University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
at Virginia Commonwealth
VCU Run Keys Victory Over Spiders
12/10/2005 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 10, 2005
RICHMOND, Va. - The University of Richmond men's basketball team made Virginia Commonwealth its eighth-straight opponent that hasn't scored 60 points - the longest stretch since 1946-47 - but the Spiders couldn't muster enough offense to capitalize in a 49-37 loss Saturday night in the Siegel Center.
Coming off a near-upset of No. 5 ranked Louisville on Monday night, the Spiders had more trouble with VCU's defensive pressure as they committed a season-high 27 turnovers.
"VCU was the aggressor, our 27 turnovers was the effect of them playing very aggressive," Richmond head coach Chris Mooney said. "They took advantage of our weaknesses and they disrupted our offense. They were so relentless, they overwhelmed us."
"That's a difficult style to prepare for, but the guys did a good job of listening to the scouting report," VCU coach Jeff Capel said. "We wanted to put pressure on them in the backcourt and then double the pressure when they got into the front court. Our defense did a good job causing turnovers."
Richmond (4-4) trailed from the start, but pulled within one point (34-33) midway through the second half. VCU answered with a 13-0 run to take a 47-33 lead with 6:27 left and that would be good enough to pull out the win in the inaugural Farm Bureau Insurance Black & Blue Classic. During the Rams 13-0 spurt, Mooney was issued a technical foul.
"My technical foul was very costly," he said. "We were down only three at the time."
For the second time this season, Richmond did not have a player in double figures. Senior Kevin Steenberge led the Spiders with eight points, while junior Jermaine Bucknor was held to a season-low five points, just the second times in eight games he did not reach double figures.
"We did a terrific job on Bucknor and did a pretty good job on Steenberge," Capel said.
Nick George led VCU (4-2) with 13 points and Alexander Harper added 12. Richmond did hold the Rams to 36-percent shooting and out-rebounded VCU by a 34-23 margin.
This was the first time this season that the Spiders held an opponent to under 50 points and did not come away with the victory. The eight-game stretch of holding the opposition under 60 points is the longest such streak for Richmond since the 1946-47 season. The Spiders go into exam break leading the nation in scoring defense, holding opponents to just 50.5 points per game.
Richmond returns to action on Tuesday, Dec. 20 when the Spiders host Old Dominion at 7 p.m. in the Robins Center.
