VCU’s poor shooting leads to loss to Butler

As the final seconds ticked down on the national semifinal between VCU and Butler, VCU coach Shaka Smart pulled star players Jamie Skeen and Joey Rodriguez off the court to a standing ovation.

Butler went on to win the national semifinal 70-62, but Skeen and Rodriguez established themselves as the heroes of VCU's amazing run to the Final Four during the past three weeks.

They just didn't have enough in the tank to keep the run going.

VCU's shooting, which had been the Rams' strong suit throughout the tournament, let them down against the Bulldogs. Outside of Skeen's 27 points, the rest of the Rams were pretty pedestrian as they shot 39 percent as a team. Guard Bradford Burgess had 15 points, but all but three of those points came early in the first half.

VCU actually came into the game averaging 43.8 percent from both the field and 3-point range. It was scoring 74 points per game.

VCU had gone through sour shooting stretches before, but never one where the shots they were missing mainly consisted of layups. Several times the Rams were able to penetrate Butlers defense and get to the hoop only to see their shot roll off the rim or carom off the backboard.

"If you want to talk about quality of shots, we had, I would say, six or eight layups that we missed," Smart said. "So I would say that wasn't the difference. Butler has an experienced team. They know how to win. They're not going to beat themselves. We knew that coming into the game. We just made a few too many mistakes."

Once Butler clamped down on defense and forced VCU to the perimeter, the 3-point shots that had been falling all tournament refused to drop. Twice Rodriguez had a 3-pointer pop in and out of the basket and into the waiting arms of a Butler rebounder. The Rams shot a dismal 36.4 percent from 3-point range and the bulk of those 3's came early in the game.

Had any of those shots fallen, VCU would have had a better chance to set up its full-court defense and limit Butler's offensive possessions. But with the missed attempts, Butler was able to dictate the pace of play, work the clock and get quality looks at the basket.

The Rams were also outplayed physically throughout the game, which led to a 48-32 rebounding margin in favor of Butler.

"Getting out-rebounded like that, we can't win many ballgames like that," Burgess said. "Their physicality, the boards, rebounding was an example of that. They're probably the most physical team we played all year, and it showed today."

Whether it was nerves, Butler's defense, just an off night or a combination of all three, VCU sparsely looked like the team that had taken the NCAA tournament by storm. Through the first five or six minutes of the first and second halves, VCU was playing its up-tempo style and putting Butler on its heels. But after those stretches, the Rams cooled off and allowed Butler to dictate the pace of the game. For the first time during the NCAA tournament, VCU stopped bringing the game to its opponent and allowed its opponent to be the aggressor.

"I thought particularly in the first half, we really let off the gas for some reason, which I can't give you an explanation for right now," Smart said. "I got to watch the tape. But what's brought us success thus far in the NCAA tournament has been, you know, really being aggressive and pushing the pedal to the metal even when we get leads. But midway through the first half, we did not do that tonight."

Despite the outcome, VCU has nothing to hangs its head about. Its run was the most exciting of the tournament and their wins earned them a lot of fans. Similar to last year's Butler team, VCU will reap the benefits of their tournament run and its players will always be remembered for spearheading it. The Rams proved that despite the early media criticism and discrepancies in major and mid-major budgets everything is even once the NCAA tournament tips off.

"What our guys accomplished I think over the past four weeks has been terrific," Smart said. "I think we've played as good of basketball as anybody in the country. Everyone talks about the way that we've utilized the media doubting us. I made the decision at the beginning of the NCAA tournament that we could either ignore what people were saying or we could go right back at 'em.

"And with today's social media, today's media, it's so hard to ignore. So our guys did a great job of sinking their teeth into that. And it brought our team closer together, brought our players really tight. I like the way that we executed tonight."

Mary Elizabeth Winstead Piper Perabo Anna Kournikova Esther Cañadas Kate Beckinsale