VCU’s Sanders is no help if he’s on the bench

Virginia Commonwealth big man Larry Sanders jumped slightly to block a shot in Monday's game against Hampton.

The 6-11 junior raised both of his long arms, appeared to knock the shot down cleanly and made a small amount of contact with his lower body.

Tweet. Sanders went to the bench with his first foul slightly more than two minutes into the game.

Keeping the potential first-round NBA draft pick in play has become an early-season frustration, one the Rams (3-1) will need to change tonight when they take on high-scoring Nevada (2-1) and talented forward Luke Babbitt at 7:30 at the Siegel Center.

Until 6-9 Jamie Skeen becomes eligible after the eighth game - the Wake Forest transfer has to sit out until then under NCAA rules - the Rams have only two big men in the rotation: Sanders and 6-8 Kirill Pishchalnikov.

Both have been saddled with early foul trouble in the past two games, necessitating a lineup that would be eligible for a 6-5-and-under league.

Sanders, third in career blocked shots (198) at VCU, is a game-altering presence, especially at the back of the Rams' defense and press. But he's averaging just 22.5 minutes and has finished each of the four games with four fouls.

He has been called for ticky-tack fouls, ill-advised fouls and full-contact fouls. It's the ticky-tack ones that have become frustrating.

"I don't know what to do," Sanders said. "Some of them are just me being too aggressive and going up for the blocks. A couple of them I feel like they're not fouls at all."

VCU coach Shaka Smart does not want Sanders to lose his aggressiveness.

"Our team needs to do a better job not putting him in such a vulnerable position," Smart said. "A lot of times those fouls come from us giving up dribble penetration and him being in a two-on-one situation where he's the one."

Smart says the 6-9 Babbitt, a sophomore forward, "is as good as anybody at that position we'll play against all year."

Like Sanders, Babbitt was on the preseason watch lists for the Wooden Award and the Naismith Trophy, both signifying college basketball's top player. Babbitt was the Western Athletic Conference's preseason player of the year.

"What makes him so good is his ability to stretch the defense from the four position," said first-year Nevada coach David Carter, whose team is averaging 87.3 points. "He has the ability to shoot the 3. He can go inside. He's strong. He scores in various ways. I think that creates matchup problems."

This game could provide an RPI boost for the winner. Nevada was picked to finish second in the WAC. The Wolf Pack plays at North Carolina on Sunday.

"We look at these as resume games," Carter said. "Both of those teams are going to be in contention for championships in their conference. VCU already has a quality win with Oklahoma. When the committee looks back and says who have you played and who have you beaten, this is definitely one of those games."