University of Richmond Athletics
Richmond to Host #23 Wake Forest on Saturday
01/02/2003 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 2, 2003
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Richmond rings in the New Year with a Saturday, January 4, contest with Wake Forest. The Spiders entertain the unbeaten (8-0) Demon Deacons at 4:00 p.m. in a Raycom/JP Sports televised contest.
Richmond (6-4) holds a perfect 5-0 mark at home this season. The Spiders are off to their best home start since the 1985-86 season. That Richmond squad opened its campaign 10-0 at home before falling in late January to Old Dominion.
The matchup marks the 41st meeting between the two programs. Wake Forest holds the series lead, 31-9 and has won the past 10 consecutives meetings. The Spiders are 3-6 at the Robins Center versus the Demon Deacons. The last Richmond victory in the series came on January 15, 1990- a 51-49 win at the Robins Center.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME ... Richmond, a perfect 5-0 at home in the Robins Center this season, is off to its best home start since the 1985-86 season. That Spiders squad opened their campaign 10-0 at home, before falling in late January to Old Dominion. The team began the season with a remarkable 16-1 mark. They are the only Spiders squad in history to earn at at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The Spiders returned home to the Robins Center last weekend for the Spider Invitational after a brief holiday break. The break was preceded by a 7,000 jaunt cross-country for three contests. The Spiders flew nearly 3,000 miles to California on Saturday, December 14 for the Stanford Invitational where they went 1-1 on the court. Then it was a 3,200 miles back East to Providence (a red-eye) that saw the Spiders' drop a 84-55 contest in the smallest state. In Richmond's only other two away contests thus this season, the Spiders traveled just 85 miles to Hampton for a November 27 contest and eight miles cross-town to VCU on December 7. Richmond hits the road on Monday, January 5 for
AGAINST THE RANKED ... The last time a Richmond team played two ranked opponents in the same season was 1997-98. The Spiders defeated then-No. 13 South Carolina, 62-61, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in March of 1998. Earlier in the season, the second contest for both teams to be exact, the 4th-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels beat the Spiders 84-65 at the Robins Center.
Richmond last defeated two ranked opponents in the same season during the 1990-91 season. The Spiders dispensed of #14 Georgia Tech, 73-71, on a Jim Springer field goal as time expired. Chris Fleming hit for a record eight 3-pointers (and 24 points) to knock off the Jackets. Later on that season ... the Spiders stunned the 7th ranked Orangemen of Syracuse in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, 73-69, becoming the first 15-seed to oust a number 2 seed in the Big Dance.
FIRST TOURNAMENT TITLE SINCE... Richmond's tournament crown in its own Spider Invitational last weekend, besting Harvard in the first round and defeating Norfolk State in the championship game. It was the first tournament title for the Spiders since claiming the UT- Chattanooga Classic in 1997. Forward Mike Skrocki was named the tournament MVP while classmates Tony Dobbins and Eric Zwayer were selected with Skrocki to the all-tournament team.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY ... The Robins Center celebrates its 30th anniversary this season. The first contest took place on Dec. 2, 1972 when a crowd of 8,380 watched as Lefty Driesell's Maryland Terps played spoiler, 82-50. Richmond would grab its first win in the fine facility on Jan. 4, 1973, an 84-75 win over East Carolina. The 8,881-seat facility has undergone a facelift in the past few years with numerous renovations taking place, most recently a permanent maple floor was installed, thus giving the arena a new seating capacity (down from 9,171 in the previous 29 seasons).
ALL ABOUT THE NUMBERS ... This is the 89th season of Richmond Basketball. The Spiders have compiled a 1095-959 record (includes the first ten games of this season). Richmond has played 53.7 percent of its 2,054 contests versus teams from the Commonwealth of Virginia (636-467). The Spiders have faced intra-state rival William & Mary the most of any other program in the state, 191 times (96-95). Second-most - 121 meetings with VMI (80-41), a second-year participant in this year's Spider Invitational. Ironically, two first-time opponents this season-Hampton and Norfolk St.- are both Virginia schools.
VERSUS THE ACC ... Richmond is 74-138 all-time versus the ACC. The Spiders and intra-state rival Virginia have met the most on the hardcourt, 85 times with the Cavaliers holding a 49-33 advantage. Richmond has played at least one school from the Atlantic Coast Conference 20 of the past 21 seasons. The only season in recent years the Spiders failed to play an ACC opponent was the 1998-99 season.
SPIDERS AGAINST THE ACC Clemson 3-2 Duke 2-8 Florida State 3-1 Georgia Tech 4-5 North Carolina 2-14 N.C. State 0-3 Maryland 15-25 Virginia 33-49 Wake Forest 9-31
SPEAKING OF NUMBERS ... The Spiders last two victories over Harvard (86-59) and Norfolk State (67-38) were the first back-to-back consecutive 25-plus point victories in 17 seasons. Richmond bested Loyola (Md.) by 32 and Radford by 29 points, respectively, during the 1984-85 season. The 38 points from Norfolk State were the fewest points scored by a team in the Robins Center since American managed just 32 points on Feb. 21, 2001.
Richmond has held seven of its 10 opponents this season to less than 70 points. They are 6-1 this season when holding an opponent below 70. The Spiders are 0-3 when allowing an opponent to score 73 or more points.
Richmond opponents are shooting just 38.2 percent from the field, ranked 27th nationally.
O-FER FROM '3' ... Richmond held the Spartans of Norfolk State 3-point-less in its 67-38 win on Sunday evening. The last Richmond opponent to not make a 3-point field goal in a game were the James Madison Dukes. The intra-state rival went 0-for-15 on January 27, 1997 in the Robins Center. The visiting squad, was not the only team to shoot 0-fer from '3' as the Spiders, too, went without a three-pointer in the 75-65 win. They shot 0-for-9 from long range, the last time a Richmond team failed to hit a trey in a contest.. The Spartans are just the third opponent in a game to not hit a trifecta. The Fairfield Stags went 0-3 from behind the arc in a 91-87 Richmond triple overtime victory on Jan. 6, 1987.
SAME FIVE EACH TIME... Richmond has used the same starting five (Myers, Dobbins, Zwayer, Skrocki, Scott) in its first 10 games this season. The last time a Spiders team used the same starting five in the first 10 games of the season came during the 1996-97 season. Then-Coach Bill Dooley gave Jarod Stevenson, Carlos Cueto, Daryl Oliver, Rick Edwards and Eric Poole the starting nod through the first 13 games of the season.
GIVING UP THE POINTS ... Richmond's 84-55 loss to Providence on Thursday, December 19 was the most points given up by the Spiders since the 1996-97 season. Richmond allowed the Paul Westhead-led (run & gun) George Mason Patriots to score 98 points (98-86) in a loss in Fairfax on January 15, 1997. The Demon Deacons are averaging 87.9 points per game (6th best in the nation). Wake scored a season-low 73 points on two occasions this season, its season opening win over Yale and a 73-49 victory over SMU.
THE CARDINAL WILL FALL... Richmond dispensed of Stanford in relatively easy fashion on December 17 in the consolation game of Stanford Invitational at the Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal, ranked 17th (AP) and 21st (ESPN/USA Today) at the time, watched as the Spiders shot a season-best 59.5 percent from the field, including 66.7 percent in the second stanza. The victory was Richmond's first over a ranked opponent since its 62-61 win over then-No. 13 South Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in March of 1998. The Spiders' win was the largest margin of defeat (14) for the Cardinal at home by a non-conference opponent since the 1977-78 season
