Arena #132: Stuart C. Siegel Center - Virginia Commonwealth vs. Wichita St.

For the 11^th and final game of this trip, we drove another couple hours east in the state of Virginia to Richmond for a non-conference matchup between 2 of the premier mid-major programs of the last decade, the Virginia Commonwealth (VCU) Rams and the Wichita St. Shockers at the Siegel Center on the VCU campus.  Now I’ve been a fan of both of these programs for years due to their coaches (Gregg Marshall at Wichita St. due to his time at Winthrop as discussed a few games back) and former VCU coach Shaka Smart having attended the same high school as I did in Oregon, Wisconsin a couple years earlier than me.  Based on the other experiences on this trip, I didn’t have much of an expectation for an atmosphere at this game either given it was scheduled three days before Christmas with students on break, but the locals definitely filled up the building for this one, which was great to see.  The Siegel Center is a perfectly sized venue for a school like VCU holding 7-8,000 people so there were few bad seats in the house (though the corner we were stuck in seemed to be one of those few bad seats…).  The school prominently displays its NCAA participation and championship banners on the walls throughout the arena and has its 2011 improbable Final Four appearance banner hanging right at midcourt.  For the game itself, this was certainly not one of the finest displays of basketball I’ve seen on either end of the court.  The first half was competitive, but the offenses both struggled at times to find the basket, though the Rams were a little better in the half to take a 3 point lead to the break.  After the half, however, VCU exerted more of its will on the Shockers and the Shockers couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean for numerous stretches in the half, scoring only 20 points for the entire 20 minute period, leading to a comfortable win for the Rams in the end.

Impressive facade of the Stuart C. Siegel Center in Richmond, VA

Love the creativity with VCU spelled out in yellow seats on one side and Rams on the other

Getting this matchup between the Rams and the Shockers underway

VCU looking to score in the post over the interior presence of the Shockers