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VCU's Zeb Jackson (2) reacts during the Atlantic 10 Tournament championship game against George Mason on Saturday, March 15, 2025.

Courtesy VCU Athletics

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VCU's Philip Russell (1) drives to the basket against Loyola Chicago in an Atlantic 10 men's basketball game during the 2024-25 season.

Courtesy VCU Athletics

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BYU’s NCAA first round opponent, VCU, just missed out on the tournament in 2024.

The Rams won three games in the Atlantic 10 Tournament and faced Duquesne in the final last season. The Dukes ended up winning 57-51, advancing to the Big Dance as a No. 11 seed and upsetting No. 6 BYU in the first round in Omaha.

VCU’s loss to Duquesne was the catalyst for this season’s return to the NCAA’s.

“We didn’t play particularly well in that championship game and we had the confetti dropped on us,” Rams coach Ryan Odom said this week during an interview in 1280 The Zone in Salt Lake. “We weren’t the winner and we had to sit in that locker room. We were motivated by that moment.”

VCU went on to win a pair of games in the NIT before losing to Utah 74-54 in the quarterfinals. The core of that team decided to return for another shot in 2024-25.

“Our guys were determined to come out this season and not let that happen again,” Odom said. “They wanted to have a fabulous season to play every game like it was their last, to practice and prepare in the right way. We have a very mature group, one that is very coachable and listens.”

The Rams are 28-6 overall and won the Atlantic 10 Tournament last weekend, beating George Mason 68-63 in the final and fulfilling their dreams after falling short last year. On Sunday, VCU learned it was a No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament and would face No. 6 BYU in Denver on Thursday.

De ja vu for the Cougars after losing to Duquesne last season to face another A-10 team and a chance at redemption.

The Rams leading scorer is Max Shulga, a 6-foot-5 guard from the Ukraine who began his career at Utah State. Shulga averages 15.1 points per game, as does backcourt mate Joe Bamisile. In fact, VCU’s top four scorers are all guards, including Phillip Russell (10.6 points per game) and Zeb Jackson (10.4). Jack Clark, a 6-foot-10 senior, averages 9.6 points per game and was named the Atlantic 10 Tournament MVP after scoring 17 points in the final, including 3 of 5 from 3-point range.

The Rams are a senior-dominated roster and statistically one of the nation’s top defenses, leading the country in effective field goal efficiency. VCU is eighth nationally in field goal percentage defense (38.9%) and ninth in scoring defense (62.4).

“It’s just the sustained pressure,” Odom said. “We try to disrupt with discipline. We’re not causing turnovers, that’s not necessarily the goal. It’s just to disrupt and do it in a way where we’re not giving up easy baskets and we have rim protection.”

Odom has now taken three programs (Maryland-Baltimore County, Utah State and VCU) to the NCAA Tournament, each time in his second season at the helm. At UMBC, he led the Retrievers to the biggest upset in NCAA history: A 2018 first round victory of No. 1 seed Virginia, the first time a No. 16 seed had won a first-round game.

VCU’s non-conference losses this season were to Seton Hall of the Big East (69-66), Nevada of the Mountain West (64-61) and New Mexico of the Mountain West (78-71), with victories against the Big East’s Boston College (80-55) and the ACC’s Miami (77-70). In Atlantic 10 play, the Rams lost to St. Bonaventure (77-75), Saint Louis (78-69) and Dayton (79-76) but have won 12 of their past 13 games.

Now, the Rams have set their sights on BYU.

“This is a special team,” Odom said. “By the metrics this is one of the best A-10 teams in a very long time.”

Rumors are live that Odom is the lead candidate to take over as head coach at the University of Virginia, so that could be a distraction for the VCU players.

The Cougars, meanwhile, won nine games in a row before losing to eventual Big 12 Tournament champion Houston in the semifinals last Friday.

“The guys we have in our locker room, the confidence that they have, and just how we’ve been playing, we feel like we’ve been one of the best teams in the country, quite frankly, over the past 30 days,” BYU head coach Kevin Young said. “We’ve beaten a lot of good basketball teams. That’s the great thing about playing in the Big 12. Night in and night out, you’re playing against some of the best teams in the country. So we feel like we’re battle tested.”

Men’s College Basketball

NCAA Tournament First Round

No. 6 BYU (24-9) vs. No. 11 VCU (28-6)

Thursday, 2 p.m. MT

Ball Arena in Denver, Colo.

TV/Streaming: TNT

Radio: KSL 102.7 FM/1160 AM, BYU Radio

Live stats: ncaa.org

The Word: This is the second all-time meeting between BYU and VCU, with the Cougars winning 81-77 at the Kentucky Invitational in 1983. … This is the second straight season BYU is playing the Atlantic 10 champions in the NCAA first round. … Thursday’s game will be VCU’s 20th NCAA Tournament appearance and BYU’s 32nd.