VCU Basketball Wins A-10 Opener Over St. Joseph’s

The VCU men’s basketball team won their conference opener on Wednesday afternoon 80-64 over St. Joseph’s. The Rams fell behind by 10 points early on but used a 14-0 run to take the lead back. Going into halftime, they held a 40-32 lead and never trailed in the second half. Ironically, they won both halves by identical 40-32 scores.

https://twitter.com/VCU_Hoops/status/1344359140173471744

VCU forced the fast-paced Hawks into 23 turnovers while holding them to 29.2 percent from beyond the arc. The Rams, who had five players score in double figures, hit on 42.1 percent of their deep balls (8-for-19) and lead by as many as 24 in the second half.

Vince Williams Jr. scored a team-high 17 points for the Rams while Adrian Baldwin Jr. added 12 of his own. Levi Stockard III, Jamir Watkins and KeShawn Curry each had 10 to round out the double-digit scorers.

VCU has now won six consecutive games to improve to 8-2 on the season.

The winless Hawks were without Ryan Daly, a second-team preseason all-conference selection who averaged better than 20 points per game last season. Sophomore Dahmir Bishop filled his shoes the best he could, scoring a career-high 20 points. They are the second-lowest ranked Atlantic-10 team by KenPom — St. Joseph’s (No. 176), Fordham (No. 223).

VCU will be back in action on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET against Davidson at home.

The Rams are now ranked No. 56 by KenPom.