Bradford Burgess’ shooting slump certainly didn’t affect his sense of humor.
Shortly after sitting down for the postgame press conference following Virginia Commonwealth’s 66-43 victory Wednesday over turnover-prone Towson, Burgess noted that it felt good to be back in the media room at the Siegel Center.
“It’s been a few games,” he said, drawing laughter.
The 6-foot-6 VCU senior snapped a five-game press conference absence and a longer shooting funk with 22 points as the Rams (21-5, 12-2) won for the 10th time in a row and for the 18th time in their past 20 games.
He couldn’t have chosen a better time.
VCU starts a critical stretch against other Colonial Athletic Association leaders that will go a long way toward determining the regular-season title. The Rams play at archrival Old Dominion (11-3) Saturday. They follow that with a road game Tuesday at George Mason (12-2).
“He’s back,” VCU coach Shaka Smart said.
Burgess, the Rams’ leading scorer and only senior, was 37 of 129 (28.7 percent) from the floor in his previous 13 games. That included a 16-of-65 skid (24.6 percent) on 3-pointers.
He rectified that in front of the 16th consecutive sellout crowd at the Siegel Center by confidently stepping into and making shots: 8 of 15 from the floor, 6 of 11 from behind the arc.
“I knew it was going to come sometime,” he said. “I had a similar situation last year. It just wasn’t as noticeable because other guys on the team last year were doing the bulk of the scoring.
“I was just feeling it today, I guess.”
Burgess had shown smaller signs of breaking out in recent games, although he was taking fewer shots. This was his first 20-plus-point effort in 17 games.
“He went out there with a little more bounce in his step,” Smart said. “He’s been the focal point of every team we’ve played. … Tonight the looks came a little bit easier for him. I thought every one of those 3s he took was a high-quality look”.
Sophomore center D.J. Haley added career highs in points (10) and rebounds (11) and had the highlight play of the evening with a steal and dunk. Guarding 6-8 Robert Nwankwo out front, the 7-footer deflected the ball, picked it up, went past Nwankwo on the dribble and stuffed the ball left-handed.
“It felt like I was in high school again,” Haley said. “That was the first time I dribbled that long in a while.”
Haley, who averages 15.4 minutes, had eight offensive rebounds in 25 minutes. Ten Rams played double-figure minutes.
“D.J.’s got a lot in him that Rams fans have not seen yet,” Smart said. “He’s shown fans glimpses. I see a lot more because I see him every day in practice. I know what he can do. He can rebound like that consistently. He can play with that kind of motor consistently. That D.J. tonight looked a whole different than other games. That’s the word: consistency.”
Nwankwo had 19 points and nine rebounds for the Tigers (1-25, 1-13), who recently snapped a Division I-record 41-game losing streak.
VCU forced 28 turnovers for the second time this season and had 19 steals. Towson, which scored 42 and 43 points in two losses to VCU, had 24 turnovers in the first meeting.
tpearrell@timesdispatch.com
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