CHICAGO – When he’s on fire, as he was Friday night during the NCAA tournament, Virginia Commonwealth guard Brandon Rozzell talks a lot to his teammates. That he’s open frequently is the topic.
“That’s what he says a lot,” fellow guard Joey Rodriguez said. “He’s always open in his mind. On the defensive end, he’s talking about assignments. When he’s done with that, he says he’s open.”
Rozzell was chatting and smiling and having a grand time Friday on perhaps the biggest stage of his career.
With the Highland Springs native scoring a season-high 26 points and leading a 3-point show, and VCU playing resurgent defense, the Rams put together a stunning and easy 74-56 victory over No. 22 Georgetown in the second round of the Southwest Region at United Center.
Now a team that was disparaged by ESPN analysts as being an unworthy at-large selection suddenly is one of the toasts of the tournament.
VCU (25-11) will play third-seeded Purdue (26-7) at 7:10 p.m. on Sunday in the third round at the United Center, making Richmond the only city with two teams in the round of 32.
Any time people disrespect you, especially on national TV, it hurts a little bit,” Rodriguez said. “It was a good opportunity to come out here and prove people wrong. Hopefully we can keep it going and keep proving them wrong.”
Rozzell is a streaky shooter, and this was the almost unconscious version. The senior, who missed eight games with a broken hand that required surgery, nailed his first three 3-pointers against Georgetown. He finished 6 of 10 from behind the arc, 8 of 13 from the field, and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line.
“I think after the first one went down, I felt like it was going to be a good night,” he said. “That’s a good thing for any shooter. After the first one went down, I just kept trying to find open spots on the court. ... I just kind of kept it going from there.”
“That’s Brandon,” guard Ed Nixon said. “He was feeling it. The thing about Brandon is if he hits the first one, you’d better watch out.”
The pregame acclaim belonged to Georgetown’s three guards: Chris Wright, Austin Freeman and Jason Clark. The postgame buzz belonged to Rozzell and his backcourt mates and the ease with which they dispatched the Hoyas.
The Rams hit a season-high 12 3-pointers. VCU drilled six in the first half and didn’t stop in the second as its lead swelled to 25 with seven minutes left.
Rodriguez was 2 of 6 from behind the arc. Guard Bradford Burgess was 2 of 4 and Nixon 1 for 1. Forward Jamie Skeen also had a trey.
Rodriguez finished with 17 points and seven assists. Burgess had 12 points and eight rebounds, and Skeen added 12 points.
“Georgetown has a terrific backcourt and three very, very talented guys,” VCU coach Shaka Smart said. “I challenged our backcourt guys ... to step up and be better. They were much better tonight.”
Said Nixon: “We knew their guys were good. They’ve built a name for themselves. We took it as a challenge ... to come in and contain them.”
Wright, Freeman and Clark were a combined 10 for 35 with 25 points. The Hoyas were 5 of 26 from behind the arc.
Returning for the first time after breaking his non-shooting hand, Wright was just 3 of 13 from the floor and finished with six points.
“They outplayed us,” said Wright, who added that his hand was not an issue.
VCU has been a streaky defensive bunch at times this year. But in two games in the NCAA tournament, it has held Southern California to 46 points and Georgetown to 56.
“Our guys are competitors,” Smart said. “They love to respond when people disrespect them. We had a game earlier this year where an assistant coach came out in the newspaper and said we couldn’t defend. We went out that game and held that team under 50 points. I learned early in the year about our team that they like a challenge.
“Today, before we had lunch, we sat down and watched a video of [bracketology expert] Joe Lunardi saying we couldn’t guard him. He said over and over in the video, ‘They can’t guard me. They can’t guard me.’ We were showing clips in the video of Chris Wright and Austin Freeman and Jason Clark. Our guys responded to that, obviously.”
The Hoyas shot just 38.5 percent (20 of 52), had 17 turnovers and fouled a lot. Had VCU made more free throws (26 of 39), the margin would have been more lopsided.
“I wasn’t expecting anything but a win,” said Nixon, when asked if he was surprised by the large margin. “I can’t say I’m surprised by the number. We just went out and played as hard as we could, and it ended up that way.”
Asked if he was surprised that his team beat Georgetown so thoroughly, Smart said, "No.”
With an 11-point halftime lead, the Rams turned the game into a rout to start the second half by hitting four of five 3-pointers. That increased the advantage to 21 with 15:52 left.
That prompted ESPN analyst Jay Bilas, one of the most vocal critics of the Rams’ at-large selection, to tweet, “If a fight, they’d stop it.”
Near the end, Bilas tweeted, “Must’ve been our motivation!”
At one point, the VCU crowd at the United Center started chanting “Jay Bilas! Jay Bilas!” and later “CAA! CAA!”
The Rams were the second Colonial Athletic Association team of the day to take out a Big East team. George Mason eliminated Villanova 61-57.
“We’re proud of what we did,” Smart said. “We’ve got two games under our belt in the NCAA tournament, but we’re not done. We’re going to enjoy this win tonight, and shift our focus to Purdue.”
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