Williamsburg, Va. - The William and Mary men's basketball team will play host to VCU on Wednesday, Feb. 1, night. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. at Kaplan Arena and the game will be broadcast on ESPN3.com with John Castleberry and Charlie Woollum on the call.

Fans can also catch the action over the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley and Bill McDonald on the call. The Tide 92.3 FM in Williamsburg is the flagship station of the Tribe Radio Network and the broadcast can be heard over the Internet at TribeAthletics.com.

Storylines
- VCU leads the all-time series with the Tribe at 38-12, but the teams played a classic during the earlier meeting in Richmond. Neither team led by more than three points over the final nine minutes and overtime as the game featured seven ties and 12 lead changes over that stretch, before the Rams pulled out a 69-68 OT victory.

- With his 15 points at Old Dominion on Saturday, senior forward Quinn McDowell became just the fourth player in program history with more than 1,500 career points and 500 career rebounds.

- Sophomore forward Tim Rusthoven, who posted back-to-back double-doubles against VCU and UNCW, is averaging nearly 11 points and 6.4 rebounds per game over the last five contests.

- The Tribe is shooting 72.3 percent from the free throw line as a team, which ranks second in the CAA and 67th nationally. Over the last eight games, the Tribe is shooting 75.4 percent from the charity stripe.

- Over the last eight games, W&M is averaging just 10.5 turnovers per game.

Scouting VCU
VCU enters the game with the Tribe at 18-5 overall, having won 15 of its last 17 games, including seven straight. The Rams are tied for second in the CAA standings at 9-2 on the year. VCU is led by Shaka Smart, who is in his third season as the Ram head coach.

VCU is one of the top scoring and defensive scoring teams in the CAA. The Rams ranks third in the league at 67.3 points per game, while limiting opponents to just 58.3 points per game, which is the second fewest in the CAA. They have been even better in CAA play, holding foes to just 55.5 points per game. VCU does most of their damage with steals and forcing turnovers. The Rams lead the league in steals per game at 10 to go along with the league's top turnover margin at +5.57, forcing opponents into 17.5 turnovers per game. The steals average and turnover margin both rank fourth nationally. VCU is second in the CAA in offensive rebounds at 13.2 per game and 3-pointers per game at 7.3.

Senior Bradford Burgess tops the Rams in scoring at 12.6 per game, which ranks 12th in the CAA. He is also among the league leaders in rebounding (5.4) at 17th, fifth in free throw percentage (80.4) and 10th in 3-point percentage (33.6). Sophomore Juvonte Reddic, who had 28 points in the last meeting with W&M, ranks second on the team at 10.4 points per game, but is the Rams' leading scorer in CAA play at 12.4 per game. He is 10th the CAA in rebounding (6.9), fourth in field goal percentage (53.3 percent) and eighth in blocked shots (1.2). Junior Troy Daniels, who averages 9.7 points per game, is the Rams top 3-point shooter, ranking fourth in the CAA in 3-point percent (38.2) and second in 3-pointers made per game (2.6). Junior Darius Theus leads the CAA in assists (4.9) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.8), while freshman Briante Weber leads the league in steals per game (2.4).

The Rams lead the all-time series with the Tribe at 38-12. VCU has won the last four games after the College picked up a 75-74 win in Williamsburg in the first CAA game of the 2009-10 campaign.

W&M-VCU Rewind
The Tribe and Rams played a back-and-forth classic earlier this season on Jan. 19 in Richmond with VCU pulling out a narrow 69-68 OT victory before a national TV audience on ESPNU. The Rams led 10 in the first half and eight at the intermission, before the Tribe took its first lead in the second 20 minutes. Over the final nine minutes of regulation and the entire overtime period, neither team led by more than three points and the tilt featured seven ties and 12 lead changes. After a Darius Theus free throw tied the game at 60 with 20 seconds remaining, W&M freshman Marcus Thornton, who led W&M with 22 points, had a look at the game-winner with less than five seconds remaining, but his attempt was off the mark. The Tribe again led by one in the closing seconds of overtime, but Theus' driving lay-up with 9.7 seconds remaining gave the Rams the lead. Thornton's last second jumper was off the mark, and the Rams pulled out the one-point OT victory. Senior Quinn McDowell had 15 points for the Tribe before fouling out, while sophomore Tim Rusthoven added his first career double-doubled with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Sophomore Brandon Britt chipped in 11 for W&M, all in the second half, and Theus scored 12 points for VCU.

McDowell Joins Elite Company
With his 15-point effort at Old Dominion, senior forward Quinn McDowell surpassed the 1,500-point mark. In the process, he became just the fourth player in W&M history with more than 1,500 career points and 500 career rebounds, joining Jeff Cohen '61, John Lowenhaupt '78 and Thomas Roberts '93. McDowell currently ranks sixth in school history in scoring at 1,506 career points and 19th with 553 career rebounds.

Tribe Draws VMI in BracketBusters
Playing in Sears BracketBusters for the sixth straight season, the Tribe will travel to Lexington, Va., to face VMI on Saturday, Feb. 18, at 1 p.m. Last year, W&M downed Radford, 82-54, in BracketBusters after falling at Iona in a BracketBusters game televised on ESPNU during the 2010 season. It marks the third time the Tribe will be on the road for BracketBusters having travel to Fairfield in 2007 along with the trip to Iona in 2010.  W&M leads the all-time series with the Keydets, but VMI won the last meeting, 83-72, in Williamsburg during the 2007-08 season. The College leads the all-time series with VMI, 76-40, including a 30-24 mark in Lexington.

McDowell Named Lowe's Senior CLASS Award Finalist
Senior Quinn McDowell was one of 10 NCAA men's basketball finalists for the 2011-12 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, honoring student-athletes who excel both on and off the court. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - community, classroom, character and competition.

An exceptional leader for the Tribe and a strong representative in the Williamsburg community, McDowell received the Dean Ehlers Leaders Award from the CAA in 2011, which is given to the student-athlete who "embodies the highest standards of leadership, integrity and sportsmanship in conjunction with his academic athletic achievement." A First-Team CAA All-Academic honoree, McDowell is heavily involved in the community. He is the President of the Tribe Fellowship student organization on campus and leads a Bible Study group comprised of high school students at the Williamsburg Community Chapel.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. Lowe's, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will announce the men's Senior CLASS Award® winner during the 2012 NCAA Men's Final Four®, which will be held March 31 and April 2 in New Orleans. McDowell joins a list of men's finalists that includes William Buford (Ohio State), Aston Gibbs (Pittsburgh), Draymond Green (Michigan State), Mick Hedgepeth (Belmont), Robbie Hummel (Purdue), Ronald Nored (Butler), Zack Novak (Michigan), Zack Rosen (Penn) and Tyler Zeller (North Carolina). The finalists were chosen by a media committee from the list of 30 candidates announced in November. Nationwide fan voting begins immediately to determine the winner. Fans are encouraged to vote on either the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award website or the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award Facebook fan page through March 18. Fan votes will be combined with media and Division I men's and women's basketball head coaches' votes to determine the winner.

Limiting Turnovers
Over the last eight games, the Tribe has done a better job of protecting the basketball. During the stretch, the College is averaging just 10.5 turnovers per game, including a season-low six turnovers against Delaware on Jan. 7 and vs. Drexel on Jan. 23. A team goal for the Tribe is to limit its number of turnovers to 12 or fewer each contest. The Green and Gold has accomplished the feat on 10 occasions in 2011-12, including each of the last six of the last eight games. Three of the Tribe's four victories this season have come when it turns the ball over 12 or fewer times.