot of threes, with 44% of their shots being from beyond the arc, 40th in the country.
The Rams shoot pretty well from inside and from straight on beyond the arc, this is probably the most well-rounded shot chart I have seen.
On defense, VCU gives up a pretty low 46.7 eFG%, 68th lowest in the nation. This is because their opponents shoot just a bit below average, 32.7%, from three, but they shoot only 45.5% from two, 43rd lowest.
When the Rams’ opponents do miss, which is quite often, VCU gets the rebound. Their opponents only have a 27.7% offensive rebounding rate, which is a decent bit below average.
Opponents are not shooting a lot of threes, with only 34.7% of their opponents’ shots coming from behind the arc, 91st fewest in the country. This probably goes hand in hand with them having a very high block rate at 13.6%, 27th in the country.
VCU’s biggest weakness on the defensive end is that they allow 37.9 free throw attempts per 100 shots, which is 280th lowest in the country, way too high.
That’s some really good paint defense. It seems like opponents aren’t hitting much that isn’t straight on or from the left corner.
Something I find odd is that a lot of the same things that are their strengths on offense are usually their strengths on defense, and vice versa. They shoot a good eFG%, their opponent doesn’t. They struggle with turnovers on the offensive end, their opponents don’t turn it over. They don’t get their shots blocked, they block their opponents’ shots. Odd.
VCU Scouting Report (St. Bonaventure)
On offense, Odom’s system has lots of ball movement. They are willing to take ok threes rather than search for the perfect shot.
Bonny ran a press since VCU doesn’t have a pure point guard in their starting lineup. It didn’t work early, but it probably affects them to some degree. Having no point guard probably caused the many turnovers they had before the first media timeout.
Zeb Jackson, their top returner, seems to often get the ball near the end of the shot clock, forcing him to take awkward threes a lot.
Bamisile is willing to shoot threes from super deep, which could be something to watch out for if Mason goes into a zone. He was called for a push-off, it seems like he does that quite often. Soon after, he the three-time transfer took a contested three instead of passing it to his wide-open teammate.
Bonny rarely went into a zone. If they did, VCU got to the rim and Bonny needed a defender to make a great play each time, which they usually did.
On defense, VCU doubled Chad Venning when he got the ball in the post a lot. They could do this to Amari Kelly.
Tobi Lawal showed his athleticism, getting three blocks in the first five minutes. Lawal couldn’t handle Venning if he was guarding him one-on-one, but to be fair, nobody can.
St. Bonny was getting a lot of open threes off offensive rebounds. VCU seemed just a step slow on defense. They’d barely miss an offensive rebound, and then either leave the guy open for three or have a late closeout. It kind of seemed like they needed a reason to hustle.
VCU ran a man full-court press on some possessions. It didn’t do much from what I could tell.
The Rams started forcing turnovers late, but couldn’t really capitalize on them.
VCU ended up losing this game. Their fans left early. Yikes.
What does this mean for Mason?
Honestly, my biggest takeaway from this game was that Chad Venning is going to be a headache in Mason’s game against St. Bonaventure.
Jared Billups should be able to outhustle some VCU players a couple times this game.
They don’t have any overwhelming guys in the post, I think Amari Kelly will be able to hold it down.
With VCU having no pure point guard, Patriot Pressure could be extremely important in this game. Nothing easy. It won’t help VCU that it is their first true road game.
Prediction: Mason wins 73-65. VCU turns it over too many times for them to win.
This could be the win that propels Mason into the upper tier of the A10.
Get excited Mason Nation, this is the first rivalry game of the season. Be there.
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