Alabama St. @ VCU preview

The question isn't if No. 19 VCU will win its 17th straight home game Monday against visiting Alabama State, but will it be close? The Rams have blitzed their last two opponents by an average of 29 points and the winless Hornets likely face a similar fate.

The Rams labored in their first two wins to start the season, but the tide started to turn in an 84-82 triumph over a ranked LSU squad, when they started using points off turnovers as a means to overwhelm their opponents. Mike Rhoades' team scored 37 points off turnovers against LSU and the trend continued with 64 such points combined against Jacksonville State and Florida Gulf Coast, which was forced into 27 turnovers - a season high for VCU. "I've been stopping it a lot when we get a turnover in practice and we don't convert," Rhoades, whose team jumped up to 25 wins and an NCAA Tournament bid last season after going 18-15 in his first season, told the media. "Just holding our guys more accountable." The Hornets and top player Tobi Ewuosho are paying the price for scheduling up with lopsided defeats by 28 points or more to No. 8 Gonzaga, Houston and No. 17 Tennessee.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, No TV

ABOUT ALABAMA STATE (0-4): Ewuosho, a senior from Chicago, is essentially a one-man show as he is the only Hornet averaging better than 6.8 points per game. The 6-5 guard was mostly held in check by Gonzaga and Missouri State, but was able to rip off 23 points against Houston, albeit in a 28-point defeat. Ewuosho followed that up with 17 points against Tennessee to bring his seasonal average to 14.8 points to go along with five rebounds per game for the Hornets, who represent the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

ABOUT VCU (5-0): De'Riante Jenkins, one of the holdovers from the Shaka Smart havoc days, has led the turnover brigade by averaging 2.8 steals for the Rams, who were third in the nation in that department entering Sunday with 12.4 per contest. Jenkins, a senior from South Carolina, had never put up more than 1.3 steals per game during his first three seasons, but is leading the charge this season along with Marcus Santos-Silva (2.0) and Marcus Evans (1.8), the team's leading scorer and assist man this season. After a dismal display last season from beyond the arc (27.3 percent), Evans has made 10-of-22 in 2019-20.

TIP-INS

1. Behind better than 83 percent from Jenkins and Issac Vann, VCU ranked 75th in the country in free-throw shooting (74.2 percent).

2. The Rams have matched their best start, first achieved by the 1993-94 squad.

3. Santos-Silva, a junior from Taunton, Mass., who had 21 points and 18 rebounds in the season opener, is averaging 12 points and 10.4 boards.

PREDICTION: VCU 89, Alabama State 62