University of Richmond Athletics
Men's Basketball Plays At Saint Louis Wednesday At 8:00 P.M.
02/27/2007 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 27, 2007
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<>< pre="">ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The Richmond men's basketball team will go for its third win in the last five games when the Spiders play at Saint Louis on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. CT in the Scottrade Center.
The Spiders led by as many as 21-points against Saint Joseph's twice with under eight minutes to play in a 78-68 victory over the Hawks on Wednesday night. It was the Spiders' second-straight home win.
Richmond freshman David Gonzalvez will not play against Saint Louis on Wednesday. Gonzalvez is suspended for one game due to a violation of team rules.
The Spiders have won two of their last four games and needs to win at least one of the remaining two contests to qualify for the 2007 Atlantic 10 Tournament. The Spiders are one game behind St. Bonaventure in the standings and tied with La Salle. With a victory in its last two games against either Saint Louis or Rhode Island, Richmond would hold the tiebreaker over St. Bonaventure because, while the teams split, the Spiders would have a better record against the highest-seeded common opponent. If the three teams tied, St. Bonaventure would have the tiebreaker due to a 2-1 record in the three teams' head-to-head match-ups.
Saint Louis (17-7, 7-7 Atlantic 10) had a two-game winning streak snapped on Saturday at UMass, but have won six-straight home games. Tommie Liddell leads the team in scoring at 15.7 points per game and Kevin Lisch is averaging 14.7. Ian Vouyoukas averages 11.3 points per game.
NOTES
Youth Being Served
The Spiders are a young team with five freshmen who play at least 14.9 minutes per game, four of whom are Richmond's top four scorers. The Spiders have started four freshmen in 10 games, including the past four, and at least three freshmen in 22 of 27 games. The Spiders receive 68.7 percent of their scoring from freshmen, the largest percent of freshmen scoring contribution in the Atlantic 10. Richmond will lose just one player off this year's squad, senior Peter Thomas (6.8 ppg). Senior Gaston Moliva is out for the season and will seek a medical hardship.
Guarded Optimism
Last season, in head coach Brian Morris and Ryan Butler have done a great job keeping the Spiders' turnovers down and are three of the top four scorers. The problem has been getting all three of them, or even two of them, to play well in the same game. In the last four games, all three freshmen have played well and that has led to more success for the Spiders. Gonzalvez scored 21 points in the win over Saint Joseph's, while Morris has been the team's leading scorer in three of the last five games. Butler leads the team in 3-pointers.
3's Company
Richmond's offense relied heavily on the 3-point shot in 2005-06 as the Spiders took 47.7 percent of their field goal attempts from behind the arc, but shot just 29.5 percent. Richmond did not have the complement of 3-point shooters that thrive in this type of offense, but have added several players who can make the outside shot. That has begun to show as nine different players have made a 3-pointer and seven of them have made at least 13 trifectas. Richmond has made a season-high 11 3-pointers twice and has made at least five 3-pointers in all but seven of 27 games.
Gunning Down The Running
Do not think the Spiders are going to get run out of the gym. Richmond held Duquesne and Xavier to a combined six fast-break points. The Spiders have allowed only three of 27 opponents to score more than 10 fast break points in a game this season. The Spiders are allowing 5.9 fast break points per game.
Two-Dimensional
Richmond is not relying as heavily on the 3-point shot this year. The Spiders took 47.7 percent of their shots from behind the 3-point arc last season and are down to taking 40.1 percent of its shots from behind the arc this year. The Spiders are scoring inside more than last year, averaging 26.7 points in the paint per game, which is more than their opponents (26.5).
Adjusting To New Roles
Four of Richmond's five true freshmen - Brian Morris, David Brewster and Kevin Hovde - were the leading scorer's on their high school teams last season, each averaging over 20 points per game. (Freshman David Gonzalvez was the sixth man for Notre Dame Prep, the No. 1 prep team in the nation). While each of the freshmen has scored in double-figures at least once and Geriot is leading the team in scoring at 11.1 points per game, they have obviously found it tougher to score consistently in their first year in college. The challenge for head coach Chris Mooney and his staff is to get these former high school stars to perform in all areas of the game, even when they are not scoring. The freshmen have showed signs of putting it all together, just not all in the same game.
Moliva's Return On Hold
Richmond had senior Gaston Moliva back from injury on Jan. 6 against Fordham, but Moliva suffered discomfort in his foot and has not played since. The Spiders looked like a different team on Jan. 6 against Fordham with the addition of 6-foot-7, 230 pound senior Gaston Moliva, who was out for the first 13 games of the season with a stress fracture in his foot suffered in preseason practice. Moliva has played since Jan. 6 and will not return this season. He will apply for a hardship waiver in hopes of regaining his final season of eligibility.
Tenacious D
Last season the Spiders led the nation in fewest points allowed for most of the season, not allowing 60 points or more for the first 10 games of the season and finishing the year allowing 57.8 points per game. This season, with six freshmen seeing the bulk of the minutes, the Spiders have not had as much success defensively, giving up over 60 points in 24 of 27 games, but the defense has shown signs of things to come. On Dec. 5 in Tampa, Fla. the Spider freshmen seemed to finally get what the coaches have been stressing. Richmond had South Florida stuck on 28 points with just over eight minutes to play and only allowed 46 points for the game. The Spiders have held opponents to 50 points or less 12 times in 57 games under second-year head coach Chris Mooney. The Spiders have held teams to 60 points or less 19 times under Mooney and allowed over 70 points just 12 times.
Like Player, Like Coach
Richmond has started four freshmen in its first two games of the season and while "freshmen are freshmen," Richmond head coach knows that freshmen can step right in and contribute. Mooney pulled the rare accomplishment of starting as a freshman for Hall of Fame coach Pete Carril at Princeton, doing so on a defending Ivy League championship team that had all five starters returning. Mooney was the runner-up for Ivy League Rookie of the Year and helped the Tigers to the Ivy League title and a NCAA bid.
Needing Some More Windex
Head coach Chris Mooney knew rebounding was going to be a problem entering the season. The Spiders have been out-rebounded in 24 of 27 games this season, but did out-rebound Duquesne 30-27 in Richmond's victory on Feb. 18. While Mooney believes the Spiders can get by without winning the rebounding battle, he knows they can not get beat too much on the glass. As Mooney said earlier this season, "rebounding will bother us all season because we're such a small team. If we get out-rebounded by nine then we have a chance, but we cannot get out-rebounded by 18 and expect to win." As head coach Chris Mooney said after the game, rebound is "usually an indication of how hard you are playing."
