University of Richmond Athletics
Men's Basketball To Play VCU In Black & Blue Classic Saturday
12/08/2005 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 10, 2005
RICHMOND, Va.- The University of Richmond men's basketball team, coming off a near victory over No. 5 ranked Louisville in front of 18,461 fans in Freedom Hall, will face its second true road test on Saturday at city-rival VCU.
The rivalry game, now known as the Farm Bureau Insurance Black & Blue Classic, will tip-off at 7:30 p.m. at VCU's Alltell Pavilion at the Siegel Center.
"I think it's the best thing in the world," Richmond head coach Chris Mooney said of the city-rivalry. "When you have something like this, the games often aren't played very well, they get a little sloppy because of all the intensity and emotion involved, but we want that, we embrace that."
The Spiders will look to carry over their play from Monday night against No. 5 Louisville, when Richmond led by as many as 10 points.
"I think that we played very well down there, it's great anytime you play a top-five team very well on their home floor," Mooney said. "I think we were very close to winning the game, I think if a couple of different things go our way, we win that game. I think we have a lot more confidence now, but one thing we have to guard against is I think we had confidence coming out of the Seton Hall win and then we didn't play well our next game. We need to make sure the reason we did play well is because of how hard we played and the urgency we had."
"You can tell they're guys are getting more comfortable with the offense," VCU coach Jeff Capel said. "I just watched the tape of them playing Louisville and they played great, they played great. It took Taquan Dean hitting a couple of big shots to pull that win out It's really important for us to concentrate on a couple of core things, a couple of movements and really have great communication."
Richmond (4-3) will look to avenge a 58-50 loss to the VCU last year at the Alltell Pavilion.
 Gaston Moliva has become more comfortable with running the Spiders' offense and has helped Richmond defensively.  |
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"They generate a lot of offense from their defense," Mooney said of VCU. "They're a little more of a veteran team and they have a great player that they're trying to get the ball to. The key for us to continue to be very alert when we're playing our defense. The more alert we are, the more in-tune with our scouting report, the better we are. I think we did a very good job against Louisville with that, talking on defense and not letting them get anything out of their offense."
This will be the Spiders fourth-straight game away from the Robins Center, but only the second on the opponents' home court. Richmond played two neutral court games in Freedom Hall before facing tournament-host Louisville on Monday night.
Playing in front of the largest crowd they will see during the regular season, Richmond showed composure, jumping out to a 9-2 lead and not letting the fifth-ranked Cardinals take the lead until the final seven minutes of the game. Even when Louisville took its first lead, bringing the near sellout of 18,461 to a frenzy, the Spiders did not get flustered. Richmond trailed by just four points with the ball on two occasions in the final minute.
"That was a great experience, especially for the younger guys," Richmond senior Kevin Steenberge said. "That will definitely help us when we play at VCU and it will help us all season when we play on the road. We went into one of the best atmospheres in college basketball and we were not intimidated."
Richmond held Louisville to its lowest point total in Freedom Hall during Rick Pitino's tenure. The Spiders lead the nation in scoring defense, limiting opponents to 50.7 points per game. They have not allowed any of their seven opponents to score 60 points this season, the longest such stretch since John Beilein's 2001-02 squad did so for the same number of games. The last time Richmond held eight-straight opponents to under 60 points was in the 1946-47 season.
The Spiders are hoping to do that against VCU as they get set to break for exams. Richmond will then play Old Dominion, who defeated VCU in overtime of the 2005 Colonial Athletic Association Tournament, on Dec. 20 in the Robins Center.
This is the first time that Richmond has faced two CAA teams in a season since 2000-01, the Spiders last season as a member of the league. Richmond will play a third CAA team this season when it hosts William & Mary on Dec. 31 in the Robins Center.