Auburn Hills, MI – Troy Daniels had 23 points on 6-of-11 3- point shooting, Juvonte Reddic scored 21 and the VCU Rams crushed the Akron Zips, 88-42, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Rob Brandenberg netted 14 points and Melvin Johnson added 10 for the Rams (27-8), who are the South Region's No. 5 seed and will next face fourth-seeded Michigan on Saturday.
"Our guys did a nice job tonight executing the plan," said VCU head coach Shaka Smart. "This was just a better matchup for us."
Demetrius Treadwell had 15 points with seven rebounds for 12th-seeded Akron (26-7), which captured the MAC Tournament title last weekend.
The Zips, appearing in the "Big Dance" for the third time in the last five seasons, never really posed a threat, falling behind 21-9 in the game's first seven minutes.
Reddic beat the first-half buzzer with a layup, giving VCU a commanding 50-25 lead at the break. The Rams shot a sizzling 61.1 percent (22-of-36) from the field over the first 20 minutes.
It only got worse for Akron.
The Zips connected on just 31.6 percent (6-of-19) of their second-half shots and trailed by a whopping 48 points when a Brandenberg trey put the Rams up 84-36 with 6:14 remaining.
VCU forced 22 Akron turnovers in the lopsided affair.
"It was just a miserable experience," said Akron head coach Keith Dambrot.
Game Notes
The Rams are in the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year ... VCU has its highest seeding since being a No. 2 in 1985 ... Reddic became the 32nd player in VCU history to reach 1,000 points ... Akron remains winless in its four trips to the NCAA Tournament ... The Zips' No. 12 seed was the highest in school history ... VCU improved to 7-0 all-time against Akron.
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