By PAUL GOTHAM
Virginia Commonwealth University’s Rams have won six straight, and Mo Alie-Cox increased his scoring production during that stretch.
First-year coach Will Wade doesn’t need to be told there’s a correlation between the two.
“He’s a commanding presence down there,” Wade said during the Atlantic 10’s weekly tele-conference. “Right now he’s really tough to guard. If you leave him one-on-one, he’s going to score it or get fouled.”
Getting attention is nothing new for the Alexandria, Virginia native. At 6-7 and 250 pounds, it’s hard to miss him. Last season, Alie-Cox topped double figures on 10 occasions. He has already scored 10 or more in six contests this season and in three of VCU’s last four games.
“It’s a combination of his work and having confidence in himself that we all have confidence in him,” Wade explained. “He’s a load down there.”
Last season, Alie-Cox scored 7.4 points per game for the Rams. He’s added two points to that average through 16 games this year and has scored 11.1 over the last six games. One difference is he is taking and converting more free throws. A year ago, Alie-Cox averaged 2.9 takes from the charity stripe per contest and hit 60.4 percent of the time. This season, he takes 3.8 and hits 73.8 percent of the time.
That improvement shows up in his offensive rating (ORtg – a number which takes into account the amount of points a player produces over 100 possessions). Per KenPom, Alie-Cox has a season ORtg of 116, but over the last six games he has topped 120 four times including three at 137 or higher.
Pittsburgh’s Michael Young and Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield lead the nation with season ORtg’s of 130.1 and 128.3 respectively.
Alie-Cox registered a 147 rating in VCU’s 72-56 victory over Saint Louis.
“He’s got a sense of what going on around him,” said SLU head coach Jim Crews. “He just takes what people give him. If he sees one on one, he’s going to go one on one. If he sees he’s got two, he’s going to get it out to another guy.”
The forward handed out a career-high four assists in the win. He averages a little more than one assist, but that does not take into account the number of times the junior forward passes out of a double or triple team and one or two passes later a teammate scores.
“He sees the court really well,” Wade added. “He’s got feel. If you double him, he’s able to get that thing out of there and spray it. We have decent three-point shooters on that back side that he’s able to spray it to.”
“He really opened up somethings for guys to shoot threes or drive the basketball,” Crews stated “We couldn’t contain him.”
Earlier in the week, Alie-Cox netted 10 straight in little more than 90 seconds as the Rams erased a six-point deficit. His bucket with 1:12 remaining in the game gave the Rams a two-point edge on their way to an 85-82 victory at Saint Joseph’s. VCU snapped a seven-game Hawks’ winning streak.
“I wish we could do that every night,” Wade said of the outburst. “I just think he’s getting more and more confident. He’s developing confidence from one, us feeding him the ball, but more importantly just his work. He’s naturally gifted. He’s an unbelievable athlete. He’s an unbelievable physical specimen. All you have to do is watch him walk around for three minutes and figure that out.
“When you combine great physical gifts, with a little bit of work – work on your hooks, work on your free throws, and working on those things – and you’ve got coaches and teammates who have confidence in you and can pound that thing into you. A lot of times good things happen.”
After two games on the road, VCU (11-5/3-0) returns home to host Fordham (10-4/1-2), Wednesday night. A 7 p.m. tipoff is scheduled. The game will be televised on the American Sports Network.
Both teams rank in the top five nationally for turnovers forced. VCU is third in the nation forcing 17.6 miscues. With 17.2, Fordham ranks fifth.
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