The Big 10 clashes with the Atlantic 10 later this afternoon when the No. 10 seed Ohio State Buckeyes square off with the Virginia Commonwealth Rams. VCU finished the season ranked No. 25 in the AP Poll and are coming off a victory in the A-10 Conference Tournament finals.
However, Ohio State (23-10) poses a threat, despite going 1-7 against top 50 RPI opponents. The Buckeyes fell to Michigan State in the Big 10 Tournament semi-final, but they played tough all year. Early on in the year Ohio State fell to No. 5 ranked Louisville and No. 24 ranked North Carolina, but soon rebounded to get a road win over Minnesota and then home victories against No. 23 ranked Indiana and No. 16 Maryland.
Freshman guard D'Angelo Russell leads the team in scoring and rebounds with 19.3 points per game and 5.6 rebounds per game, while also adding 5.1 assists per game. Russell, forward Sam Thompson, guard Shannon Scott (leads team with 5.9 apg) and center Amir Williams make up one of the better defensive units in the NCAA and average 5.1 blocks per game (20th) and 7.8 steals per game (31st).
Ohio State is well-prepared for the NCAA Tournament after closing out the season with games against Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan State.
As for VCU, the Rams finished the year strong and ended up in the AP Top 25 after rattling off five straight wins against opponents that included Richmond, Davidson and Dayton after losing three straight to those exact teams just weeks prior. The A-10 Tournament champs also faced quality opponents earlier in the year, such as Villanova, Oregon, Virginia, Northern Iowa and Cincinnati. They were 3-2 in those matchups.
The Rams are led by guard Treveon Graham, who tops the squad in points per game (16.3) and rebounds per game (7.0). Fellow guard Briante Weber leads the way in assists (4.3) and steals (3.9) per game and also helped VCU to a 26-9 record and the best in the A-10, even though they finished with the fourth-best conference record.
After an early exit in last year's tournament at the hands of Stephen F. Austin, the VCU Rams are looking to rebound against a bigger challenge in Ohio State.
Here are some key stats to keep in mind before these two tip off at 4:40 p.m. ET in Portland, OR.
Ohio State | VCU |
RPI - .5789 (39th overall) | RPI - .6163 (14th overall) |
SOS - 74 | SOS - 9 |
PPG - 75.8 (24th overall) | PPG - 72.5 (53rd overall) |
FG% - .486 (11th overall) | FG% - .420 (256th overall) |
Points Allowed Per Game - 62.4 (71st overall) | Points Allowed Per Game - 65.5 (143rd overall) |
Turnovers Per Game - 11.3 (62nd overall) | Turnovers Per Game - 10.7 (27th overall) |
Season Rank - 40 | Season Rank - 25 |
Check out the live stream for the game here as well as the live radio broadcast here. The matchup will be televised on TNT.
