Photos and Game Summary: VCU Defense Tames the Wildcats

VCU (17-6,7-3 Atlantic): 73
Davidson (11-11,5-5 Atlantic): 62

Box Score

Official VCU Game Summary

The short story: VCU forced 16 first-half turnovers and senior guard Marcus Evans supplied 19 points to push the Rams past Davidson Friday night at the Siegel Center.

OPENING TIP

• Evans shot 3-of-5 from beyond the arc and connected on all six of his free throws on the way to his highest scoring output since Nov. 25. The senior also grabbed a season-high five rebounds
• VCU senior guard De’Riante Jenkins finished with 15 points and added seven rebounds, five steals and four assists
• Issac Vann and Marcus Santos-Silva finished with nine and eight points, respectively, for the Rams
• Davidson guard Kellan Grady scored a 27 points to lead all scorers in Friday’s contest. Hyunjung Lee added 20 points for the Wildcats

THE DIFFERENCE

• Vann scored the first four points of the game and freshman guard Bones Hyland hit a long 3-pointer as VCU stormed to a 15-2 lead to open the game
• VCU forced 16 first-half turnovers on the way to a 35-20 lead at the break. Davidson finished with 21 turnovers, while VCU coughed it up just nine times
• The Rams outscored Davidson 23-7 off turnovers
• Davidson cut VCU’s lead to 63-56 with 4:11 left on a Grady 3-pointer, but senior forward Mike’L Simms buried a triple from the corner two possessions later to halt the Wildcats’ charge

NOTABLE

• VCU hit all 19 of its free throws to establish a new school record for most makes without a miss in a game. The Rams were 18-of-18 at the line on Jan. 5 at George Mason
• The Rams improved to 7-5 all-time against Davidson
• The Black and Gold is 13-1 at home this season
• VCU’s defense held the Wildcats to zero fast break points while capitalizing off of 10 transition points

NEXT UP
VCU will host in-state rival George Mason on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at the Stuart C. Siegel Center at 7 p.m. That game will be broadcast on ESPNU.