VCU-W&M Live Blog!

Wow, I have been racking my brain all day and I have come up with nothing. When was the last time VCU played a “relevant” regular season game against William & Larry?

Go ahead, take a second I can wait…

That’s what I thought. I don’t think we have ever had one. But, with four one loss teams atop the CAA looking to distance themselves from the pack tonight’s game against the Tribe has become a must win for VCU. At 4-3 the Rams are sitting in 5^th place behind Mason, W&L, ODU and Northeastern and looking at the wrong side of a first round bye in the CAA Tournament.

Now, enter one of the hottest teams in college basketball, William and Larry winners of 14 of their last 15 games and a program-best 6-1 in CAA play. They own key wins over Richmond, Wake Forrest and Maryland this season and are currently tied with Vermont for longest road winning streak in the country.

But not everything is stacked up against the Rams. The Black & Gold are 9-1 all-time against the Tribe at the Verizon Wireless Arena at the Stuart C. Siegel Center.

In their last meeting the Rams saw the Tribe erase a 15 point second half lead with unstoppable back-door cuts and clutch 3-point shooting. The Rams had a last second three-pointer fall short from Ed Nixon giving the Tribe of William & Mary a 75-74 victory.

William & Mary ranks fifth nationally in 3-pointers per game (9.5). The Tribe also ranks among the top 10 in the nation in fewest turnovers at 10.5 tpg and assist/turnover ratio at 1.5. The Rams will need to control the pace of the game and force W&M out of their comfort zone.

Stay tuned for live action!

85 min before tip: Rams are taking in a relaxed shooting session. W&M's bus just pulled in and the Tribe is filing in from the parking lot. That has got to affect them.

70 min before tip: mascot at sporting events for nearly 15 years? Well, hat is about to change. William and Larry is in the midst of a mascot search. They will still be know has the Tribe but here are the 5 mascot finalists…

The mythical griffin, a King and Queen, another mythical beast the phoenix and a native bird species found in Virginia the wren. But I have saved the best for last! A pug! Apparently, Queen Larry and King William were both the proud owners of pugs.

Here is ESPN’s take on the whole thing.

68 min to tip: VCU assistants have broken out huge body pads to simulate contact in the post. VCU looks dialed in. I think we are going to dominate tonight!

62 min to tip: TJ, Larry and David Hinton are sporting all white Jordan 10's.

55 min to tip: I want to give a quick shout out to my main man Marc Cheatham. He wont be able to make the game tonight because he is D.C. attending to the needs of his boss former Virginia Governor and current DNC Chairman Tim Kaine.

Today was his first day on the job. Hopefully, things will settle down for the Dems in the next couple of weeks and Marc will be able to keep that new whip.

If not, we need to go pro in racquetball. I am telling you, we will dominate the league. American Family Fitness wont know what hit them!

49 mins to tip: The Tribe are out for their pre-game warm-ups. The student section is mostly full. This is going to be a good one.

43 mins to tip: W&M's David Schneider reminds me of a smaller Travis Deiner. Marquette legend!

32 mins to tip: Student sections are full and the band is doing their thing. William & Larry are still going through their pre-game warm-ups. Interesting, they don't practice lay-ups. Just mid-range jumpers and threes.

Then again they are the CAA equivalent of the Indiana Pacers. There I said it.

24 mins to tip: The Rams come out for their final warm-ups.

19 mins to tip: The Tribe prance out onto the court to a choirs of boos.

9 mins to tip: The National Anthem was just completed and now we are just waiting for the teams to return to the court for introductions.

1:30 mins to tip: This sellout crowd is bringing the volume. They are all over the Tribe as they make their final preparations.

Its standing room only in the student section. The VCU chant is drowning out the arena announcer.

Here we go. W&M controls the tip.

18:40 The Tribe draw first blood and a McDowell put back. VCU counters with a Rozzell jumper to tit it up. VCU 2 - WM 2.

16:00 Both teams are fighting for every possession. Rozzell just nailed a three to give the Rams a 9-4 advantage.

15:00 Larry Sanders Dunk!!! The crowd is on its feet has Tony Shaver is forced to take the Tribe's first timeout. VCU 11 - W&M 4.

14:30 Another Larry Sanders Dunk!!!! The crowd continues to go crazy. VCU 13 - W&M 4.

13:15 That's three Larry Sanders buckets in a row. He is a man on fire tonight! VCU 15 - W&M 6.

12:18 Luke Walton, I mean David Schneider is on the board with a jumper for the Tribe. J-Rod answers with his first bucket a jumper just inside the three point line. Another TV Timeout. VCU 17 - W&M 11.

10:26 Darius Theus is getting early minutes for the Rams. Easy Ed Nixon delivers a three from the wing. VCU 20 – W&M 13.

9:45 Darius Theus hits a running jumper to extend the VCU lead to 9. VCU 22 – W&M 13.

8:05 VCU head coach Shaka Smart is going to his freshmen early in this game. Troy Daniels is seeing some early action relieving Darius Theus.

7:00 The pace is furious. Shaka Smart is going deep in his bench to try and wear out the Tribe. So far W&M have shown they can hang. VCU 23 – W&M 20.

6:09 Another jumper for J-Rod. Pushes the VCU lead to 5, 25-20.

5:30 TJ Gwynn gets an easy lay-up. No word yet if he is out of the dog house yet. VCU 27 – W&M 20.

4:00 Larry Sander’s is showing his range. The big man just drained a 17 foot from the side line. He has 9 points. VCU 29 – W&M 20.

2:53 John Stockton, I mean David Schneider hits another three to cut the VCU lead to 6. Schneider has 8.

1:36 J-Rod is trying to slow it down and pound it inside. Neither team is close to the bonus at this point. VCU has 5 teams fouls and W&M has 4. VCU 29 – W&M 23.

0:45 J-Rod gets inside for a layup. He has 6 points and VCU is up 31-23.

0:23 Danny Sumner hits a three and VCU takes a 5 point lead into the locker room at the half.

VCU 31 – W&M 26

Half Time Stats: The Tribe's Danny Sumner leads all scorers with 12. Danny Ainge, I mean David Schneider has 8 for William & Larry. Larry Sanders is the high man for VCU with 9 points on 4 of 6 shooting to go with his 5 boards. Joey is filling up the stat sheet with 6 points, 5 assists and 2 steals.

W&M shot 31.4%. VCU shot 48.3%.

19:35 Bobby Hurley, I mean David Schneider is fouled while shooting by Rozzell. He hits 1 of 2 from the line and with that W&M opens up scoring in the second half. VCU 31 – W&M 27.

18:42 Larry Sanders answers with an awkward turn around jumper from the key. The Tribe answer with a Kitts dunks. VCU 22 – W&M 29.

17:19 Sumner gets an open dunk and Shaka Smart motions for a quick timeout. The Tribe have come out motivated and have quickly erased the VCU half time advantage. VCU 33 – W&M 31.

17:07 Skeen gets a bucket and is fouled. He hits the free throw and puts VCU back up by 5. Shaka Smart is looking like a genius out of the timeout.

16:19 Brandon Rozzell knocks down a three pointer to a deafening applause. VCU 39 – W&M 31.

15:43 Skeen is fouled in the act of shooting. He hits both free throws to extend the Ram’s lead to 10.

15:27 Skeen swipes and inbounds and gets to Joey for an easy lay up. The crowd noise is incredible. The Tribe quiet the crowd with a three. VCU 43 – W&M 34.

14:04 Rozzell gets a steal and another lay-up. He has 10 points and gives a fist pumped under the basket to celebrate.

12:37 Santil tips in a Thrus miss to give the Rams a 47-34 advantage. Timeout William & Larry.

11:31 TJ Gwynn feeds Santil underneath the basket for another easy bucket.

11:05 Santil pokes the ball away from a W&M guard and gets a fast break dunk. He is a one man wrecking crew. VCU 51-38.

10:02 Bradford Burgess nails a three out of the TV timeout and gets a block on Bobby Hurley, I mean David Schneider. Easy Ed Nixon hits a three pointer on the ensuing break. VCU 57 – W&M 28.

8:54 VCU is dictating the pace of the game. W&M is on the verge of falling to far behind. Larry Sanders gets another inside bucket. The Rams are up 16.

7:50 Steve Wojciechowski, I mean David Schneider drives the baseline and his fouled as the ball falls threw the cylinder for 2. Wojo hits the free throw VCU 59, W&M 46. Schneider has 15.

7:17 J-Rod hits a three. The Tribe try to answer with a Sumner long distance try which rims out to Joey who takes it down the court and is fouled has he goes to the rim. He hits 1 of 2 from the line. VCU 63 – W&M 47.

6:17 Larry Sanders continues to impress with his made range jumper. He now has 15 and the Rams lead is 15.

5:39 Shaka Smart continues to send wave after wave of fresh bodies to the court. Its starting to ware on the Tribe who have stuck to an 8 man rotation most of the night.

4:40 Easy Ed misses on a three has the VCU possession expires but freshman Darius Theus gets the rebound to extend the possession. Rozzell cans a wide-open three for the Rams. VCU 70 – W&M 52.

3:21 Marcus Kitts is carrying the load for the Tribe. The big man has scored on William & Larry’s last three possessions. He has 16 points.

3:05 Jeff Hornicek, I mean David Schneider is clearly frustrated trying to keep up with Ed Nixon who is dribbling all over the court. The frustrated Tribe star hacks Larry has he goes up for a shot. Sanders hits 1 of 2. VCU 71 – W&M 54.

2:42 The sounds of keys jingling is starting to circle the arena. The Tribe hit a quick three and go into a full court press. J-Rod cuts through the press and dribbles it down until he is fouled with 2 seconds on the shot clock. He hits both freebies. VCU is now up 15, 73-57.

1:49 Rozzell hits 2 more from the line as chants of Overrated echo throughout the Seigel. VCU 75 - W&M 59.

1:18 J-Rod hits Larry Sanders on an ally-oop to punctuate.

1:03 Scott Skiles, I mean David Schneider takes down Bradford Burgess hard and says a few choice words that got Burgess’s attention. Schneider fouls out. Burgess hits both free throws. VCU 79 – W&M 59.

30.5 Two more free throws for Joey to cap a 18 point night for the junior.

The Stadium is sounding off to the Florida State/Atlanta Braves chop chant as VCU dribbles out the clock. VCU has now won 4 in a row in the CAA and improves to 13-4 overall and 5-3 in CAA play.

Final: VCU 81 – W&M 59.