Know the Foe: VCU

After beating Iowa State to start the season, Memphis returns to FedExForum for its first home game on Saturday against VCU. The Tigers ended last season losing three-straight at home, and Hardaway will look for his first win inside FedExForum since February 8.

The Rams enter Saturday’s game after a season-opening home win over Little Rock. VCU won the game by 10 points, and head coach Phil Martelli Jr. is 18-2 in his last 20 games. 

Martelli is in his second year with the Rams after starting his head coaching career at Bryant in 2023. He holds a 71-33 record as a head coach, and his team beat North Carolina last year in the Round of 64.

Martelli returns seven players from last year’s team, including four starters. Serbian forward Lazar Djokovic, who was the second-leading scorer last season, returns after averaging 13.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 35 games, and he recorded 15 points and four rebounds in the first game against the Trojans.

Sophomore Nyk Lewis is another returner who will play a large role for the Rams, and he scored 15 points and added five assists and three rebounds after averaging 8.7 points as a freshman last year.

In addition to the returners, VCU added seven newcomers, including four transfers, and a couple of them look to be instant impacts. 

Blake Harper transferred in for his junior season, and he could be a go-to scorer for the Rams. Haper averaged 19.5 points as a freshman at Howard but saw a much smaller role as a sophomore at Creighton, and he averaged 7.7 points, 1.2 assists and 3.6 rebounds last year.

Junior Torey Alston transferred to VCU after playing two seasons at Middle Tennessee, and he led the team in scoring and rebounding in his first game with 17 points and 12 rebounds. While he started the game on the bench, he played 31 minutes, and it will be interesting to see how Martelli uses him on Saturday. 

The Rams tied Little Rock in the rebounding category, but they grabbed 18 offensive rebounds. VCU also did a great job…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/know-foe-vcu-043923065.html

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Publish date : 2026-11-06 04:39:00

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