Richmond, VA – Troy Daniels had 20 points to lead VCU in an 84-52 rout of No. 20 Butler in A-10 action.
Treveon Graham had 11 points and seven rebounds while Juvonte Reddic and Briante Weber each gave 11 points for the Rams (23-6, 11-3 A-10), who have won seven of their last eight.
"We're still out to prove ourselves," said VCU guard Darius Theus, who finished with eight points and nine assists. "We're in the A-10 and we're still trying to let everyone know we belong in the top."
Roosevelt Jones scored 14 points with six rebounds and Khyle Marshall added 13 points and six boards for the Bulldogs (22-7, 9-5), who have lost their past two games.
"It was a good, old-fashioned butt-kicking," Butler coach Brad Stevens admitted. "We can over-analyze it all we want, but the bottom line is we couldn't do anything well."
The last time these two squads had met was in a Final Four matchup of the 2011 NCAA tournament, which saw Butler take a 70-62 win.
Butler's only lead of the game came on the first bucket as VCU answered with the next nine points with Reddic's jumper making it a 9-2 game 3 1/2 minutes in.
Another 9-0 run from the Rams later in the frame pushed their lead to 28-10. VCU scored the final seven points of the frame and Graham's 3-pointer made it a 45-21 game at the break.
The Bulldogs came out of the break scoring the first seven points as Chase Stigall's 3-pointer made it a 45-28 game about two minutes in, but Weber answered with a 3-pointer and followed that with a jumper to make it a 22- point game.
Later in the half, Butler was able to cut its deficit to 18, 63-45, after consecutive layups from Jones, but VCU answered with the next 13 points to put the game away.
Game Notes
Butler plays at Massachusetts on Thursday ... VCU hosts Richmond on Wednesday ... VCU shot 48.3 percent from the floor while Butler made just 40.8 percent of its shots. The Bulldogs, though, did dominate the boards by a 42-28 advantage.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.