NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion men’s basketball trailed by as many as 19 points and fought all the way back to within six, 54-48 with less than seven minutes to play, but VCU held on to take the exhibition game, 71-57 on Saturday night at Chartway Arena.
“I’m thankful for VCU coming down here and giving us a good test,” ODU head coach Mike Jones said afterwards. “It’s something we can go back and learn so many things from. I’m not going to hide and act like we didn’t want to win this game, but there’s a whole lot that we can get out of this that’s going to be the reason why we have a really good year.”
The Monarchs scored the first four points of the game as Zacch Wiggings opened things up with a dunk and Adante’ Holiman followed with a 2-for-2 effort at the free-throw line. But ODU’s offense stalled for over four minutes in the first half, a stretch that began with ODU ahead 9-7 and ended with VCU in front, 13-9 following a pair of free throws by Lazar Djokovic.
Kylan Howze halted the run with a dunk to get ODU back to within two, 13-11, and Zamoku Weluche-Ume got a layup to fall as the Silver and Blue trailed, 17-13 with 8:18 left in the opening half. VCU separated themselves again, though, behind 7-of-14 shooting from three-point range, while ODU went 6-for-23 from the field and missed all seven of its three-point attempts. Bubu Benjamin helped keep ODU at the line, but VCU took a 41-23 lead into halftime.
Asked about his team’s start to the game, Jones replied, “We came out and we had two really good defensive possessions to start the game. We ran two offensive sets exactly the way you draw them up and we got what we wanted," but added, "[VCU] ratcheted up their physicality and we did not respond well to that.”
On how his team did against the Rams’ pressure, Jones said, “We did a really good job in the backcourt. Once we got in the frontcourt, they made it difficult to catch it where we wanted to. Again, they’re good. They returned so much and they’re used to playing that way.”
But it was the Monarchs who pushed the tempo in the second half.
“We came out in the second half and it was more like the team we're going to need to be for 40 minutes. If we can play like that for 40 minutes, I don’t care who we’re playing, we’re going to have a chance to beat whoever’s on our schedule,” added Jones.
ODU cut a 46-27 deficit to 49-42 on Weluche-Ume’s layup with 10:02 left in the second half, using inside scoring from Zacch Wiggins and Ben Nacey as well to get back into range. VCU answered later from the foul line and the arc, moving ahead 65-51 before the Monarchs’ final push. The Monarchs outscored VCU, 34-30 in the half, but the visitors pushed their lead back to double digits as ODU ran out of time.
Benjamin scored 14 points and went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line, and Weluche-Ume added 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field and collected five rebounds. Wiggins finished with 12 points, five rebounds, one block, one assist, and one steal while Howze recorded three blocks and grabbed five boards.
“I’m very happy with the second half effort that we gave, but very unhappy and unpleased with the first half, both the focus and the physicality. But again, these are all things that we can improve on. This isn’t last year or the year before. This is a different group, and I’m excited.”
As a team, the Monarchs combined to shoot 38% (19-for-50) from the floor, 14.3% (2-for-14) from distance, and 81% (17-for-21) at the charity stripe. Old Dominion scored more points in the paint (32-18), but VCU had more points off turnovers (16-10), more second-chance points (12-6), fast break points (8-6), and more bench production (33-7).
Up Next
ODU will be back at Chartway Arena next Saturday, Oct. 24 to host a 7 p.m. exhibition game against Virginia State.