By Paul Gotham
Six Atlantic teams deadlocked at 3-1. Two of this weekend’s games feature head-to-head matchups among those schools.
Words of the week: La Salle Head Coach Dr. John Giannini on the St. Bonaventure student section: “They get on you from warm-ups. There are a lot of places where they get on you during the game. But when you walk out there an hour before the game, the students are already on you. They’ve said some of the funnies things to me and my players that I’ve experienced. I probably can’t repeat them here, publicly. They’re terrific.”
Hot reads: USA Today’s Scott Gleeson writes: UMass off to hot start under Kellogg. Ian Nolan of College Chalktalk opines on the Hot Shooting of St. Joseph’s and the Early Struggles faced by George Mason. Ray Floriani contributes his Tempo Tuesday. GW’s Kethan Savage out with broken foot. Tyrone Garland ratted out teammate. Tom Timmerman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on SLU’s McCall struggles, still contributes. Good Lord Willin’ Creek Will Keep Risin’.
Here are this weekend’s games in order of importance:
Saturday
VCU (15-4/3-1) at La Salle (11-7/3-1) High Noon ESPN2
La Salle returns home after having their five-game winning streak snapped by a St. Bonaventure team which showed a variety of defensive looks. Enter VCU, a team comfortable with switching defenses. The Rams will be looking to avenge a 69-61 home loss to La Salle last year. The game pits La Salle’s Tyreek Duren, one of the best playmakers in the A-10 against Briante Weber, one of the league’s best on-the-ball defenders. Both La Salle and VCU won NCAA tournament games last (La Salle advanced to the Sweet Sixteen) and figure to be in the mix come March. Steve Zack‘s ten double-doubles lead the A-10 and rank fifth nationally. Zack (9.7ppg/9.6rpg) and Jerrell Wright (12.4 ppg/5.9rpg) will have the task of slowing VCU’s Juvonte Reddic (11.6ppg/7.7rpg)
La Salle by three.
St. Joseph’s (13-5/3-1) at Richmond (13-6/3-1) 4 p.m. NBC Sports Network
Two teams which have quietly climbed the ladder. St. Joseph’s only loss in their past 10 games came at UMass – when Ronald Roberts Jr. left the game with back spasms. Last time out, Richmond handed the Minutemen their first setback in seven games. SJU leads the A-10 in rebound margin (+5.6), defensive rebounds (26.6), defensive rebound percentage (.744) and 2-pt. fg% (52.4). Richmond, with their stifling matchup zone, leads the conference in 3-pt. defense (27.9) and is second in field goal percentage defense (40.4). Halil Kanecevic will be the key for St. Joe’s as they look break down Richmond’s defense. The senior forward is an uncanny distributor. His decision making in the teeth of the zone will make the difference. UR’s Cedrick Lindsay scores 18.6 and dishes out 4.2 assists a game.
St. Joseph’s by five.
St. Bonaventure (12-7/2-3) at Duquesne (8-9/1-4) 7 p.m. Sports New York/ROOT
St. Bonaventure’s three conference losses have been at then No. 19 UMass (73-68), at then No. 24 St. Louis (66-60) and at home to a George Washington team (79-71) which has been receiving votes for the last two months. Duquesne lost to SLU, 76-72 last time out. The Dukes have dropped four straight since winning five straight including their A-10 opener over Fordham. Duquesne leads the conference in assist to turnover rate (1.423). The Bonnies will counter with varied looks on defense. Charlon Kloof stayed out of foul trouble in SBU’s 66-51 triumph over La Salle. Keeping Kloof on the floor is important for the Bonnies defense. Youssou Ndoye and Marquise Simmons combine to grab 11 boards a game for Bona. Ovie Soko scores 17 and grabs nearly eight rebounds a game for the Dukes.
Bonnies by five.
Dayton (13-6/1-3) at Rhode Island (10-10/1-4) 4 p.m. CBS Sports Network
Desperate times for a Dayton Flyer club looking to avoid a third straight loss. Hard to imagine a top 50 RPI club falling to 1-4 in league play. In two home conference games, URI has taken first-place St. Louis to the wire and knocked off George Mason. UD has struggled on the glass since Matt Kavanaugh (6-10) and Alex Gavrilovic (6-9) have been sidelined with injuries. Ten different Flyers have tallied double figures this season. Jordan Sibert, Dyshawn Pierre and Devin Oliver all score 11 a game for the Flyers. Xavier Munford leads Rhody with 16.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists. UD leads the league behind the arc hitting 42.7 percent. URI is ninth in the country holding teams to 28.3 percent from long range. Go with the defense at home.
Rhode Island by two.
Sunday
Fordham (8-10/1-4) at No. 12 UMass (16-2/3-1) High Noon NBC Sports Network
Timing is no friend of Fordham’s Rams. Coming of their first loss in a month the UMass Minutemen figure to be geared up in front of the home crowd. Fordham will try to slow Chaz Williams and the UMass attack with a 2-3 zone. If Fordham is to have a chance, they will need to handle the UMass pressure and counter it by scoring. It will be a good test for Fordham frosh Jon Severe and his senior backcourt mate Branden Frazier. Cady Lalanne averages 14 points and nine rebounds for UMass. If nothing else, this game should provide ample warm-up for the Rams who head to VCU after this. “Hit me again Ike and put some stank on it!”
Minutemen by six.
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