It was the kind of game some used to call a gut-check. The VCU Rams came home from their Wednesday game at Drexel in Philadelphia with their tails between their legs. They had lost their second straight conference game. The Delaware Blue Hens came to the Siegel Center Saturday afternoon knowing the Rams would have to face with them without Larry Sanders, their top scorer and rebounder.

Well, it wasn’t pretty, but VCU did what it had to do — the Rams halted their skid. At the final buzzer VCU emerged the winner. The victory came not so much by superior execution. No, the Rams won this one with a gritty effort around the backboards in the second half: VCU 77, Delaware 64.

Junior guard Brandon Rozzell paced VCU’s offense with a career-high 19 points; he sank three of four attempts from beyond the three-point arc. Rozzell also had three steals and dished out three assists.

Rozzell said, “I couldn’t wait for this game, after losing two in a row.”

“Brandon’s been one of our better scorers all year and today was no exception,” VCU head coach Shaka Smart said. “His ability to knock down shots helped us set up our press, which enabled us to really frustrate them, offensively.”

But if there had been an award for most valuable player in this contest, sophomore small forward Bradford Burgess would have claimed the prize.

“Bradford was once again absolutely outstanding, his energy and the way he rebounded was great,” said Smart. “You could see a look in Bradford’s eyes.”

Burgess scored 12 points, grabbed 10 boards and added a blocked shot, a steal and an assist to his stat line. At the halfway point in the season, Burgess has proven to be Smart’s most fundamentally sound player.

Junior forward Jamie Skeen started for the first time since becoming eligible after the end of the first semester. He delivered: 11 points and 10 rebounds. Skeen took Sanders’ spot in the lineup because Sanders was serving a one-game suspension for an over-the-top aggressive move in the Drexel game.

“Without Larry, I thought every one of our post players really challenged themselves to be better on the boards and they certainly were able to do that,” Smart said.

Delaware’s Jawan Carter led all scorers with 22 points; Alphonso Dawson and Jamelle Hagins each contributed nine points for the Hens.

Smart also moved junior guard Ed Nixon into the starting five, in place of senior T.J. Gwynn. Nixon is considered to be the Rams best defender in the open court.

The weakest suit in the Rams game, so far this year, is passing. If it doesn’t improve in this area VCU’s sweaty efforts won’t be enough to play very long in March. If they don’t learn how to work the ball into Sanders and Skeen in the low post — allowing for an inside-out offensive strategy — as talented as this year’s Rams are they won’t beat disciplined, slowdown teams like Northeastern in postseason play.

Click here to see the box score.

VCU (10-4, 2-3 in CAA) travels to Hempstead, N.Y. to play Hofstra (9-8, 2-3 in CAA). The 7 p.m. tilt will be televised on ESPNU.