PREVIEW | MBB: BOISE STATE (2-2) VS VCU (3-2) *ESPN EVENTS INVITATIONAL*
Boise State University vs Virginia Commonwealth University
Date: Friday, November 24, 2023
Time: 6:00 pm MT
Stadium: State Farm Field House, Orlando, FL (5,000)
TV: ESPN2
Stream: Mountain West Network
Radio: KBOI 670 AM
Commentators: Leonard Berry and Abe Jackson
Know Thy Enemy
Boise State has to flush another second half let down as they flip the page to day two of the ESPN Events Invitation with that date with the Rams of VCU. VCU is also looking to rebound after they fell in the opening round to Iowa State 68-64.
Coach Rice and the Broncos will be facing a familiar foe when they face VCU on Friday night, by the name of Max Shulga. If that name sounds vaguely familiar it's because Max spent the last three years at BSU rival Utah State before transferring to VCU for his final season of basketball. Shulga had a team high 17 points for the Rams in their first game against Iowa State. Shulga is actually one of three players on the VCU roster to follow first year head coach Ryan Odem over from Utah State this season. On the season it has been a combination of Shulga and Michigan transfer Zeb Jackson to lead the way for the Rams. VCU’s bench has also been pretty good so far this season with Jason Nelson and Tobi Lawal coming in as their 3rd and 4th leading scorers. VCU likes to shoot the ball from outside and it was evident in their loss last night when they attempted 10 more three pointers than Iowa State. VCU wants to play fast and get out in the transition for easy looks at the basket.
Virginia Commonwealth University is coached by Ryan Odom. Coach Odom is in his first season at VCU after coaching the last two seasons at Utah State University. Over his career, Ryan Odom is 170-106 over eight-plus seasons.
Friday will be the first matchup in school history against VCU. However, Coach Rice and the Boys are 3-2 against Ryan Odom coached teams over the past two seasons.
What Happened Last Time
There has never been a meeting between these two schools on the Hardwood, but Boise State is 0-1 this season against teams from Virginia.
Player to Watch
VCU
SR., ZEB JACKSON, G #2
Senior Zeb Jackson leads VCU’s quintet of returners. The athletic combo guard averaged 5.2 points and 1.7 assists in 17.3 minutes per game as a critical piece of VCU’s rotation. His play helped the Rams hoist an A-10 Championship trophy last March at Barclays Center. He has been a member of three NCAA Tournament teams, including two at Michigan prior to joining VCU last season. This season he leads the team in scoring and recently posted a career-high 20 points against Seattle University.
BOISE STATE
GS., CAM MARTIN, F #31
Despite the up and down start for the Broncos this season, Kansas transfer Cam Martin has been a God-send inside. Martin’s play has really stood out over the course of the last four games and anticipate that to continue Friday night against VCU. Martin is averaging 9.5 points and 7 rebounds in just under 24 minutes per game.
PROBABLE STARTERS
BOISE STATE
VCU
Rev's Route to a Bronco Win
Take Care of the Basketball
Thursdays game was sloppy at times for the Broncos. I don’t know what was the cause, but Boise State had 16 turnovers to just nine from Virginia Tech. Balls were bouncing off of their own feet, the Hokies were just taking it out of some of our ball handlers hands and too many unforced errors led to the downfall of the Broncos. Tonight VCU will try and capitalize on those mistakes with easy transition buckets. Boise State has to take care of the basketball if they want to win this game.
Relax
It’s only the four game of the season and Boise State has scheduled an extremely tough non-conference schedule this season. This in-season tournament is probably the #2 tournament right now outside of the Maui Invitational. Boise State played VT really close and for most of the night looked like the better team, but yet again couldn’t put too halves together. The boys just need to relax and play their game, trust in each other and trust in their coaching. Once they get back on the winning tack they won’t come off of it for a while.
Revs Rant and Prediction
Like I said going into the VT game, the Hokies are the real deal and Boise State hung with them the entire game. And who knows if some of the questionable calls go the Broncos way we may be talking about a nice win instead of a loss. The season is indeed not over and these road tests will pay dividends down the road and come tournament time. I fully expect Boise State to be playing in the NCAA tournament barring any sort of epic collapse. Let’s face it this team no matter how “super” they may be on paper are just not getting used to playing in meaningful games with each other. This could take some time to gel, but when it does this team is dangerous. They have all the pieces to have a solid regular season, make a deep run in the conference tournament and maybe, just maybe get that NCAA tournament monkey off their back. I fully expect this team to turn right around and beat a team that they may not be familiar with the name on the front of the uniform, but are more than familiar with who is calling the shots on the sideline.
Boise State 72, VCU 67
Comments
Post a Comment