Larry Sanders is Suspended for Delaware Game

The Colonial Athletic Association announced Thursday night that Virginia Commonwealth’s Larry Sanders has been suspended for one game for a flagrant foul in Wednesday night’s loss at Drexel.

Sanders, the Rams' leading scorer and rebounder, will serve the suspension when the Rams play Delaware tomorrow at 2 p.m. at the Siegel Center.

According to Tim Pearrell’s report in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, game tape shows Sanders hit Drexel's Evan Neisler in the head as they were running down the court late in the first half. No foul was called at the time of the incident.

The officiating crew was unable to review the tousle until the start of the second due to a reply malfunction. At that point it was determined that Sanders had committed a flagrant foul but it was determined that is was too late to issue an automatic ejection.

Officials referred the matter to the CAA office and Tom Yeager, the CAA commissioner, issued the suspension for unsportsmanlike conduct after reviewing the tape yesterday.

Sanders is tied for eighth in the CAA in scoring (14.7 ppg), fourth in rebounds (8.1) and second in blocked shots (3.2).

Delaware (5-10, 1-3) has never won at VCU in seven tries.

Game 13: VCU 72, Drexel 75

Battered and Bruised

@The DAC

Box Score

Junior Joey Rodriquez couldn’t connect on an open 3-pointer as time expired as the Dragons (8-8, 3-1) defeated the defending conference champion Virginia Commonwealth (9-4, 1-3) 75-72 on Wednesday night

The Rams jumped to an early 19-14 advantage but were unable to match the physicality and long range shooting of the Dragons.

Gerald Colds and Chris Fouch each hit three treys in the first half to give Drexel a 42-36 lead at the intermission.

Colds and Fouch finished with 19 points each for Drexel. Fouch, who entered the night shooting 26.8% from long range on the season, went 5 for 7 from behind the line against the Rams.

The Dragons didn't trail in the second half, and led by as many as nine points. The Rams used an 8-2 run to cut the lead to 73-71 and missed a chance to tie when junior Larry Sanders went 1-for-2 with 14 seconds left on the clock.

Sophomore Bradford Burgess scored a career high 30 points on 9-of-14 shooting, along with eight rebounds and three assists for the Rams.

Sanders finished with 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Junior Brandon Rozzell added anther 10 for the Rams.

The defeat was only the second time VCU has lost on the road against Drexel.

VCU will return to CAA action on Saturday afternoon when they take on the Blue Hens of the University of Delaware. Tip is scheduled for i2 p.m.

Who’s Got Next: Drexel (7-8, 2-1)

VCU (9-3, 1-2) will look to get back on the track tonight when they travel to Philadelphia to take on the Dragons of Drexel (7-8, 2-1). Tonight marks the 15th meeting between the two since the Dragons joined the CAA prior to the 2000-01 season. VCU is currently on a six game wining streak against the Dragons dating back to February of 2005. The Rams won the last meeting by twenty-nine points.

Drexel is coming off a 72-57 win at Georgia State on Monday night. Jamie Harris poured in 21 of his career-high 32 points in the first half as the Dragons shot a season-high 68 percent in the first half. The win snapped a three-game losing streak and improved Drexel’s record to 7-8 overall and 2-1 in the CAA.

Junior Jamie Harris,leading leads the Dragons in scoring and ranks fifth in the CAA with 15.8 ppg He has five games with at least 20 points. Harris is also shooting .797 from the line and leads the team in both assists and steals.

The Dragons head coach Bruiser Flint has a 140-116 record at the school and an 86-61 mark in CAA play. He was named the CAA Coach of the Year in 2009 for the third time, making him just one of two three-time winners in CAA history.

VCU is one of the few teams in the CAA that has continued success in the DAC. The Rams are 5-1 in the building and have won five-straight games. The last Drexel win at the DAC came in the first meeting between the schools in January of 2002.

The Rams saw their four-game winning streak came to an end Monday night when CAA rival Northeastern knocked off the Rams in Richmond, 62- 57. The loss also snapped an 11-game home win streak for the Rams.

Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.

Game 12: VCU 57, NU 62

Home Away from Home

@The Siegel

Box Score

Northeastern (7-7, 2-1 CAA) managed to quiet the high powered VCU offense and Manny Adakogave gave the Rams fits en route to a 62-57 win at the Verizon Wireless Arena at the Stuart C. Siegel Center.

The win snaps an 11-game home winning streak for VCU (9-3, 1-2 CAA) as the Huskies are responsible for the only two Rams losses in their last 23 home games.

Manny Adako had a season-high 23 points on 11-of-14 shooting, while grabbing seven rebounds. Chaisson Allen provided the perimeter scoring for the Huskies, knocking down four three-pointers and finishing with 17 points and seven assists.

Juniors Larry Sanders and Joey Rodriguez led the way for the Rams with 12 points apiece. Rodriguez also had seven assists and picked up three steals, while Sanders grabbed nine rebounds and blocked four shots.

Northeastern open the game with a 7-0 lead thanks to four consecutive VCU turnovers. The Rams rallied with a 21-4 run sparked by 3 three point buckets from junior Brandon Rozzell And four consecutive points by junior Jamie Skeen.

Northeastern opened the second half with a 23-12 run capped off by a Matt Janning jumper to give the Huskies a 48-40 lead with just over 10 minutes to play. 



VCU would get with in one but the Huskies ability to control the break and keep the Rams in their half court offense proved to be enough down the stretch.

The Huskies shot an efficient 48.1 percent from the field, 55.6 percent from three-point range. Northeastern committed just 12 turnovers in the game.

The Rams are in the midst of stretch that will see them play 4 CAA games in 8 days. VCU will travel to Philadelphia on Wednesday to battle the Dragons of Drexel University at 7 p.m.

Larry Sanders named CAA Men’s Basketball Co-player of the Week

Junior Larry Sanders averaged 19.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.5 blocks in a pair of VCU wins last week. The junior center scored a career- high 23 points, grabbed nine boards and blocked four shots as the Rams rallied past East Carolina 82-74 and then had a game high 16 points and five rejections in just 19 minutes of a 91-57 win over UNC Wilmington. Sanders shot 53.8% for the week.

Sanders shares this weeks honor with Delaware’s Alphonso Dawson. The 6’4” junior guard averaged 19.0 points and 10.5 rebounds as Delaware won back-to-back games for the first time this season.

Who's Got Next: Northeastern

Northeastern and VCU will take matching four-game winning streaks into the Verizon Wireless Arena at the Stuart Siegel Center tonight. Both teams come into the game 1-1 in the CAA,

This is the ninth all-time meeting between the two teams, and the Rams lead the series 5-3.

The Huskies are 2-2 against VCU in Richmond both teams have won twice, once in each other’s arena. This is the first time that the two teams will play a home-and-home in the regular season.

Northeastern is the only team to defeat the Rams in the past 22 home contests. The Huskies went into the Siegel Center and handed VCU its only home loss of the season, 68-63, after shooting 47.5 percent from the field and holding the Rams to 38.3 percent. VCU had more field goals than NU (23-19), but the Huskies connected on nine three-pointers and were 21-for-28 from the free throw line. Manny Adako and Eugene Spates each had 12 points

The Huskies are led by the talent backcourt of senior guard Matt Janning who is averaging 16.6 points per game and junior Chaisson Allen who is averaging 13.2 points per contest, 4.9 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.

Tonight’s game is scheduled to tip at 7:00 p.m.

Game 11: VCU 91 - UNCW 57

Seahawk Smackdown: VCU rolls UNCW 91-57

@The Siegel

Box Score

Virginia Commonwealth ushered in the New Year by thoroughly dismantling UNC Wilmington to claim a 91-57 victory in a Colonial Athletic Association game at the Siegel Center Saturday afternoon.

The Rams opened the game with a 10-0 run, hitting 9 of their first 10 field goal attempts. VCU’s stifling defense held the Seahawks to just two field goals over the first 16 minutes of the contest.

UNCW shot a dismal 16.7 percent from the field and missed 29 of their first 31 field goals attempts, trailing by as many as 32 in the first half.

VCU’s full court pressure caused 15 first half turnovers helping the Rams amass a 43-17 lead at intermission.

Unfortunately, things did not get any better for the Seahawks in the second half. Head coach Benny Moss was forced to call his last time out with 17:54 left in the game, trailing 51-17 after the Rams scored the first eight points in the second frame.

With a little more 12 minutes left to play UNCW was just 10 of 52 from the field and had turned the ball over 23 times. The Seahawks finished 19 of 67 (28.4 percent) with 28 turnovers.

The VCU lead would reach as many as 46 in the second half.

All 14 players on the VCU roster scored at least once in the game. Junior Larry Sanders, who played just 5 minutes in the second half, led the way with 16 points, 2 rebounds and 5 blocked shots. Junior Joey Rodriguez had 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting and added 5 assists and two steals and junior transfer Jamie Skeen finished with 10 points and 9 rebounds.

Junior Chad Tomko led the way for UNC Wilmington with 14 points, while junior John Fields added 10 points and 9 rebounds down low for the Seahawks.

The Rams are riding a four game win streak improved to 9-2 overall and 1-1 in the CAA. The Seahawks lost their third straight and fourth in five outings to drop to 4-8 overall and 0-2 in CAA play.

The Rams close out a three-game homestand on Monday with a 7:30 match up against Northeastern. The Seahawks will travel to Williamsburg to battle William & Mary on Monday at 7 p.m.

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