NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion men’s basketball stormed out to a 9-2 lead and never let Virginia State back in the game as the Monarchs defeated VSU, 75-48 on Saturday night in Norfolk, Virginia.
The game marked Old Dominion’s final exhibition game before hosting Western Michigan at Chartway Arena for the MAC-SBC Challenge on Monday, November 2 at 7 p.m.
“We’re appreciative of Virginia State coming down,” said ODU head coach Mike Jones. “That’s going to be a team that’s going to have a really good season. They have a really good coach and coaching staff, shoutout to Ricardo Marsh. They’ve got guards that can get in the lane and make shots, a couple guys that can really shoot the ball, and they’ve got bigs that are strong and experienced. That’s going to be a really good team, so I appreciate them coming down here and competing with us tonight.”
“I’m happy about a few things with our team and there are going to be some things we have to clean up, but overall, in terms of playing different combinations a little bit tonight, I’m happy with what happened. Obviously I’ll know more after watching the tape,” added Jones.
Old Dominion opened the game with an alley-oop dunk from Kylan Howze with Adante’ Holiman getting the assist. A made free throw by Zamoku Weluche-Ume and a jumper in the paint by Zacch Wiggins gave ODU a 5-0 advantage. VSU’s first bucket came at the 17:32 mark from a Jaden Walker pull up jumper.
ODU stretched its lead to double-digits by the 13:08 mark as Wiggins drove through the lane and finished over a VSU defender to go up, 15-5. The Monarchs maintained a healthy lead for the next seven minutes until Walker scored in the paint off an ODU turnover to cut the Monarchs’ lead to eight, 23-15. Holiman answered back with a long ball on the next possession to go back up by double-digits.
With two minutes left in the first half, ODU’s Jotham Nweke drilled a three pointer from the wing to go up by 17, and CJ Harper came back down a few possessions later with another long ball to give the Silver and Blue a 20-point advantage, 41-21. O’Maundre Harris hit the final shot of the opening half with a made jumper in the paint as ODU went into the break up by 18, 41-23.
Weluche-Ume got the scoring started in the second half with a made fast break layup that was started with a steal by Wiggins to go back up by 20, 43-23. Bubu Benjamin went 1-for-2 at the charity stripe and Wiggins scored a jumper in the paint to go up by 23 points.
VSU went on a 9-3 run midway through the second half. Trevor Smith scored in the paint on a fast break, Quadir Pettaway made a jumper off an ODU turnover, and Harris scored a second-chance layup before ODU’s Holiman quelled the run with a three-pointer of his own. However, Pettaway responded with a triple to make the score 56-38. The Monarchs maintained a +20-point lead for the rest of the game.
ODU shot 53.2% from the field on 25-for-47 shooting and made 14-of-32 three pointers. ODU outrebounded VSU, 36-24, but had four more turnovers than the visiting team, 13-9. ODU scored 31 bench points, 20 in the paint, nine off VSU turnovers, and six second-chance points.
Asked what one thing he was pleased with and one thing that would need to be addressed, Jones replied, “Too many turnovers. We had 13 turnovers, and a lot of them were just not solid basketball plays that we’ve got to get better at. So I would say that would be the one thing that needs to improve. And then I’ll take the 14 threes. We shot way more threes than twos. That’s not necessarily going to be who we are, but this is a team that I believe can really shoot the ball, so I’ll take that.”
Wiggins finished with a team high 21 points on 9-for-10 shooting from the field (90%) and went 3-for-3 from behind the arc in 23 minutes on the court. Holiman ended the night with 12 points followed by CJ Harper with 10 to round out the Monarchs’ top three scorers.
On his progress he’s made from last year to this year, Wiggins said, “Just continuing to trust my work. My teammates continue to boost me on the court and we all lift each other up. Them helping me boosts everyone and helps our confidence.”
Walker had a team high 10 points for VSU and went 5-for-6 from the field in 20 minutes of action. Harris and Trevor Smith both had eight points on 3-for-9 and 3-for-8 shooting, respectively.
Up Next
The Monarchs will open their season at home on Monday, Nov. 2 when they host the Broncos of Western Michigan in the first round of the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge. Tipoff at Chartway Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m.