Blatt’s Growing Pains Not Cause For Hot Seat
December 30, 2014Cleveland Browns vs. Baltimore Ravens: Behind the Box Score
December 30, 2014Another road game against a top-25 caliber opponent, another loss for the Cleveland State Vikings. CSU (6-8) battled back after spotting the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams (10-3) an early 12-0 lead, but they never could take control, and VCU went on to capture a 72-63 victory Monday night in Richmond.
VCU senior swingman Treveon Graham led all scorers with 20 points, but it was the Ram defense that ensured the result. VCU registered eight steals and held Cleveland State to 41 percent shooting. Trey Lewis scored 15 for the Vikings, but eight of those points came in the final three minutes when the contest was all but decided.
The hero of the first half was Vinny Zollo, who knocked down three triples to keep CSU within shouting distance. If not for those nine early points, this one could have turned into a Ram runaway.
VCU pushed Cleveland State to the perimeter in the early going, but the Vikings used a penetrate-and-pitch game to bend the Ram defense and find open shots late in the first half. Senior guard Charlie Lee scored 15 (his third straight 15-point effort) and added four assists, and he was able to find holes in the VCU press for much of the first half.
Unfortunately for the Viking faithful, Lee’s backcourt mate, Trey Lewis, was faced with a wall of white jerseys all night long. Lewis has been, is, and will be the focal point of every CSU opponent, and that was clear Monday night. A cadre of Ram defenders escorted Lewis across the court as Shaka Smart’s team shut down driving lanes and allowed precious few open looks.
Anton Grady saw some chances inside, but an array of long-armed VCU defenders transformed his shots into chores. He faced some of his familiar foul trouble and mustered just five points and four rebounds. Grady is a big body by Horizon League standards at 6-8/225, but he doesn’t look quite so imposing when venturing into foreign conferences.
Cleveland State did not play poorly by any means, but they couldn’t quite dictate the action, either. Their offense was as slow and deliberate as smoking a rack of ribs, and it was so by design. VCU entered the night averaging 76-plus points, and the Vikings endeavored to decelerate the pace. They did so for stretches, but not enough of them.
The greatest issue was the turnover differential. The Vikings committed 13 turnovers, including a couple gift-wrapped passes straight to Ram defenders just a hair too late for the holidays. In contrast, VCU turned it over just five times. Cleveland State entered the game averaging over nine steals per game, but pilfered just three balls on Monday.
So, yes, it’s another tough loss for Cleveland State against a quality opponent. Again they hung tough, but again they lost by more than a touchdown. Again, it’s frustrating.
The bright side is that the non-conference schedule is ultimately not significant for the Vikings. Wins are obviously better than losses, but the goal of the season is the NCAA Tournament, and the only way that CSU was ever going to make it was by winning the Horizon League tournament. They’re in the bottom half of the league standings now, but they have the pieces to pull it off.
The results thus far tell an accurate story. The Vikes have been good enough to beat bad teams like Mount Vernon Nazarene and Tiffin. They have been good enough to beat average teams like Marshall and San Francisco. They have been good enough to hang with good teams like Louisville and VCU.
They have also been bad enough to lose to Iona, Savannah State, Toledo, and Bowling Green.
This team has talent, but it lacks consistency. They never look like world-beaters, but their defense is often good enough to give them a chance. The offense, even at its best, doesn’t quite hum like a late-model Volkswagen Jetta, but maybe like an old Volkswagen bus—clunky, but it gets the job done.
The Vikings open conference play at home Friday against Milwaukee. They have 16 more games after that, 15 against conference foes. This is the part of the season that truly matters. This is the time for the Vikes to prove themselves. We’ll see if they’re up to the task.
Other Notes:
- Vinny Zollo’s 14 points were a season-high.
- VCU’s fans do a Maori-style Haka dance pre-game. I don’t quite get it, but it’s kinda cool:
- The VCU television commentators did a terrific job. They clearly did their homework on the Vikings and included a couple nice nuggets, including that Kaza Keane played at VCU last year as a member of the Illinois State Redbirds (Keane transferred to CSU).
- The VCU Peppas pep band was wonderful as well. Two noteworthy and different-as-can-be selections: Curtis Mayfield’s “Move On Up” and WWE superstar John Cena’s entrance music, “The Time is Now.”
- The VCU fans are major proponents of a mock clock countdown to throw off opposing offenses. Cleveland State was shrewd enough to not get tricked, save for one occasion that resulted in a Viking putback.
- Last but not least, VCU’s JeQuan Lewis has hair like Wesley Snipes’ Simon Phoenix from Demolition Man:
1 Comment
That Demolition Man comparison is so good and so right.