VCU led by as many as 16 early in the second half, but Fordham made things interesting in the final five minutes, getting as close as two in the final minute, before the Rams closed out the 63-59 road win on Tuesday.
That was close to being a devastating Quad 3 loss for the Rams (17-6, 8-2 A-10 NET: 51).
Fordham (12-11, 3-7 A-10, NET: 190) got the margin to 61-59 on a pair of free throws from the A-10’s leading scorer, DeJour Reaves, with 33 seconds left.
Lazar Djokovic, who led VCU with 17 points on the night, drew a foul on a drive to the basket on the ensuing possession and knocked down both free throws to extend the margin to four.
Fordham attempted to call timeout on the following inbounds play, a timeout it did not have, resulting in an administrative technical foul.
While VCU was unable to convert the technical, it did force a Fordham turnover on its next inbounds attempt
Terrence Hill missed the technical free throw, and Ahmad Nowell missed both ends of a two-shot foul after a Fordham turnover, but Fordham – also the Rams, which makes writing about games with VCU a smidge tougher – wasn’t able to take advantage.
NCAA Tournament resume
Quad 1: 0-5
Quad 2: 4-1
Quad3/4: 13-0
Key
Quad 1: Home (1-30), Neutral (1-50), Away (1-75)
Quad 2: Home (31-75), Neutral (51-100), Away (76-135)
Metrics
Topline
- ELO:46
- RPI:48
- NET:52
Resume
- KPI:48
- WAB: 56
- SOR:57
Predictive
- KenPom:49
- BPI:50
- BartTorvik:65
Average: 52.3
NCAA Tournament seed projection: on the edge of maybe being close …
Key remaining games
- Quad 2/3: @Richmond (13-10, 3-7 A-10, NET: 142), Feb. 14
- Quad 2/3: George Washington (13-9, 4-5 A-10, NET: 87), Feb. 17
- Quad 1: @Saint Louis (22-1, 10-0 A-10, NET: 16), Feb. 20
- Quad 2: George Mason (20-2, 8-1 A-10, NET: 65), March 3
- Quad 2: @Dayton (15-8, 6-4 A-10, NET: 91), March 6
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Chris Graham
