VCU @ Texas

What will be the GAME RESULT?

VCU: Wins or Single Digit Loss

@ Texas: Wins By Double Digits

Current odds:

VCU: (+400)

Texas: (-500)

• The line for this game is Texas by 10 points.

• Texas will try to bounce back from a stunning loss when it hosts VCU on Wednesday as Longhorns coach Shaka Smart takes on his former team for the second time. Texas, which was ranked No. 17 in the USA Today coaches poll, plummeted from the Top 25 with a shocking 62-59 setback to 14-point underdog Radford on Friday after suffering its first loss of the season to No. 10 Michigan State 78-68 one week earlier. That continued a maddening stretch of inconsistency for the Longhorns, who defeated No. 12 North Carolina 92-89 the day before losing to Michigan State and also handed Arkansas its only loss of the season.

• The Rams are coming off an 88-59 victory over Iona on Saturday, alternating losses and wins in their last four games since starting the season 4-0. Texas prevailed in the last meeting 71-67 one year ago Wednesday in Smart’s return to Richmond, where he took VCU to five NCAA tournaments in six seasons and the 2011 Final Four while winning the most games in program history (163).

• Junior guard Marcus Evans, who averaged 20.1 points as a freshman and sophomore at Rice before sitting out last season as a transfer, scores a team-high 14.1 per game after going for 19 on Saturday. Sophomore forward Marcus Santos-Silva recorded 12 points and nine rebounds versus Iona – the second straight game he’s had that many boards – to raise his season averages to 7.1 points and a club-most 6.1 rebounds while shooting a team-best 54.5 percent from the floor. Junior forward Issac Vann (13.1 points, 4.8 rebounds) has struggled in his last two games with 16 points and four rebounds while shooting 5-for-16 from the floor 1-for-8 from 3-point range.

• Senior guard Kerwin Roach II averages team highs of 16.7 points and 4.3 assists while grabbing 5.7 rebounds but was held to seven points versus Radford after scoring 15 against Michigan State and a career-high 32 versus North Carolina. Senior forward Dylan Osetkowski (11.9 points, club-best 9.1 rebounds) grabbed a career-high 17 boards versus Radford after recording eight total against Michigan State and North Carolina. Jaxson Hayes, a 6-11 freshman forward, averages 10.1 and 5.6 rebounds, and has garnered the last two Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honors.

• Texas is last among Big 12 teams in field goal percentage at 40.4 percent with Hayes (64.3) and sophomore F Jericho Sims (54.5), who averages 7.1 points and 5.1 rebounds, the only players above 50 percent.

• The Rams hold opponents to 23.9 percent from 3-point range – fifth nationally entering the week – while the Longhorns shoot 29.3 percent from beyond the arc.

• Smart faces a former assistant for the second straight game as Radford coach Mike Jones worked under Smart from 2009-11 while VCU’s Mike Rhoades served under him from 2009-15.