HAVOC UNRAVELS AKRON, DEMANDS ENCORES

Juvonte Reddic wore out Akron inside Thursday night to the tune of 21 points in the Rams’ 88-42 rout.

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – If VCU was trying to get Michigan’s attention Thursday – not just the team, but the entire state – it did a terrific job of shining a light on itself.

In a rout for the ages, fifth-seeded VCU hammered 12^th-seeded Akron 88-42 at The Palace of Auburn Hills in the NCAA Tournament Round of 64 in one of the most lob-sided games you’ll see in March. It was the largest margin of victory in a 5/12 game NCAA Tournament history and was the most one-sided NCAA loss by a MAC team in conference history.

Afterwards, Akron Coach Keith Dambrot could do little but accept a reality colder than the Michigan winter: that the Zips had no answer for VCU.

“This is a big-boy game,” he said. “You’ve got to take your butt-whuppin’ sometimes.”

And it was. With VCU’s Havoc defense churning out turnovers, the Rams attacked Akron’s defense – ranked second in the MAC in points allowed and first in field goal defense – with ease. Despite a decided size advantage inside, including 7-foot center Zeke Marshall, Akron could not keep the Rams out of the paint or away from the rim. The Rams got 21 points from forward Juvonte Reddic in 23 minutes and scored 40 points in the paint in all.

“Zeke Marshall’s a great shot blocker, but the last thing you want to do when a team has size or shot-blocking ability is over-respect them,” said VCU Coach Shaka Smart. “You want to go at them. If they block shots, they block some shots. It’s not the end of the world. But you want to make sure you get in the paint. You put pressure on their defense.”

Last season, VCU slipped past Akron in a 76-75 overtime barnburner. Dambrot said he watched the tape of that close loss three times this week and came away convinced the Zips could compete with the Rams. But they could not.

VCU-AKRON RAPID REACTION: VCU 88, AKRON 42

Overview: VCU absolutely pummeled the 12th-seeded Zips Thursday night at The Palace of Auburn Hills, 88-42. Akron took a 6-4 lead in the first half, and then the Rams put Akron to sleep, staging a 17-3 run to grab a 21-9 lead with 13:16 left. VCU never looked back.

The Rams did as they wished on the offensive end all night. Despite Akron’s sizeable front line of Zeke Marshall and Demetrius Treadwell, VCU took the ball hard to the rim early and often. When they weren’t getting into the paint, the Rams were watching Troy Daniels bomb away from three. Daniels scored 23 points in just 21 minutes of play and hit 6-of-11 threes on the night.

Akron, playing without suspended starting point guard Alex Abreu and reserve guard Deja Ibitayo, were unable to defend VCU’s quicker, more athletic guards or protect the basketball.

Overall, the Rams put together a masterful shooting performance, knocking down 54 (35-of-65) of their attempts. VCU also forced 22 turnovers via its trademark Havoc full-court press and outscored Akron 34-7 off turnovers.

Senior Juvonte Reddic scored 21 points in 19 minutes and became the 32nd Ram to score 1,000 career points with a bucket midway through the first half. Rob Brandenberg added 14.

Turning point: Given the lobsided nature of this one, you could probably say tip-off, but with 18:28 remaining, Juvonte Reddic sparked the Rams with back-to-back buckets, including a right-handed slam. Moments later, Reddic, gliding up the floor in transition, threw down a two-handed coast-to-coast jam that made it 12-6. It was pretty much over at that point.

Player of the game: Daniels, who made Bill Raftery swoon with his series of 3-pointers that put the game out of reach.

Key stat: Akron turnovers (22) versus VCU turnovers (7). Hard to beat a team when you’re minus 15 in turnover margin.

Miscellaneous: The victory was the Rams’ largest margin of victory in the NCAA Tournament. The previous high of 18 came in VCU’s back-to-back drubbings of Georgetown and Purdue in the 2011 NCAA second and third rounds.

VCU won a tournament game for the third straight season under Coach Shaka Smart. That has happened once previously in school history (1983-85).

The Rams’ win was also the largest margin of defeat for a MAC school. The previous record was 32.

What’s next: Fourth-seeded Michigan, which will be playing in front of a pro-Wolverines crowd on Saturday. Michigan overcame a slow start to handle South Dakota State 71-56 Thursday behind 21 points apiece from Glenn Robinson III and Tim Hardaway Jr. The Wolverines have a stable of talented guards and have recorded the lowest offensive turnover percentage in the country this season. VCU leads the nation in defensive turnovers percentage. The winner heads to the Sweet 16 in Dallas next week.

MY ALL ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE AWARDS

The Atlantic 10 Conference is procedurally different from the CAA in a number of areas, including voting for All-Conference awards. Whereas the CAA used a pool of 48 media members, SIDs and coaches, the A-10 is a strictly coaches voting pool. That doesn’t mean we have to sit this one out, however. We have a blog, you know.

Also, these picks were a part of the Duquesne Sports Blog’s voting pool for their All A-10 awards, so feel free to check out how the collective A-10 blogosphere feels.

Below are what would be my All Atlantic 10 Conference picks. Feel free to discuss, but take it easy on me. I’m sensitive.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Khalif Wyatt, Temple
Why: I didn’t really need further confirmation, but after Sunday’s performance against VCU, it took me all of about four seconds to write in Wyatt’s name here. The 6-foot-4 senior guard, who has five 30-point performances this season, leads the league in scoring (19.9 ppg) is seventh in assists (4.1 apg) and ninth in steals (1.6 spg). Easy pick.|
Also considered: I’m checking to see if Jameer Nelson is eligible.

First Team
Khalif Wyatt, Temple
Rotnei Clarke, Butler
Ramon Galloway, La Salle
Juvonte Reddic, VCU
Treveon Graham, VCU

GUEST INVITES HIMSELF TO VCU ROTATION

Sophomore Jarred Guest has carved out a role in VCU’s eight-man rotation this season.

RICHMOND, Va. – It can’t be more than three blocks from Franklin Street Gym, where the VCU Men’s Basketball team holds the bulk of its practices, to the Verizon Wireless Arena, where it plays games before thousands of rabid fans.

But for some players, it can seem like a thousand miles. That’s because skills showcased during practice often don’t always easily translate to the arena on game night. In recent years, VCU Coach Shaka Smart talked about senior Troy Daniels’ walk down that road. Daniels appeared to mentally cross that bridge last season, and is now one of the nation’s best long-range shooters.

Sophomore Jarred Guest can probably relate. He’s in the midst of his own practice-to-game transition. Guest, a gazelle-like forward, aims to display more of his Franklin Street talents at the Siegel Center.

“We’re just trying to get him to be our energy guy,” Smart said recently. “[He’s] just been phenomenal in practice for most of the year; probably our leading rebounder in practice. He’s a guy that needs to just settle down and play when he gets in the game.”

VIDEO: REDDIC AND CO. DUNK COLONIALS

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BONUS INTERVIEW WITH LARRY SANDERS & ERIC MAYNOR

RAMS LOOSE, SHARP IN TUNE-UP FOR STRETCH RUN

Juvonte Reddic finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds Saturday.

RICHMOND, Va. – If Saturday night’s 84-57 win over George Washington is any indication, VCU is ready for its stretch run. It was the Rams’ final game before a pressure-packed five-bout gauntlet to close out the regular season, and VCU looked a lot like the team that was blowing opponents off the Siegel Center floor earlier this year.

It was a perfect storm for VCU (21-5, 9-2 A-10), really. It was Havoc meets the Peach Fuzz Boys. The Rams’ relentless defensive pressure, combined with George Washington’s inexperience, gestated into 25 Colonials’ turnovers. VCU was more than happy to trade those miscues in for 27 points, an advantage that proved insurmountable.

George Washington, in the second year of Mike Lonergan’s rebuilding project, started four freshmen Saturday night. Those four rookies combined for 17 turnovers, including eight from Joe McDonald. After that, there were few stats that mattered. The pace and tone of the game were squarely in VCU’s favor, and from there, it was a day at the races.

Junior Juvonte Reddic found open space all evening and made his first seven field goal attempts, five of them highlight-quality dunks. On the Rams’ first offensive possession of the game, Reddic used a back screen to get free and caught a high-arching lob from Darius Theus with his right hand and threw it down for a thunderous slam. It was a play that set the tone for night.

JUVONTE REDDIC’S DUNK BUFFET

Juvonte Reddic pretty much dunked George Washington back to the District Saturday. From the one-handed alley-oop slam from Darius Theus on the first offensive possession of the game to the thunderous two-handed jam in the second half, Reddic looked like a man possessed. On the night of the NBA Slam Dunk competition, which was taking place in Houston, the real sizzle was in Richmond. Reddic finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds.

REDDIC SLAMS THE DOOR ON UMASS

Here’s every imaginable angle of Juvonte Reddic two-hand tip-slamming UMass into the dark night. Reddic finished with eight points, seven rebounds and one ferocious dunk.

VCU STRIDES INTO A-10 LEAD AT HALFWAY POINT

Sophomore Treveon Graham is averaging 18.5 points per game in Atlantic 10 play.

RICHMOND, Va. – VCU reached the halfway mark of its inaugural Atlantic 10 Conference season Saturday in an enviable position, alone in first place.

The Rams, who also benefited from Richmond’s win over Xavier Saturday, cruised to their lofty perch with an 81-65 trouncing of Fordham that wasn’t even really that close. At 18-5 overall and 6-2 in the very much still up-for-grabs league, VCU has plenty to crow about.

“I think we’re doing pretty good so far,” sophomore Treveon Graham said. “We’ve got a long way to go.”

It’s already been a season of great highs – a 13-game winning streak and national ranking – and painful lows – a stunning overtime loss to rival Richmond is likely still fresh in players’ and coaches’ minds. But Sunday morning, VCU will find itself atop its new conference. The A-10 has been a dog-eat-dog league for half the season, but so far, the Rams have had one of the most dangerous barks.

TALK OF THE TOWN

A more vocal Juvonte Reddic is averaging 13.8 points and 7.3 rebounds per game this season.

RICHMOND, Va. – Being the consummate teammate, David Hinton decided to reach out to Juvonte Reddic, a fellow Winston-Salem, N.C. native, in the summer of 2010. So Hinton picked up the 6-foot-9 forward and drove to a local gym for a workout. It sounds like the afternoon went well.

“It was probably the most awkward car ride I ever had,” Hinton joked recently. “We literally just sat there for like 15 minutes…how far he’s come from that day to now is just unbelievable.”

There’s a snapshot from early in VCU’s 2011 Final Four run of a fresh-faced Reddic pounding his chest with his right fist, howling into the air, that came to typify the emotion of the experience. The Final Four march was an event so significant, so unbridled, that it managed to sweep up even the most reserved, in this case Reddic.

Months later, while discussing the three-point play against USC that sparked Reddic’s triumphant outburst, he spoke of it almost sheepishly. At the same time, he acknowledged the need for more moments like that, when emotion and adrenaline fueled him on the basketball court.

“It’s just my personality, I’m just kind of quiet,” Reddic said earlier this season. “I’m kind of nonchalant, I normally don’t show too much emotion. It’s just something I’m working on. I have people tell me that every day, why I don’t show a lot of emotion on the court. I don’t know. It’s just how I am.”