Getty The VCU Rams will visit the Fordham Rams on Saturday.
It’s a Ram off. The VCU Rams will visit the Fordham Rams at Rose Hill Gymnasium in the Bronx on Saturday as both teams enter A-10 play.
The game is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. ET. While it won’t be broadcast nationally on television anywhere in the US, you can still watch a live stream of the game on your computer, phone, or streaming device via ESPN+, the new digital streaming service from ESPN that has exclusive coverage to dozens of college basketball games–and several other sports–every week.
You can sign up for a free 7-day trial of ESPN+ right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via ESPN.com, or on your phone (Android and iPhone compatible), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or other compatible streaming device via the ESPN app.
If you can’t watch live, all games — including VCU vs Fordham — that are streamed on ESPN+ are also available to be watched afterwards on-demand via ESPN.com or the ESPN app.
VCU vs Fordham Preview
After a 7-2 start, VCU dropped two straight to Virginia and Charleston, then righted the ship with a pair of wins over Wichita State and Rider.
Free throws have been a weakness all year; the team shoots 67 percent from the stripe. During their two-game losing streak, they went 26-of-41 from the line, 63.4 percent.
“We’ve got to make [free throws],” VCU head coach Mike Rhoades said after falling to Charleston 83-79 at home, according to The Commonwealth Times. “There’s no secret. When you get to the line, you got to make foul shots. We work on them every day.”
Rhoades added: “When you draw fouls and the clock stops, you can gain points [from the free throw line]. And when you don’t, you shoot yourself in the foot.”
Junior guard De’Riante Jenkins led the way for VCU with 23 points in the Charleston defeat. He went 3-of-3 from the line.
“What’s crazy is we work on offense and defense every day, we shoot free throws every day,” Jenkins said, per the Times. “And I guess it’s a matter of time [until] the work catch up. It’s just going to catch up at the perfect time, it’s going to just get rolling.”
VCU responded by blowing Wichita State out 70-54 then brushing Rider off 90-79. While their offense has improved of late, Rhoades wants his team to hang its hat on its press-heavy defense.
“We work really hard on it, but for the players to see it in the game, and what it can do to help us win — not a surprise, but, man, we need to make sure we play like that all the time,” Rhoades said of his team’s defense, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “It’s a winning formula.”
VCU holds opponents to 37.9 percent shooting from the field, the 14th-best mark in the nation. However, they shoot just 40.9 percent from the field themselves, 313th out of 353 teams.
They shot 50 percent against the Shockers and 53.2 percent against the Broncs. Five players scored in double figures against Rider.
“I think the Rider game was a good experience for us because it got guys’ confidence up,” junior guard Marcus Evans said, per the Times-Dispatch. “I don’t think offensively we showed really how good we are through the non-conference schedule. But I believe when conference play starts that guys will hit shots and our offense will come together.”
Evans poured in 14 points and had five assists.
Like VCU, Fordham is 9-4. Their last time out, they blew a 12-point lead in the second half to fall 60-57 to the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds. Freshman point guard Nick Honor leads the team with 17 points per game.
“With Nick using ball screens, others are contributing,” head coach Jeff Neubauer said after a December 20 victory over James Madison, according to NY Sports Day. “They are learning how to get their opportunities whenever Nick gets doubled.”