Thirteen years to the day of VCU’s upset win over No. 1 Kansas in the 2011 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight, the VCU Rams men’s basketball team is yet again set to spoil a program’s championship hopes.

This time, the Rams (24-13) are dancing into a different kind of “Elite Eight” – the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament.

VCU is set to play its third road game of the postseason on Wednesday night, capping a whirlwind trip that has taken the Rams from the campus of Villanova in Philadelphia to the University of South Florida and now a matchup against No. 2 Utah (21-14) in Salt Lake City.

The game will tip at 9 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN2 with a spot in the NIT semifinals – and a date with No. 1 Indiana State – on the line.

Utah enters the game as 7.5-point home favorites.

Road warriors

VCU is the only team in the country to have won two postseason road games this season. Although the bottom half of each region in the NIT is unseeded, VCU faced No. 1 Villanova in its first NIT game on March 20 – implying that VCU was the lowest-seeded team in the region and thus had to face a gauntlet of road games.

The March 20 matchup against Villanova was an Atlantic 10 homecoming of sorts. Former Richmond guard Tyler Burton transferred to Villanova for his fifth year of eligibility to play under head coach Kyle Neptune – who spent one year as the big whistle at Fordham before replacing the retiring Jay Wright at Villanova.

The game was a close affair throughout, with VCU taking a 31-30 lead into the halftime locker room. Ultimately, the game was decided by a late 12-3 run over the final 4:40 of the game, sparked by a pair of Tobi Lawal free throws that put the Rams up 60-58.

VCU ended up cruising to a 70-61 win to score the upset and knock Neptune’s Wildcats out of the tournament.

The Rams were led by Joe Bamisile, who scored 17 points on 6-of-9 from the floor. Joining him in double figures was Max Shulga, who added six assists to his 10-point evening.

Redshirt freshman Fats Billups saw 13 minutes of action, knocking down three first-half 3-pointers to ignite the offense, while Lawal came two points short of a double-double (eight points, 10 rebounds).

In sum, VCU shot 11-of-30 from beyond the arc, while holding Villanova to 26.1% from deep. Burton ended his collegiate career with a four point outing in 17 minutes, while Villanova was led by 21 points from Eric Dixon, who shot 50% from the floor.

Four days later, VCU traveled to Tampa, Florida for a visit with the University of South Florida Bulls. The Rams led for almost the entire second half, but could not put away USF and was locked in another close battle.

The 3-point shooting renaissance continued for VCU, who connected on 10-of-26 from deep. Four of those 3-pointers came from senior guard Zeb Jackson, who led VCU’s offensive attack with 14 points.

Graduate senior Sean Bairstow added 13 points, six rebounds and four assists of his own, while Christian Fermin had 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting in one of his best offensive performances in recent weeks.

Lawal again stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points and five rebounds, boosted by a 6-of-8 mark from the free throw line.

VCU again held its opponent to a low shooting percentage from deep, with the Bulls connecting on just four 3-pointers for a 20% make rate. The Bulls were led by Chris Youngblood’s 28 points on 10-of-16 shooting, but struggled to find offense outside of him.

USF is one of the most common opponents VCU has faced historically, having shared time in both the Sun Belt and Metro Conferences. With the win, the Rams improved to 27-12 all-time against South Florida.

VCU NIT history

Wednesday will be VCU’s first NIT quarterfinals appearance since 1988 and is the deepest VCU has advanced in any postseason tournament since the 2011 Final Four run.

Led by head coach Mike Pollio, the 1988 VCU Rams finished the season 23-12. The Rams notched wins at Marshall and at home against Southern Mississippi before losing on the road against UConn.

The 1988 Rams were led by Phil Stinnie, who averaged 17.8 points per game and 6.8 rebounds per game. The late Chris Cheeks led the team in assists with 3.2 per game, while averaging 13.7 points per game.

2024 is the seventh time VCU has appeared in the NIT, and is only the second time VCU has advanced to the quarterfinals. VCU’s last NIT win before 2024 came in its last appearance in the tournament in 2022, when VCU won 90-79 at home over Princeton.

Next up: Utah

VCU has never played against the University of Utah Utes.

However, the Rams have been to Salt Lake City before, traveling there for the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament. The Rams lost that game to Saint Mary’s in the final game of head coach Will Wade’s tenure.

Utah enters Wednesday’s game in the midst of a homestand, having been the better seed in all of its NIT games. The Utes, led by head coach Craig Smith, dispatched UC Irvine and No. 3 Iowa in the first two rounds.

Players to watch for the Utes include senior guard Deivon Smith, who has 20 assists through two NIT games. He is the fifth player since 1997 to hit the mark. On the season, Smith is averaging 12.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 6.9 assists per game – the only player in Division I to hit those minimum thresholds in all three stats.

Fifth-year senior Branden Carlson leads Utah with 17 points per game, joining Smith and Gabe Madsen (13.6 points per game) in averaging double figures. Madsen also leads the Utes in minutes and gametime, having started all 35 games this season.

Carlson is also the team’s leading rebounder (6.7 boards per game) and shot blocker (54 total).

The main key for VCU? Matching up with Utah’s size. The Utes are the fifth-tallest team in the country with an average height of 6.575 feet, and Carlson stands at seven-feet tall.

Safe to say, look for Ryan Odom’s Rams to use Lawal, Fermin and Roosevelt Wheeler on the tall Utah players to slow down Carlson and the others.

https://www.a10talk.com/2024/03/vcu-rams-dancing-to-nit-quarterfinals/

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