BYU cuts VCU's stay at the dance short in Denver

Washington Post

21-03-2025

DENVER — A half hour after Virginia Commonwealth lost, 80-71, to BYU in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday, Rams players returned to a silent locker room and remained in their uniforms as long as they could. In the middle sat senior Max Shulga, the Atlantic 10′s player of the year from Kyiv, who had personified the resolve of a program determined to win a tournament game for the first time since 2016.
But before Shulga cut the tape off his ankles for a final time, he shouldered the blame for a string of plays that proved costly for the Rams, including late in the first half, when he failed to rotate properly on defense on multiple possessions and watched BYU take an 11-point lead at halftime.
'I had a lot of breakdowns that caused that run,' Shulga said. 'I take the full blame on that. Played bad defense. Gave up threes I wasn't supposed to give up. I wasn't ready to play in the first half … that's on me.'
It wasn't all on Shulga. VCU (28-7) was outclassed for long stretches by the Cougars, who looked hungry to end a five-game NCAA tournament losing streak. VCU prepared for a three-point barrage from the trigger-happy-Cougars, who hit seven from beyond the arc but did far more damage on the interior, controlling the glass with 12 offensive rebounds and scoring 38 points in the paint.
'They did a really nice job of getting it into the paint,' VCU Coach Ryan Odom said. 'They put us in some tough spots.'
Shulga, who finished with 12 points, hit his first three-pointer — VCU made 15-of-38 from deep — but missed his next five shots and committed three turnovers. The Rams' starting guards — Shulga, Joe Bamisile and Phillip Russell — started a combined 2-for-14 from the field, yet VCU trailed by just one point with less than five minutes to play in the first half. But the Rams' offense stalled with three consecutive turnovers. BYU (25-9) went on its run, fueled by buckets from forwards Fousseyni Traore and Keba Keita, who combined for 22 points and 18 rebounds. And Shulga failed to rotate to the corner for a three-pointer made by Trevin Knell as the Cougars went up 39-28 at the break.
'We had four really bad offensive plays. We had three turnovers right in a row. We had a couple of breakdowns on defense. What ended up being a one possession game ended up being 11 points,' said Odom. 'That's what happens in these games. Runs are so important. You have to minimize runs.'
Odom made adjustments in the second half — he trapped ball screens and intensified pressure as VCU tried to claw back into the game. Shulga was pulled for a few minutes in the second half after committing a turnover; he returned to the bench as BYU used a 13-3 run to take a 20-point lead. But Shulga returned to the game and hit back-to-back three-pointers, and Zeb Jackson scored 16 of his 23 points in the final 20 minutes as the Rams trimmed the lead back to 10.
That's as close as they would get until the game's final seconds.
'We tried to get them out of their game, and I think they did a great job of handling it and being themselves,' Jackson said.
BYU had presented as difficult of a challenge that VCU had faced in a season that had been mired in ups and downs but had only included one loss since late January. VCU had won 12 of 13 before Thursday and had used its gritty defensive identity to ride three wins to the Atlantic 10 Conference championship last week at Capital One Arena, and it was confident that it could disrupt BYU's run-and-gun style with full-court pressure.
But the Cougars, who shot 50 percent from the field, took every punch and countered to win their first NCAA tournament game since 2012. They will face Wisconsin on Saturday. And they had thousands of fans who made the seven-hour drive from Salt Lake City to Denver on Thursday to celebrate with, including one last roar in the final minutes, when Shulga threw an errant pass and was forced to foul on the ensuing fast break. He slapped his hips in frustration and raised his hand to take the blame for the mistake one last time.
'It's hard to lose like that. We expect to win every game,' Shulga said. 'Sometimes it just doesn't go your way.'