Men's Basketball Looks For 24th Win Saturday At Charlotte

March 6, 2010

PRE-GAME: GAME NOTES | KA NAMED CHALKTALK POY, GONZO HONORED

IN-GAME: WATCH

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Richmond concludes the regular season on Saturday at 2 p.m., looking to win for the third-straight season at Charlotte's Halton Arena.

Richmond (23-7, 12-3 Atlantic 10) has clinched a bye in the Atlantic 10 Tournament and will be at worst the third seed. The Spiders still have a chance to share the Atlantic 10 Regular-Season title with a win Saturday and a loss by Temple and Xavier. The Spiders have a shot at the two seed if Temple losses to George Washington and Richmond wins at Charlotte.

THE LATEST

A two-point double-overtime loss to now No. 25 ranked Xavier on Sunday ended the then No. 23/24 Spiders' two-week stay in the Top-25. Richmond is still receiving votes in both polls, sitting just outside the Associated Press Top-25 in the 27th spot. Richmond is receiving votes in the polls for the 8th week this season. The Spiders are 28th in the latest RPI and have a 5-2 record against RPI top-50 teams, with both losses to top-50 RPI teams coming in overtime. The Spiders are 6-2 vs. Top-52 RPI teams, with wins over Temple (15), Rhode Island (30), Missouri (32), Old Dominion (39), Dayton (42) and Florida (52) and overtime losses to Xavier (19) and Wake Forest (34).

Richmond broke into the Top-25 on Feb. 15 for the first time in 24 years and was ranked again on Feb. 22, the first time the Spiders were ranked in back-to-back weeks in 52 years. Prior to this season, the Spiders had been ranked for one week (Jan. 30, 1986) since the 1957-58 season.

Richmond, Xavier and Temple have clinched top-5 finishes in the Atlantic 10 and will be the only 3 teams able to claim a top-5 A-10 finish in each of the last 3 seasons. The Spiders have clinched at worst a third-place finish and the third-seed in the Atlantic 10 Tournament, Richmond's best finish since joining the league in 2001-02. The Spiders 12 league wins are the most as a member of the Atlantoc 10.

The Spiders have a school regular-season record 23 wins, 3 shy of the season record.

David Gonzalvez was named the National Player of the Week on Feb. 15 by ESPN's Andy Katz after averaging 22 points per game and shooting 60 percent in 2 games. He is tied for 5th on UR's scoring list with 1,630 points, needing one point to pass Curtis Blair. Gonzalvez is 3rd on UR's career list for threes (223) needing 12 to reach 2nd.

Dan Geriot is 38th on Richmond's all-time scoring list with 1,012 points after becoming the 39th Spider, and just the 12th junior, to reach 1,000 career points. Gonzalvez reached 1,000 as a junior and junior Kevin Anderson is already 10th on Richmond's all-time scoring list with 1,458 points, 24 points behind Jarod Stevenson (1,482) for 9th.

A win Saturday would tie Richmond with Xavier for the best road record in the A-10 play at 6-2 and give the Spiders the best road record in the Atlantic 10 over the past 2 seasons at 11-5. Richmond has won 8 of its last 10 A-10 road games.

The Spiders are 2nd in the Atlantic 10 in turnover margin (+4.30) and 10th in the nation. Richmond is 2nd in the A-10 in fewest turnovers (11.5 tpg), which ranks 30th in the nation. UR leads the A-10 and is 28th in the nation in steals (8.6) and have had more steals than turnovers in 12 games this season, including 4 of the last 5.

Quick Hitters
Kevin Anderson was named College Chalktalk's Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, and was picked First-Team All-Atlantic 10, while David Gonzalvez was named Second-Team All-Atlantic 10 and All-Defensive Team...the Spiders have 9 wins against teams that played in the postseason last year....Richmond has wins over, Dayton (NCAA), Temple (NCAA), Chattanooga (NCAA), Mississippi State (NCAA), Missouri (NCAA), Florida (NIT), Rhode Island (NIT), Old Dominion (College Insider.com Champion) and Duquesne (NIT)...the Spiders won back-to-back games as a ranked team for the first tine in school history...Richmond finished 14-1 at home, the 3rd highest home win total in school history and best home winning percentage when playing more than 9 homes games in school history... the 1981-82 team went 15-3 and the 1954-55 team was 15-5...this is Richmond's 17th 20-win season, including its 2nd straight..Richmond is 31-10 since Feb. 18, 2009...the Spiders and Xavier are the only teams who will have at least a .500 A-10 road record in the last 3 seasons...Xavier has the most A-10 road wins over the last 3 seasons (16), followed by UR (14)...Richmond's 8-game winning streak that ended Sunday was the longest since the 1997-98 season and the longest conference winning streak since the 1990-91 season. when the Spiders played in the CAA...Richmond has been getting plenty of national publicity, prompting a Washington Post blogger to write, "the Spiders are getting so much love from ESPN, you would think Brett Favre was their point guard."...the Spiders were featured with articles in USA Today and Sports Illustrated last week and will be featured in the New York Times on Sunday...the 2009-10 Spiders matched the 1985-86 team as the fastest to 20 wins by calendar date, both reaching the milestone on Feb. 13...the Spiders have held 15 of 30 opponents to 60 points or less and have held 22 of 30 opponents to 65 points or less...the Spiders defeated Saint Louis 62-36 on Jan. 30, holding the Billikens to the lost point total for a Richmond opponent in Atlantic 10 play since joining the league in 2001-02...it was the lowest point total for a Richmond opponent since defeating American 73-32 on Feb. 21, 2001...the Spiders tied the school record for steals last season with 262 and have grabbed 244 in 28 games this season (8.4 spg), which is 2nd in the A-10...Kevin Anderson is 2nd in the A-10 in minutes played, 3rd in steals, 5th in scoring and 6th in FG pct...the Spiders have won 3-straight vs. ranked opponents with wins over No. 17 Temple on Feb. 6, No. 13 ranked Florida on Dec. 19 and No. 17 ranked Xavier last March...Richmond has won 4 of its last 6 vs. ranked teams in the last three seasons under Chris Mooney...the Spiders are 3-2 vs. teams from BCS conferences this season, giving Richmond the most wins against teams from the Power 6 conferences since the 1985-86 team defeated Providence, Wake Forest, Stanford and Virginia...Chris Mooney has 9 victories over teams from a BCS conference in 6 years as a D-I head coach, including 7 in his 5 seasons at Richmond...the Spiders have won 4 of the last 6 games against BCS teams dating back to a win over St. John's last March...the Spiders have erased deficits of 8 or more in 78wins this season...Richmond has 3 of the 12 Spiders who have reached 1,000 points as juniors (David Gonzalvez, Kevin Anderson and Dan Geriot)...Richmond's defense held Florida to its lowest point total in a loss in Billy Donovan's 16 seasons as head coach of the Gators...it is just the 5th time in 470 games under Donovan that Florida did not reach 54 points...Richmond held Missouri to the second-lowest point total under fourth-year head coach Mike Anderson and the 2nd lowest shooting percentage of the season behind Kansas...Richmond has allowed just 86 fastbreak points in 30 games (2.9 pg)...Richmond has held the opposition to 5 fastbreak points or less in 24 of 30 games...the Spiders have held the opposition to 64 points or less in 20 of their 23 wins...Richmond has led by double-figures in 18 of its 30 games, at least 8 points in all but 5 games and by at least 6 points in all but the last 2 games...Richmond has won by 26 points or more 5 times this season.

A New Spider
The Spiders adopted a 14-year-old who has a brain tumor as part of the team through the Friends of Jacyln Foundation. Nathan, who is originally from Zambia, has been living in Richmond for 6 years. He attends games, practices and exchanges text messages with the players and was on the court for introductions and the National Anthem on Thursday night against Dayton.

South Padre Island Champions
The Spiders won the 2009 South Padre Island Invitational, defeating defending SEC Champion Mississippi State in the semifinals and defending Big 12 Champion Missouri in the title game. Kevin Anderson was named tournament MVP, while Ryan Butler and David Gonzalvez joined him on the All-Tournament Team. The four previous winners of the South Padre Island Invitational were Illinois (twice), Vanderbilt and Oklahoma State.

Stealing The Show
The 2009-10 Spiders have three players, among the top-5 on Richmond's career list for steals. Kevin Anderson and David Gonzalvez are tied for 3rd in the Atlantic 10 for steals this season and Ryan Butler is 8th (see above). Butler is 4th all-time at Richmond with 166 steals, while Gonzalvez is 5th (164) and Anderson is 6th (159).

Gonzo Top-10 In Scoring
Senior Reggie Brown for 2nd.

Anderson Already Top-10 In Scoring
Junior Kevin Anderson is already 10th on Richmond's all-time scoring list as a junior, needing 24 points to tie Jarod Stevenson for 9th.

Preseason Honors
The Spiders have piled up the preseason honors as the only Atlantic 10 team with three players earning preseason all-conference honors. Junior Kevin Anderson was named to the Atlantic 10 Preseason All-Conference 1st-Team, while senior David Gonzalvez was tabbed to the 2nd-Team and junior Dan Geriot was named to the 3rd-Team. With Anderson, Gonzalvez and Geriot, the Spiders boast 3 of the 9 A-10 players who have earned all-conference honors in their career. Anderson was a 2nd-Team All A-10 10 pick last season, while Gonzalvez was honorable mention all-conference. Geriot was named 3rd-Team All A-10 as a sophomore, before missing last season due to injury.

Preseason Hype
Richmond was picked to finish third in the Atlantic 10 by almost every preseason poll, including the conference's coaches and media poll from which they received four first-place votes. USA Today and FoxSports.com have the Spiders in the 2010 NCAA Tournament field, while FoxSports' Jeff Goodman had the Spiders on his list of Twenty More To Watch outside the Top-25. ESPN's Jay Bilas, Fran Frachilla and Andy Katz mentioned the Spiders multiple times in their blogs and the Denver Post ranked Richmond as the No. 4 on its list of program's on the rise. Jay Bilas and Fran Fraschilla both picked the Spiders as the nation's sleeper team for this season. Lindy's ranked Kevin Anderson as the No. 17 best point guard in the nation and Dan Geriot as the No. 23 center, while FoxSports.com's Goodman tabbed Gonzalvez the No. 39 best shooter in the country.

Like Father, Like Son
Richmond junior Ryan Butler and his father Jeff Butler are the second father-son duo to play for the Spiders, joining Pat DiServio (1981-83) and Tony DiServio (1945-47). Jeff Butler was a star for the Spiders from 1975-77, leading the team in scoring both seasons. He averaged 14.3 points per game in 1975-76 and 16.3 points per game in 1976-77. Jeff Butler was later an assistant coach for the Spiders under Hall of Fame coach Dick Tarrant, who regularly attends games in the Robins Center. Ryan Butler grew up in the shadow of campus, and starred at Douglas Freeman High three miles from campus. Butler scored a career-high 19 points in the win over Mississippi State and was named to the All-Tournament Team as the Spiders won the South Padre Island Invitational. Jeff Butler and his wife Ruth have travelled to every road game this season.

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 with a complex match-up zone that frustrated opponents. The Spiders finished the year allowing 57.8 points per game, which ranked seventh in the country. In 2006-07, with five freshmen seeing the bulk of the minutes, the Spiders did not have as much success defensively, but the past 3 seasons Richmond has been better on the defensive end, allowing 66.0 ppg in 2007-08, 67.5 ppg in 2008-09 and 60.6 ppg this season. After a slow start on the defensive end last season, Richmond held back-to-back opponents (Rice and George Washington) to under 50 points for the first time since the 1950-51 season. The Spiders have held opponents to 50 points or less 21 times in 158 games under Mooney and have held teams to 60 points or less 71 times, including 15 times this season. Richmond has allowed over 70 points in regulation just 37 times in Mooney's 5 seasons and has allowed 80 or more points just 12 times.

4 Man
With three players earning Preseason All-Conference Honors the Spiders are very capable of scoring on the offensive end, but do not forget about forward Justin Harper. A sportswriter passed on that when doing a preview for one of the summer preseason publications, A-10 coaches mentioned Harper as the league's best NBA prospect. The 6-foot-10 forward had a 28-point, 9-rebound performance in a win over Rhode Island last season with a Los Angeles Lakers scout in the Robins Center, earning him Atlantic10 Player of the Week honors. Harper also had 20 points and 8 rebounds in Richmond's win over No. 17 ranked Xavier last March and with the Lakers scout back in the Robins Center this season. He has scored in double-figures in 13 of the last 17 games.

Spiders Sign 3
Chris Mooney announced the signing of guard Cedrick Lindsay (Washington, D.C.), guard Wayne Sparrow (Baltimore, Md.) and forward Derrick Williams (Staten Island, N.Y.) to National Letters of Intent. "We are thrilled with this recruiting class," Mooney said. "These three players come from three of the best high school programs in the country." Lindsay is a 6-foot-0 guard who plays for coach Steve Turner at No. 20 ranked Gonzaga College Prep, Sparrow a 6-foot-3 guard from St. Frances Academy who plays for former Temple star Mark Karcher and Williams is a 6-foot-6 forward who plays for legendary coach Bob Hurley at No. 24 ranked St. Anthony's High School in Jersey City.

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