Rams crush Colonials behind Reddic, relentless defense

Colin Kennedy
Staff Writer

Juvonte Reddic recorded his 15th career double-double and the Rams registered 19 total steals in an impressive 84-57 victory over George Washington Saturday night.

The junior forward scored 24 points on 11-of-13 shooting and added 10 rebounds to help VCU (21-5, 9-2) to its second win in three days.

Rob Brandenburg, Troy Daniels and Melvin Johnson chipped in with 11 points apiece, and nine different Rams finished with at least one steal.

A slow start offensively was washed away when VCU went on a 40-16 run to conclude the first half.

After holding an early 8-2 lead, the Colonials crumbled and never managed to get closer than 12 after the opening 20 minutes of play.

The win came in typical fashion for the Rams, who used up-tempo play and relentless full-court pressure to help turn George Washington over 25 times.

After the game, George Washington head coach Mike Lonergan admitted that he had been nervous about his inexperienced guard play and wasn’t sure what to expect coming into the matchup against VCU.

“Our biggest weakness besides outside shooting is our ability to handle pressure,” Lonergan said. “This is a game I had been worried about for a while because you can’t really (mimic the press) in practice.”

The press worked to perfection for a Rams team that leads the nation in steals per game (12.35) and turnover margin (8.0).

Together, George Washington’s three freshman guards accounted for 16 turnovers and just three assists in the team’s most lopsided loss of the season.

The scoring came early and often from Reddic who said he fell into a bit of a comfort zone after dunking a lob pass from Darius Theus for the first basket of the game.

The 6-foot-9 junior from Winston-Salem, N.C. found success down low all night and even contributed two steals and two blocks to the effort.

VCU head coach Shaka Smart was a bit nit-picky at the postgame press conference, saying he could have gotten even more from his big man.

“To be honest with you, he could play a lot better than that,” Smart said before slyly adding, “But I’m glad he’s on my team.”

Daniels agreed with his coach about Reddic’s presence and noted that their game plan heading into Saturday’s contest revolved around the junior forward.

“Juvonte’s a great player who can score from anywhere on the floor,” Daniels said. “It’s fun to watch him and get him the ball and that was our main focus coming into the game.”

The plan panned out for the Rams who will travel to St. Louis and Xavier before hosting Butler in a much-anticipated home game on March 2.

VCU remains atop the Atlantic 10 conference standings and will need similar production out of its star players if they are going to hold on for a regular season title.

Smart’s team has now won 45 of their past 46 games when scoring at least 66 points.