NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion men's basketball team (3-6) will travel to Richmond, Va. for a showdown with VCU [RV] (6-2) on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 8:00 p.m. ET at the Siegel Center. Saturday night's game will be televised on WGNT (Hampton Roads), MASN, CBS6 (WTVR in Richmond), as well as will be streamed on ESPN+.
The contest between the Monarchs and Rams will also air across the ODU Sports Radio Network, with Ted Alexander and Dave Twardzik's live pregame show beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET.
ALL-TIME SERIES/FLASHBACK:
Saturday night will mark the 95th all-time meeting between these two schools, as VCU leads the series, 50-44. These two teams last met last season in Norfolk, in a game the Monarchs won by 10, 62-52. The Rams have won three of the last four meetings and seven of the last nine.
ODU has lost four straight games at VCU, with the Monarchs last victory at the Siegel Center coming in 2011 by a 70-59 score. Weeks later during that 2010-11 season, ODU took down VCU in the CAA Championship at the Richmond Coliseum, 70-65. In the 2011 NCAA Tournament, No. 9 seeded ODU lost on a buzzer beater to No. 8 seeded Butler, who then went onto defeat No. 11 seeded VCU in the Final Four (70-62). Butler eventually fell to No. 3 seeded UCONN in the National Championship by a 53-41 score, as Kemba Walker led all scorers with 16 points.
SEASON LEADERS:
-Xavier Green has led ODU in scoring in 7/9 games.
-Aaron Carver has led ODU in rebounds in all 9 games.
-Malik Curry has led ODU in assists in 7/9 games.
-Jason Wade has led ODU in steals in 6/9 games.
-Dajour Dickens has led ODU in blocks in 6/9 games.
-Xavier Green is leading the charge so far in 2019-20 for the Monarchs, averaging 15.0 points per game. Malik Curry is also averaging double-figures, scoring 10.6 points per contest.
-Through nine games, Jason Wade is averaging 9.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.1 steals (4th in the country) and 1.8 assists per game. For the season, Wade already has 28 steals (2nd in the nation). The school record for steals in a season is 91 by Brandon Johnson in 2007-08.
-Aaron Carver's 90 total rebounds this season rank 14th in the NCAA. For his career, he has hauled down 460 rebounds, just 40 shy of reaching the 500 mark.
VCU
The Rams are coming off two consecutive narrow losses to Purdue (59-56) and No. 17 Tennessee (72-69) in the Emerald Coast Classic, which snapped their six-game win-streak to start the 2019-20 season.
Marcus Santos-Silva is currently leading the way for VCU, averaging 13.8 points and 9.5 rebounds per outing. Marcus Evans follows, going for 12.6 points per contest, while De'Riante Jenkins (10.5 ppg) also averages double-figures.
VCU forces 19.8 turnovers per game, while scoring 73.6 points per game and holding opponents to 62.8 points per contest.
The Rams are coming off a 25-8 (16-2 in A10) campaign in 2018-19, in which they received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and lost in the first round to UCF (73-58).