University of Richmond Athletics
Men's Basketball Hits The Road Looking To Hand Rhode Island First Home Loss
01/28/2008 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 28, 2008
Atlantic 10 Weekly Conference Call:
RICHMOND'S CHRIS MOONEY
RHODE ISLAND'S JIM BARON
IN-GAME COVERAGE: LISTEN | GAMETRACKER
TV: Cox (RI) with Dave Jageler and Abu Bakar.
RADIO: ESPN Radio 950 AM, 93.1 WOLF FM and RichmondSpiders.com with Bob Black and Matt Smith.
KINGSTON, R.I. - Fresh off an 80-63 rout over No. 16 ranked Dayton in the Robins Center, the Spiders hit the road for two games beginning with a match-up with Rhode Island on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
Richmond (10-8, 3-2 Atlantic 10) plays its next two games against teams that have not lost in their own arenas. Rhode Island (17-3, 3-2 Atlantic 10) is 9-0 at home and Charlotte is 9-0 in Halton Arena, where the Spiders will face them on Saturday. The 49ers split two home games at Charlotte Bobcats Arena, beating Wake Forest and losing to Maryland.
The Spiders defeated Rhode Island 71-69 in the final regular-season game last year and hold an 8-4 advantage in the all-time series. The home team has dominated the series with the Spiders winning all six meetings in Richmond and the Rams taking four of five in Kingston.
THE LATEST
SCOUTING RICHMOND:
As Dayton head coach Brian Gregory pointed out after the Spiders handed Dayton an 80-63 setback on Saturday, it's the Spiders defense that allows them to beat people. Gregory cited Richmond holding Virginia Tech to 49 points as an example of Richmond's stingy defense. The Hokies have scored less than 67 points in just one of five ACC games this season and that was an 81-64 loss to Duke last Thursday.
SCOUTING RHODE ISLAND:
The Rams had won nine-straight entering A-10 play. Rhode Island has scored over 80 points in 14 games this season and has scored under 70 in just one game, a 68-61 loss to Saint Louis. The Spiders have allowed 70 or more points just seven times this season and 80 or more points just twice, to currently No. 1 ranked Memphis (80) and Saint Joseph's (81).
Quick Hitters
Richmond's next two games are against teams that have not lost in their home arena this season...the Spiders have been no worse than in a one-possession game at the half in 15 of 18 games this season......the Spiders largest lead of the season was the 25-point lead (53-38) in the second half against No. 16 ranked Dayton on Saturday and Richmond's 46-27 halftime lead was its largest lead at the break this season...Richmond is first in the Atlantic 10 in field goal percentage for conference games, shooting 48.5 percent through five A-10 contests...the Spiders are 7-1 when they shoot less than 20 three-pointers...of Richmond's 10 wins, only the last two have been by double-figures...11 of Richmond's 18 games have been decided by six points or less with eight decided by three points or less...Richmond is 8-3 in games decided by six points or less...Richmond is 9-1 when it has a higher shooting percentage than its opponent...the Spiders are 4-1 when Kevin Anderson leads the team in steals...Richmond is 9-2 when Kevin Smith plays at least 16 minutes...the Spiders have led by at least seven points in 15 of 18 games this season and have led by at least four points in all but one game...the Spiders are 8-0 all-time in triple OT games after a 75-74 triple OT win at La Salle.
Gunning Down The Running
The Spiders did a good job of stopping up tempo teams in 2006-07, allowing the opposition to score more than 10 fast break points in just three of 30 games last year. The Spiders allowed 5.4 fast break points per game last year and have allowed 4.6 fastbreak points per game this year. Richmond has held the opposition to eight or less fastbreak points in 15 of 18 games this year.
Stealing The Show
The Spiders are second in the Atlantic 10 and 28th in the nation in steals at 9.3 per contest. Richmond has double-digits in steals in five of the last six games and has had at least six steals in every game this season. Richmond tied a season high with 13 steals against Virginia Tech on Jan. 3, led by freshman Kevin Anderson's six steals. Sophomore Ryan Butler had six steals in the win over No. 16 Dayton on Saturday, taking over the team lead from Anderson. The Spiders have three players in the top-10 in the conference in steals. Butler is fourth in the A-10 at 1.83 per game, while Anderson is tied for fifth (1.72) and sophomore David Gonzalvez is 10th (1.61).
Balanced Attack
Richmond has had a balanced scoring attack all season as evident by the fact the team's top two scorers, sophomores Dan Geriot and David Gonzalvez, had only scored in double-figures twice in the same game through the first 16 contests, before doing so in the last two games. The Spiders have eight different players who have scored in double-figures this season and nine players averaging at least 3.3 points. In the win over Dayton five players scored at least nine points, led by Gonzalvez (20) and Geriot (19).
The Big Man On Campus
Sophomore 6-foot-9 center Dan Geriot scored the third most points by a Spider freshman with 356 and already has 266 through 18 games this season (14.8 ppg) giving him 622 points through 48 college games (13.0 ppg). He currently has the seventh-highest career scoring total for a sophomore at Richmond and is on pace to have one of the school's top-5 scoring totals after sophomore year. Geriot put on quite a scoring exhibition in a five-game stretch from Nov. 10 through Nov. 24. He scored over 20 points four times and reached double-figures in all five games. Over that five-game stretch, the Springfield, Pa. native averaged 19.4 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists. He shot 54.5 percent (33-of-66) in the span, including 44.4 percent from three-point land (8-of-18). Geriot has scored at least 19 points in three of the last four games and is averaging 19.8 points per game in Atlantic 10 play, which is tied for fifth in the league. Geriot leads the team with a 14.8 scoring average and 4.8 rebounds per game. He has scored in double-figures 13 times this season and 32 times in his career.
Tale Of Two Halves
The Spiders had clearly been a first-half team for the first 10 games of this season, averaging just 26.7 points in the second half and shooting just 38.5 percent from the field and 29.6 percent from three after the break. Then over a three-game stretch in wins against Old Dominion, VMI and Virginia Tech, the Spiders averaged 33 points per game, shot 56.3 percent from the field and 45.3 percent from three. The Spiders struggles with the second half returned in as Richmond let a 15-point second-half lead slip away at La Salle on Jan. 9, before winning in triple OT. Against Saint Joseph's on Jan. 12, the Spiders trailed by seven at the half, but let the Hawks open up a 16-point lead less than three minutes in with an 8-0 run to start the half. The Spiders came back to score 50 points in the second half - the most points in a half for the Spiders since March 1, 2006 - in the win over St. Bonaventure. Richmond has let leads of 17 (with 13 minutes to play), 11 (with four minutes to play) and seven (with three minutes to play) slip away in the second half in three of its six losses.
A-10 On The Rebound
After a few down years the Atlantic 10 looks to be back among the nation's elite conferences. The conference, which has had at least four teams in the NCAA Tournament on five occasions since 1996, will look to put three or more teams in the NCAAs for the first time since 2004. That season Richmond was one of four A-10 teams in the Big Dance and No. 1 ranked Saint Joseph's and Xavier advanced to the Elite 8. This season the A-10 has been as high as fifth in the RPI. The conference has had three teams ranked in the same week and currently has four teams either ranked or receiving votes in the AP poll.
Duinker Dunks In ROBC
Sydney, Australia native Josh Duinker arrived in the United States for the first time, landing in Richmond two weeks ago after a 30-hour trip. The 6-foot-10, 215 pound forward/center began taking classes and practicing with the team two days later. He has showed athleticism, living up to his name with several dunks and displayed a smooth shooting stroke and the ability to dribble. The plan is to have Duinker redshirt this season and begin play as a freshman with the Spiders in 2008-09.
Tenacious D
In Chris Mooney's first season at Richmond in 2005-06, 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 year. The Spiders finished the year allowing 57.8 points per game, which ranked seventh in the country. Last season, with five freshmen seeing the bulk of the minutes, the Spiders did not have as much success defensively, giving up over 60 points in 27 of 30 games. This season the more mature Spiders' are getting back to their defensive stinginess from two years ago. Richmond is third in the Atlantic 10 in fewest points allowed at 65.1 per game. Richmond has held 10 teams to 65 points or less this season and the Spiders have held opponents to 50 points or less 15 times in 78 games under Mooney. The Spiders have held teams to 60 points or less 24 times under Mooney, including five times this season, and allowed over 70 points just 18 times in Mooney's three seasons in the West End.
Spiders Earn A-10 Honors
Richmond freshmen Kevin Smith and Kevin Anderson have each earned Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week honors this season, giving the Spiders four players on the roster who have earned A-10 Rookie of the Week honors in the last two years. Smith received the honor on Jan. 6 after scoring a career-high 13 points in Richmond's win over Virginia Tech on Jan. 3. He also had a career-high five assists and tied a career-high with five rebounds and two steals in 28 minutes. Anderson earned the award on Jan. 21 after averaging 13.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists in two games. He scored a career-high 20 points and grabbed a career-high eight rebounds in a win over St. Bonaventure on Jan. 16.
Three Not As Flowing
Through the first nine games of the 2007-08 season the Spiders were letting three-pointers fly at a clip of 20.5 per game, making an average of 6.8 per game and shooting just 33.5 percent. In the last nine games Richmond is averaging 18.0 three-pointers, but has still made 6.6 per game. Richmond had shot 20 or more three-pointers in seven of the first nine games, but has shot 20 or more threes just three times in the last nine games. The Spiders are 7-1 when they shoot under 20 three-pointers.
Two-Dimensional
The Spiders finished the 2006-07 season ranked 35th in the nation in two-point field goal percentage shooting 52.6 percent from inside the arc. Richmond is shooting 50.3 percent on two-pointers this season.
Causing Turnover
The Spiders are second in the A-10 in turnovers forced, causing 17.8 turnovers per game. They have forced the opposition into 20 or more turnovers five times this year, including three of the last six games.
Youth Movement
Richmond has just three scholarship players in their junior and senior seasons and the Spiders are receiving 82 percent of their scoring from freshmen and sophomores. Richmond's top four scorers are sophomores Dan Geriot (14.8) and David Gonzalvez (11.1), freshman Kevin Anderson (9.1) and sophomore Ryan Butler (6.4). Six of the top seven scorers are in their freshman or sophomore year.
Using More Windex
The Spiders have been up and down with rebounding this season, having only out-rebounded the opposition in five games, but four of those five have come in the last eight games. Richmond out-rebounded Dayton 30-25 on Saturday. The Spiders were out-rebounded by 13.7 boards per game in conference play last year, but is being out-boarded by just 5.0 rebounds per game through five conference games this season. Overall, Richmond is being out-rebounded by 5.8 boards per game this year, averaging 28.8 rebounds per game, an increase over the 24.1 from last year.
Closing The Deal
The Spiders knew they finished the 2006-07 season strong, but after the Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll came out, it is even more impressive how the youthful Richmond team finished. In four games, the Spiders enjoyed double-figure leads in victories against the teams predicted to finish second (Rhode Island) and third (Saint Joseph's), and lost 63-61 in the A-10 tourney to the team picked fourth (Fordham).
