NCAA News Wire
VCU 66, Illinois State 62
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
After dropping out of the top 25 earlier in the week, Virginia Commonwealth picked up an enormous road victory Tuesday, coming from behind to defeat Illinois State 66-62 at Redbird Arena in Normal, Ill.
The game began in an ugly fashion for VCU, as Illinois State knocked down three of its first four 3-pointers and jumped out to an 11-1 lead. But the Rams kept their composure and won this game by shooting 9 of 24 from 3-point range, hauling down 19 offensive rebounds and scoring 27 points off 24 Redbird turnovers.
VCU took its first lead of the game at the 16:18 mark of the second half when sophomore guard Jordan Burgess completed a 3-point play to put the Rams ahead 41-40.
Then with the game tied at 60-60, senior guard Treveon Graham hit a jumper to put VCU up with 3:11 left. Illinois State sophomore guard Paris Lee missed a lay-up in the closing seconds that would have tied the game and the Rams sealed the win with a pair of free throws by senior guard Briante Weber.
Scoring a game-high 19 points for VCU was junior guard Melvin Johnson, who shot 5-for-10 from behind the arc. Graham finished with 17 points and seven rebounds, while Burgess had 10 points and a team-high eight boards.
Meanwhile, Illinois State junior guard DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell had team-highs of 18 points on 6 of 9 shooting and seven rebounds.
Illinois State also received 12 points from Lee and an 11-point, 6-rebound performance from senior guard Daishon Knight.
After playing four straight away from Richmond, the Rams return home for a three-game home stand that starts Dec. 6 with a contest against No. 7 Virginia.
