RICHMOND, VA. — VCU’s trademark HAVOC defense was on display early and often as the Rams forced a season-high 34 turnovers en route to their seventh straight victory, a 96-67 rout of Fairleigh Dickinson. Junior Juvonte Reddic posted his third double-double of the year with 22 points and 11 rebounds, while senior Troy Daniels set a school-record for three-pointers in a game with nine en route to a career-high 27 points.
HAVOC set the tone from the tip as VCU forced the Knights into seven turnovers in the first four minutes of the contest to spark a 18-5 lead after freshman Melvin Johnson connected on a runner with 15:28 to play in the first half.
Fairleigh Dickinson would knock down 13 free-throws in the first half and one from Sidney Sanders, Jr. brought VCU’s lead into single-digits at 22-13 with 12:07 remaining in the stanza. It would be the last time the Rams’ cushion would be in single-digits.
Reddic would help the Black & Gold put an exclamation point in the first half when he sparked a 7-0 run that spanned just 36 seconds and pushed VCU’s lead from 12 to 19 at 35-16.
After the Rams took a 47-30 lead into the break, the teams would trade buckets over the first two minutes of the second half before VCU rolled off a 28-6 run after it knocked down four treys in a seven minute span that saw the lead reach 39 at 79-40 with 9:15 left in the contest.
The lead would not shrink below 26 points the rest of the way as the Rams posted their fifth wire-to-wire victory of the season and seventh straight win overall.
VCU had four players in double-digits for the sixth straight game. Daniels led the way with 27, along with Reddic (22), Brandenberg (13) and Graham (10).
Daniels’ nine treys on the year is tied for the most in a game in the NCAA this year. It ties the mark reached by Omar Strong (Texas Southern), James Southerland (Syracuse) and Ian Clark (Belmont)
His nine treys also vaulted him past Chris Brower (175) and Jamal Shuler (170) into sixth-place on the VCU’s all-time three-pointers made list as he now sits at 177 for his career.
VCU has forced 93 turnovers in the past three games. The 34 by FDU is the most in a game for a Rams’ opponent since George Mason coughed it up 35 times on Jan. 3, 1995.
The Black & Gold have now posted 20 steals three times this year and increased their national steals lead to 17 and 13.2 per contest.
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