January 18, 2010

RODRIGUEZ NAMED CAA PLAYER OF THE WEEK

RICHMOND, Va. – Whether it’s racking up airline miles or not having to make his bed in the morning, junior Joey Rodriguez (Oviedo, Fla.) is pretty comfortable playing on the road.

The point guard for the Virginia Commonwealth University men’s basketball team proved that once again this past week scoring 21 points in two road wins for the Black & Gold. For his outstanding play, Rodriguez was named CAA Player of the Week.

He is the third Ram to earn the weekly honor with senior T.J. Gwynn (Burlington, N.C.) and junior Larry Sanders (Fort Pierce, Fla.) gaining recognition earlier this season.

In an 81-68 victory over Hofstra on Tuesday night in front of a television audience, Rodriguez was spectacular, going 6-for-13 from the field for a season-high 21 points. He also added six assists, two steals and two rebounds in the win.

His hot-shooting continued on Saturday at Georgia State, where he led all scorers with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting. This time he added seven assists and three rebounds.

For the week, he averaged 21 points, 6.5 assists and 2.5 rebounds. He averaged a 3.25 assist-to-turnover ratio for the week, only committing four turnovers on the week.

In the Rams’ seven games since Christmas, the 5-10 point guard is averaging 14.0 points and 6.0 assists per game. His assist-to-turnover ratio over that stretch is better than 3-to-1, and he’s shooting than 49 percent (35-of-73) from the field.

For the season, Rodriguez leads the CAA in assists per game with 5.6 and steals per game with 2.2. He also ranks second on the team with 10.9 points per game.