BALANCED ATTACK LEADS RAMS TO 79-64 WIN OVER VIRGINIA STATE
11-12-08
Box Score

RICHMOND, Va. – The sophomore trio of Larry Sanders (Port St. Lucie) (right), Brandon Rozzell (Richmond, Va.) and Ed Nixon (St. Petersburg, Fla.) combined for 48 points to lead Virginia Commonwealth University to a 79-64 exhibition win over Division II Virginia State Wednesday at the Alltel Pavilion at the Stuart C. Siegel Center.

Sanders recorded a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. He also provided three blocked shots, three steals and a pair of thunderous dunks.

Nixon and Rozzell added 16 points each for the Rams, who shot 46 percent (27-of-59) in the game.

After a lackluster first half, VCU hit on 56 percent (14-of-25) of its attempts to pull ahead by double digits.

Terrell Crockett knocked down a pair of free throws to pull the Trojans within 49-44 with 12:02 left, but from there the Rams took control with a 15-4 run.

Still, VCU Head Coach Anthony Grant said he demands more from his team.

“My expectations are a lot higher in terms of how hard we play, our execution, our discipline,” Grant said. “The things that I’m about as a coach were not on display tonight and we have to find a way to correct that.”

Sophomore Joey Rodriguez (Oviedo, Fla.) handed out 10 assists, while freshman Bradford Burgess (Midlothian, Va.) scored 12 points off the bench for VCU. Senior Eric Maynor (Raeford, N.C.) scored 10 points in 16 minutes in the first half. He did not play in the second half.

The victory was the Rams’ second and final exhibition contest of the year. VCU opens the regular season on Sunday, Nov. 16 against The Citadel at the Alltel Pavilion at 4 p.m.

ADDITIONAL ANTHONY GRANT QUOTES
On Virginia State
“I’ve got to give a lot of credit to Virginia State. I thought they came in really played hard and showed a purpose in what they were doing tonight.”

On Eric Maynor
“Eric’s a very, very strong personality on a basketball team and I think sometimes when you have strong personalities you can have guys with a false sense of security. I think our basketball team has some things that we have to figure out. And tonight, maybe it was a message and maybe it was just me as a basketball coach really seeing what I was dealing with - what type of character, what type of will what type of passion, what type of players we have around him. I know what I’m going to get out of him.”

On the team
There are some unanswered questions that we have to figure out at some other positions. I think as we go through it, we’re going to find out. We’ve got a few days here before we have to play again and we’re going to try to get some of those questions answered over the next few days.”