National Basketball Association
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
By SportsDirect Inc.
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 |
|