National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
VCU 71, Kansas 61
When: 2:10 PM ET, Sunday, March 27, 2011
Where: Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas
Officials: # Mike Eades, # Tony Greene, # Ted Valentine
Attendance: 14299

SAN ANTONIO -- Jamie Skeen led the way with 26 points and nine rebounds as No. 11 seed Virginia Commonwealth reached its first Final Four in school history by shocking top-seeded Kansas, 71-61, in the Southwest regional final on Sunday.

Brandon Rozzell scored all 12 of his points in the first half as the Rams jumped out to a big lead and held off the mighty Jayhawks. VCU (28-11), which had to play in an opening round game just to make the field of 64, joins Butler as a second mid-major team to reach the Final Four.

Kansas’ loss ensures that no No. 1 seeds will make it to Houston.

The Rams dominated the first half, taking a 41-27 edge into the break and leading by as much as 18 points along the way. The Jayhawks turned it over nine times - six by Markieff Morris - and had trouble defending the perimeter, where VCU knocked down 9 of 17 in the opening period.

Kansas (35-3) made a move to get back into it out of the locker room, opening the second half with an 12-2 spurt to cut it to 43-29. The Jayhawks would draw as close as 46-44 but never managed to regain the lead as Skeen led a 9-2 burst over the next three minutes.

The backbreakers came when Joey Rodriguez buried a 3-pointer with 4:58 left to push it back to an eight-point edge, and Branford Burgess hit another from beyond the arc just over a minute later to stretch it to 63-54 with 3:51 to play.

Marcus Morris led Kansas with 20 points and 16 rebounds.
Top Game Performances
 
VCU   Kansas
Jamie Skeen 26 Scoring Marcus Morris 20
Joey Rodriguez 5 Assists Brady Morningstar 3
Jamie Skeen 10 Rebounds Marcus Morris 16
Jamie Skeen 10 Free Throws Made Tyrel Reed 6
Joey Rodriguez 2 Steals Brady Morningstar 3
Bradford Burgess 1 Blocks Markieff Morris 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
VCU 71 39.6 12-25 17-22 14 32 1 7
Kansas 61 35.5 2-21 15-28 10 42 6 8