VCU Loses In Heartbreaking Fashion; How to Fix Offensive Issues (11-20-21)
By: Tyrone Montgomery Jr.
Headline Photo Credit: VCU Athletics
Coming off a spectacular road victory vs. the Vanderbilt Commodores, the Rams returned home to host the Chattanooga Mocs. In this game, Vince Williams was in his bag of tricks. He literally was giving Chattanooga everything he could offer and had in his tank including 2 money balls in the first half. 1 of which was a buzzer beater that ended the half and put VCU down by 7. With this new VCU team, offense is hard to come by nowadays. I actually got to the game a little late with 5 minutes in, and VCU only had 2 points. However, with that being said, there is a ton of fight with these Rams. Coach Rhoades must have had one heck of a halftime speech as things got really interesting to say the least.
As I mentioned earlier, VCU is more of a defensive team. They always have been known for their defense. Havoc is an actual thing when playing the Rams, especially in the Stu. VCU tightened up their clamps defensively even more in the second half and was able to get some offensive juice from G Jayden Nunn late in this game. He was hitting a lot of shots off dribble screens in the midrange area that looked like a really strong arsenal that should be utilized as we progress in this season. VCU fought all the way til the end until Malachi Smith made a jumper that put the Mocs up by 2 with 0.4 seconds left on the clock. The game was essentially over. VCU knew it and so did their fans as they all went pouring out the stadiums with their heads held low. VCU may have loss this battle, but the war is far from over. Sure, the offense looks rough. Losing a guy that got drafted by the Denver Nuggets in the first round in Bones is not an easy thing to recover from. There were a lot of shot clock violations, late shots being taken within the shot clock, and just bad shots in general being taken. Sometimes the ball gets passed around as if no one wants to take the shot, and sometimes that ball was caught with a foot out of bounds too. The offense can seem a bit passive at times. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. No one likes playing with a selfish player. VCU plays great team ball offensively and defensively! But the team lacks a true shot creator. You know, someone who can create a shot off their dribble not just for himself but for everyone too.
This is a young and raw team so it will come with time. The VCU Rams need to fix this, but how…? You have to put the ball in Vince Williams’ hands each and every time on the offensive end. He has great skill and size to create offense not just for himself but for the entire team. VCU also needs to play fast. This will wear their opponents out, especially with their Havoc Style Defense too. But the main key here too is for VCU to figure out who will be their go to guys. It’s gonna come down to which player(s) wants to be the guy. Which player will grow some confidence this season. Which player will be willing to take some chances and not be afraid of failure. It’s a heart thing. Who will have the most heart and the most desire to get a victory. What we seen from Jayden Nunn in this game is definitely encouraging! Vince was being Vince. If VCU continues to get Jayden Nunn to be assertive, they would be a team not to take lightly in the A-10.
