Rams take temporary break from CAA, dispose of Akron for third season in a row
Taylor Howsmon
Sports Editor
VCU coach Shaka Smart has called his Akron coach Keith Dambrot, his former boss and mentor a best friend and has compared him to a brother.
Dambrot also considers Smart to be a great friend and even jokingly said he probably talks to Smart more than he talks to his wife.
But Saturday, the two men had a different name to call each other: opponent.
Putting the off-the-court relationship aside, Smart’s Rams defeated Dambrot’s Zips at the Stuart C. Siegel Center Saturday, 70-53, beating the Zips for the third straight season.
It was also VCU’s 16th consecutive non-conference home win.
“That game was hard; I really don’t like playing (or coaching) against Keith,” Smart said. “But I was proud of our guys really for the way we defended for the whole game.”
The Rams’ defense was stifling, holding the Zips to 31 percent shooting and only 53 points, Akron’s second lowest output of the season. It was also the eighth time VCU has held its opponent to under 60 points in a game.
Smart’s knowledge of the Akron team, which has some players that he himself recruited when he was there as an assistant from 2003-2006, was evident from the opening tip.
After going down 2-0, the Rams quickly responded with an 8-0 run and led for the remaining 39-plus minutes of the game. VCU’s first-half effort was a picture of defensive tenacity as the Rams held the Zips to only 22 points.
Also, the black and gold did not allow two of Akron’s top five scorers to get on the board in the first half.
With a comfortable 34-22 halftime lead at home, some would think the same demons that have haunted past VCU efforts during the season wouldn’t affect the Rams’ lead in the second.
Well, some were almost wrong.
Despite the 12-point deficit, Akron came storming out of the halftime gate to the beat of a 10-0 run, which got the Zips right back in the ballgame at 34-32. But thanks in part to Brandon Rozzell (Richmond/Highland Springs) and the success of the VCU press, the Rams wouldn’t let this lead slip away.
All of a sudden the VCU offense, which had turned the ball over four times and not scored in the opening four minutes, outscored Akron 18-12 in next seven minutes to close the door for good.
“We overcame the adversity this time, which is something we have been working on and it worked out today for us,” Rozzell said.
Rozzell scored eight of those 18 and greatly contributed to the defensive effort. The hometown junior has been overcoming a lot of adversity over the past two weeks after being taken out of the starting lineup for his fellow “energy brother“ Ed Nixon (St. Petersburg, Fla./Lakewood).
“Ed is a great player and playing behind him is a problem for me. I didn’t lose my confidence through the slump; I just kept shooting,” Rozzell said.
The “energy brothers,” as coach Smart has called the duo, shut down the Akron guards and kept the VCU train rolling although leading scorer Larry Sanders (Ft. Pierce, Fla./Port St. Lucie) was on the bench for most of the half with foul trouble.
The VCU cause was also greatly helped by the play of junior big man Jaime Skeen (Charlotte, N.C./Wake Forest University), who had nine points and three rebounds in the 14 minutes he played of the second half.
VCU got up 54-44 after that seven minute period and held a double-digit lead the rest of the way. When it was all said and done, the Rams walked away with the 70-53 victory.
Sanders led all scorers with 15 points in only 20 minutes on the floor.
The Rams put four other players in double figures: Rozzell (13), Skeen (11), Nixon (10) and freshman Darius Theus (Portsmouth/Norcom), who scored 10 as well.
The Rams shot 58 percent (28-48) from the floor for the game and won the points in the paint battle, 44-24.
The VCU defense did not allow any Akron player to score double digits. Steve McNees and Anthony Hitchens each scored nine to lead the Zips.
For VCU (19-7, 10-6 CAA) it is back to conference play as the CAA tournament looms and teams begin to jockey for position.
The Rams face James Madison, against whom they blew an eight-point halftime lead in Harrisonburg on Feb. 13.
Another noteworthy item is the fact the VCU senior T.J. Gwynn (Burlington, NC/Cummings) tied Eric Maynor for most wins in VCU history with 95. If the Rams win Wednesday, Gwynn will become the most victorious player to ever wear the black and gold of VCU.
By the numbers Akron (20-8,10-3) McNees 9, Cvetinovic 5, Hitchens 9, Conyers 6, Marshall 2, Steward 4, McClanahan 0, Roberts 5, Carroll 0, B. McKnight 4, C. McKnight 7, Bardo 2. Totals: 21 7-15 53 3-pointers: McNees 3, Roberts 1 (team: 4-20) VCU (19-7,10-6) Sanders 15, Rodriguez 3 Burgess 8, Skeen 11, Nixon 10, Grayson 0, Saintil 0, Theus 10, Pishchalnikov 0, Daniels 0, Rozzell 13, Gwynn 0. Totals: 28 10-16 70 3-pointers: Theus 1, Rozzell 3 (team: 4-11)
