The annual exhibition game that puts Virginia Union University on Virginia Commonwealth University’s Siegel Center floor took place on Thursday night. This time it was a blowout; the VCU Rams had the the Panthers from Union outmanned at every position. The game wasn’t as close as the score: VCU 85, VUU 55.

VCU’s new head coach, Shaka Smart, seemed pleased with his team’s 40-minute effort in its dress rehearsal for the season that will start on Fri., Nov. 13, when VCU will host Bethune-Cookman (from Daytona Fla.).

The Rams moved the ball at a rapid pace on offense and they overplayed a lot on defense. Smart made frequent substitutions, using 12 players.

“We used a few good presses at different times throughout the night,” Smart said. “It wore them down to a certain extent. One of our goals all year is to force our opponents into at least 20 turnovers and we were able to accomplish that tonight, which is good.”

VCU’s junior center, Larry Sanders, led all scorers with 22 points. He also grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked six shots. All that in just 23 minutes on the floor.

Freshman Gregg Redford paced the offensive attack for the Panthers with 14 points.

Brandon Rozzell, a junior guard, contributed 14 points in 21 minutes, coming off the Rams bench.

“We are a fast team and like to run a lot,” Rozzell said. “I love playing fast. It reminds me of back at Highland Springs.”

Jay Gavin, a sophomore transfer from Marist, started for VCU at the shooting guard position, rather than Rozzell who started three games last season and averaged 19.2 minutes-per-game. Gavin scored four points, hitting on two of his nine shots from the field.

The best overall performance by one of this year’s five new Rams players (a sixth, Jamie Skeen, will be eligible in mid-December) may have been turned in by freshman Darius Theus. He looked smooth spelling Joey Rodriguez, a junior, at point guard and played aggressively on defense.

From here on the games count for more than just downtown bragging rights.

Click here to see parts of the post-game press conference.

Click here to see the Fan District Hub’s All-Time VCU team.