University of Richmond
at No. 5 Louisville (Colonial Classic)
No. 5 Louisville Rallies To Edge Spiders, 53-45
12/05/2005 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 5, 2005
Box Score | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of Richmond men's basketball team led No. 5 ranked Louisville for the first 32 minutes Monday night - holding double-digit leads in both halves - but Taquan Dean came to the rescue as the Cardinals overtook the Spiders 53-45 before 18,491 fans at Freedom Hall.
"This was a great victory for us," Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. "It was very difficult coming back against them, we had a difficult time defending them. We had to go zone and make adjustments in the zone to not give them easy shots."
Dean, who was named the Colonial Classic MVP, scored a season-high 30 points, including 20 in the second half to lead Louisville (4-0) back from a 10-point second-half deficit. The senior made 7-of-15 shots from behind the arc, including 5-of-7 in the second half.
 Gaston Moliva drives to the basket before throwing down a thunderous dunk in the first half.  |
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"I thought our defense was good tonight," Richmond head coach Chris Mooney said. "We just couldn't contain Dean. A couple of times we played very good defense on him and he made really hard shots."
Dean scored 11 points in just over four minutes to lead Louisville back from a 10-point second-half deficit. With Louisville's third crowd of over 18,000 in as many days worked into a frenzy, the Spiders kept coming. Richmond trailed by four on two occassions in the final minute and Louisville didn't lead by more than six until Dean hit two free throws with six seconds left.
"We had opportunities to win the game," Richmond head coach Chris Mooney said. "I'm proud of our efforts and to come into Freedom Hall, one of the best venues in the country, and play one of the best teams in the country, I thought we gave a good account of ourselves."
Richmond held their opponent to under 60 points for the seventh-straight game to start the season, the longest such stretch since the John Beilein coached Spiders held the opposition to under 60 points for seven games in 2001-02.
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"Getting behind against Richmond was the worst possible scenario on a basketball court. You get behind on a team like them and it's an uphill battle all the way with the treadmill on level 10 in terms of incline."
Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
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"Our defense was terrific at times tonight," Mooney said. "We just have to understand that we need to play with urgency on ever possession. We did make it very hard for them to get anything going. We were stopping everything they drew up and then Dean would get something off the dribble. That's one of the best coaching staffs in the country and our guys were on everything they were coming up with."
Louisville's 53 points were the least the Cardinals have scored in a game in Freedom Hall in the five seasons Pitino has been their coach. But Pitino couldn't stop talking about Richmond's offense.
"Nevermind 24 hours, you need 24 days to prepare for them," Pitino said. "You can prepare at walk through, but unless you're conditioned to play against that type of offense, it's just not going to work. I'm very thankful our zone was good tonight."
Richmond senior Kevin Steenberge led the Spiders in scoring for the fourth-straight game with 15 points, including a career-high three 3-pointers. The Colonial Classic All-Tournament Team selection also tied a career high with five blocks, including four coming on Dean.
"I'd like to shake that guy's hand," Dean said. "I've never had that many shots blocked before."
"I think they got a little confused, I was on the perimeter and I'm guarding Taquan Dean," Steenberge said. "I was even a little confused, but I just tried to get my hand up and contest the shot."
Senior Jermaine Bucknor scored 10 points to reach double figures in scoring for the ninth time in his last 10 games dating back to last season. He hit two 3-pointers, giving him multiple treys in 10 of his last 11 games.
 Richmond's defense confused No. 5 ranked Louisville, but had trouble keeping Taquan Dean under wraps. |
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Richmond, which is very inexperienced in the backcourt, was expected to have trouble against Pitino's pressure, but the Spiders handled Louisville's press extremely well. The Spiders did finish with 18 turnovers, but several were unforced and most of the others came while running the half-court offense.
"When you play Louisville, they're going to pressure and disrupt you," Mooney said. "We were able to keep that to a minimum, and to do that with our inexperienced guards was very good."
The Spiders had their offense working right from the start as they jumped out to a 9-2 lead on a 3-pointer by Jarhon Giddings and then back-to-back 3s from Steenberge.
"Any game you want to be able to hit a few outside shots early so team can't pack it and they have to extend their defense," Steenberge said. "I got a couple of wide-open looks, I don't think they thought I had it in me."
Bucknor made two free throws and then junior Gaston Moliva drove the lane and slammed a thunderous dunk to open up a 13-4 advantage. After Louisville closed to 13-8, Bucknor sank a 3-pointer for a 16-8 advantage and after the Cardinals' Brian Johnson hit 1-of-2 free throws, Steenberge hit his career-high third 3-pointer to open up a 19-9 advantage with 9:48 left in the half.
Steenberge scored inside to beat the shot clock buzzer to give Richmond a 21-12 lead with 8:03 remaining in the half. Dean, who led the nation in 3-point field goal percentage last season, connected on his first 3-pointer, and after Bucknor answered with a trey to make it 24-15, Dean sank another trifecta to pull Louisville within in six at 24-18.
Steenberge sank a jumper to put the Spiders up 26-18, but a free throw by Johnson and a jumper by Brandon Jenkins had the Cardinals within five (26-21) at the half.
 Drew Crank and the Spiders kept heralded Louisville center David Padgett in check. |
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Richmond's offense worked to perfection starting the second half as junior Peter Thomas converted two back-door lay-ups and beat the Cardinals a third time - in the first four minutes of the half - only to get fouled and make both free throws.
"Getting behind against Richmond was the worst possible scenario on a basketball court," Pitino said. "You get behind a team like them and it's an uphill battle all the way with the treadmill on level 10 in terms of the incline."
But with Richmond leading by double figures at 32-22 with just over 15 minutes remaining, Dean took over. The senior, who helped lead Louisville to the Final Four last March, went on a 3-point barrage, hitting three in three minutes to pull the Cardinals within four points (36-32) with 12:06 left in the game.
"I knew we had to fight through it, I knew I had to make something happen, a great defensive stop or something on offense," Dean said.
On the Spiders next possession, Moliva tracked down an offensive rebound off a missed 3-pointer by Bucknor that hit the rim, but the shot clock was not reset and in confusion with less than five seconds left Richmond turned it over and Dean raced the other way, trying a lay-up that Bucknor swatted away, but he was called for goaltending. Television replays showed that the ball was still on its way up, but Richmond went from getting a new shot clock and running their offense through again, to leading by just two (36-34).
Moliva scored on a strong take inside to put the Spiders up 38-34, but Juan Palacios would score a pair of buckets, sandwiching one Richmond free throw, as Louisville closed to within one point at 39-38 with 9:17 to play.
 David Padgett gets away with a little extra contact in tying up Peter Thomas for a jump ball. |
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Dean gave Louisville its first lead of the game on a long 3-pointer that banked off the glass with 7:26 remaining. Bucknor answered with a lay-up to tie the game at 41-41, but a Chad Millard tip-in gave Louisville the lead for good at 43-41.
A free throw by Jenkins made it 44-41 with 5:05 left and after a Richmond turnover, Dean sank his seventh 3-pointer of the night to put Louisville up 47-41 with 4:11 left. Richmond broke a five-minute scoring drought when Steenberge connected on a jump shot to lose the gap to 47-43 with 1:35 left.
The Spiders used their solid match-up zone to frustrate the Cardinals, but with the shot clock running down Andre McGee was able to find David Padgett for a lay-up, the heralded centers only bucket of the night, that made it a six-point lead (49-43).
Sylla scored on a put-back of his own shot to pull Richmond within four again, but that's as close as the Spiders would get. Louisville's Terrence Williams and Dean made 4-of-4 free throws in the final 21 seconds to ice the game.
"We probably needed to play a perfect game, at the stage that we are at, if we wanted to be able to beat a Top-10 team like Louisville," Mooney said. "We weren't close enough to perfection to give us that little boost at the end."
After playing four games in five days, Richmond has four days off before making the short trip downtown to take on Virginia Commonwealth on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
