VCU wins Atlantic 10 semifinal over Saint Louis: 'Guys have gotten better all year long'

NEW YORK — At one point during the first half of their Atlantic 10 semifinal against Saint Louis, the VCU Rams were shooting 80% from the floor and 100% from behind the arc.

If they have ever played at a higher level, not many have seen it.

"We recruit good players, give them the ball, and get out of the way sometimes," head coach Mike Rhoades said after a 90-78 victory. "The guys have gotten better all year long. We made a couple of changes on some of our calls today and the guys executed it."

Jayden Nunn had 18 points and led five teammates in double figures. VCU shot 56% for the game and nearly 50% on their threes.

"When everybody hit their first shot, we thought it was going to be one of those games," said Nunn.

"It just comes natural at some point," added senior forward Brandon Johns Jr. who had 16 points and 9 rebounds. "When everybody is clicking, it's really hard for teams to stay up with us."

In addition to Nunn and Johns Jr., Ace Baldwin had 13 points, Jamir Watkins added 15 and David Shriver 11, the last two coming off VCU's bench. The Rams outrebounded the Billikens 37-30 and scored 24 points off 15 Saint Louis turnovers.

The Billikens were led by Javon Pickett who had 18 and used a 10-0 run of their own late in the first half to close the halftime gap to just 5. But Nunn had 10 points during a 14-2 VCU run to open the second half that effectively put the game away.

"I'm just doing what I have to do to help us win," Nunn said. "Everybody wants to win a championship and everyone is going to give us their best shot."

The offensive prowess was almost enough to overlook giving up 78 points on defense. The Billikens hit 7 3 pointers in the first half and shot just under 50% for the game.

"We gave up too many points (39) in the first half," Nunn said. "Our coach told us if we gave up that many in the second half, it was going to be really hard to win."

"But you did give up 39 in the second half!!!" Rhoades interjected. "We'll talk about that later," Rhoades said with a laugh.

VCU now advances to their seventh A-10 title game where they are just 1-5 all time. Regardless of Sunday's outcome, Rhoades believes his team has done enough this year, with a 26-7 overall record and winning the conference by three games, to warrant an NCAA bid.

"I hope so," Rhoades said. "I understand that there's a formula for all this stuff, but you just saw what we did. That's the eye test."

"There's a lot of good people in college basketball. I hope they make a good decision."

You can watch the A-10 title game Sunday at 1 p.m. on CBS 6.