Men's Basketball Eyes Second Straight Win at VCU on Tuesday

RICHMOND, VA. -- Appalachian State men's basketball will look to continue their winning ways with a road contest at VCU on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

THE SERIES

• This is the third meeting between the two schools, with the Mountaineers owning a 2-0 lead in the series
• App State won 73-70 at VCU in the 2006-07 season and also posted a 51-47 victory in Boone during the 2005-06 season.

LAST TIME OUT

• Appalachian never trailed and held one of the top scoring teams in the nation in check, posting a 78-62 win over Davidson on Saturday in the Holmes Center.
• All five starters had at least nine points, led by junior Ronshad Shabazz, who finished with 18 points and four assists.
• In his first career start, freshman Justin Forrest had 16 points, four rebounds and two steals. Senior Griffin Kinney also tallied 16 points, while pulling down nine rebounds.
• Sophomore Isaac Johnson finished with nine points and nine rebounds and junior Tryell Johnson tallied nine points, four rebounds, a career-high four assists and a season-best three blocks.
• The Mountaineers limited Davidson to just 1-of-15 shooting to open the game and took a 12-2 lead. 
• App State saw its 13-point halftime lead trimmed to just four points, but the Mountaineers used a 4-0 run to push their lead back to double digits and never let Davidson get any closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS

• App State stands at 4-3 on the season and features one of the best offenses in the nation.
• The Black and Gold are ranked 10th in the nation in team scoring averaging at 92.6 points per game. In addition, Appalachian also ranks 10th in the country in three-pointers made per game at 10.7.
• Shabazz leads the team in scoring at 22.6 ppg and has scored in double figures in all seven games this season.
• Forrest is also averaging double figure scoring at 17.2 ppg. He has turned in two 30-point performances this season, including a season-best 36-point effort at James Madison on Wednesday.
• The Mountaineers currently lead the country in defensive rebounds per game at 33.7 and also rank second in the nation in rebounds per game at 48.0.
• Four players for th Black and Gold are averaging over 4.0 rebounds per game, led by Isaac Johnson (8.5 rpg). Kinney is averaging 5.3 rpg, followed by sophomore Jake Wilson (5.0 rpg) and Tyrell Johnson (4.7 rpg).

SCOUTING THE RAMS

• VCU owns a 3-3 record after going 1-2 at the Maui Jim Maui Invitational last week.
• The Rams feature a balanced offensive attack, with five players averaging double figures, led by De'Riante Jenkins. Jenkins is averaging a team-high 13.0 ppg and also has a team-best 10 steals.
• Justin Tillman and Isaac Vann are both averaging 12.5 ppg for VCU.
• Khris Lane is averaging 11.0 ppg, whole Jonathan Williams is pouring in 10.5 pppg and also had a team-best 37 assists on the season.

NEXT UP

• The Mountaineers return to the Holmes Center to host South Florida at 7 p.m. on Saturday. On November 27, App State will offer a Cyber Monday ticket special, where fans have the opportunity to secure a ticket to the women's basketball home game against UAB on December 1 at noon, the home football game against Louisiana on December 2 at 2:30 p.m. and the home men's basketball home contest versus South Florida at 7 p.m. by using the promo code "3FOR1" when clicking here.