6th men have memorable night for VCU
VCU “sixth men” Brandon Rozzell and the VCU pep band both caught the eyes of the 17,369 fans in the United Center in Chicago as the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams took on the Georgetown Hoyas. After beating University of Southern California on Wednesday night, VCU handled the Hoyas 74-56. The victory marks the first time that VCU has won two games in the NCAA Tournament.
VCU “sixth men” Brandon Rozzell and the VCU pep band both caught the eyes of the 17,369 fans in the United Center in Chicago as the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams took on the Georgetown Hoyas. After beating University of Southern California on Wednesday night, VCU handled the Hoyas 74-56. The victory marks the first time that VCU has won two games in the NCAA Tournament.
Brandon Rozzell said he knew he was going to have a good night after he drained his first three-point attempt of the game. Playing off the bench he is one of the most explosive sixth men in the country, and he was undoubtedly the catalyst for the Rams against the Hoyas. He had 26 points on the night and his six three pointers broke the VCU NCAA tournament record set by B.A. Walker in 2004 against Wake Forest.
VCU outperformed Georgetown on the court and during the long media timeouts with good music, cheerleaders, and Rodney the Ram.
He was far from the only player hitting threes as VCU went 12-25 from beyond the arc setting the VCU record for NCAA tournament three point completions. Joey “The General” Rodriguez, Jamie Skeen, and Bradford Burgess all joined Rozzell in double figures. Rodriguez had seven assists and went 9-9 from the charity stripe while 6’-6” guard Burgess led VCU with eight rebounds.
The United Center was far from full for the 8:50 central time tip-off and Purdue fans were undoubtedly in the majority. The VCU pep band, the ultimate Rambassadors, educated people: turning VCwho into a proud VCU. Trombonists soloed while sitting on people’s shoulders, the contrabass player’s American flag shorts were a favorite and the band’s fearless leader Ryan Kopacsi’s dancing antics kept viewers entertained during the extended media timeouts. The band even led cheers taunting ESPN hosts Jay Bilas and Dick Vitale (the two were extremely critical of VCU’s at-large bid).
Senior trombonist John Hulley takes his solo to the next level.
The next step
The extremely talented Purdue Boilermakers romped the St. Peters Peacocks just hours before VCU took the court. On Sunday at 7:10pm the Rams will face this super talented #3 seed. 6’-10” center and 1st team all-American JaJuan Johnson will be near impossible to guard. He is joined by 1st team all-Big Ten guard E’Twaun Moore. Coach Smart will need to develop his best game plan yet and VCU will need to execute it better than ever if they hope to compete with Purdue.
History has proven VCU to be fighters. While VCU has only won 3 games in the tournament since the 80’s, they haven’t lost by more than five points since 1996. That includes a one point loss to UCLA in ’09, a 5-point overtime loss to Pitt in 2007 after beating Duke and a one point loss to Wake Forest in ’04. Tune in to watch the game because win or lose, VCU always puts on a show.
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Aaron Williams
Aaron Williams loves music, basketball (follow @rvaramnews!), family, learning, and barbecue sauce.
Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
Ho good does VCU make Richmond look all the time. GO RAMS!!!!!!!!!!!
Any chance of a “best tweets” article like the one you did for the USC game?
@Will I’ll get you one for tonight’s game.