Spiders Play At UCLA Friday
12/22/2011 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Richmond plays at UCLA Friday night at the LA Sports Arena in a game televised nationally on Prime Ticket.
Bob Black and Matt Smith will broadcast the game on the Spider IMG Sports Network on ESPN Radio 950AM, The WOLF 93.1, Sirius Ch. 128 and here at RichmondSpiders.com.
The Latest
- The Spiders head to the West Coast to take on a Pac 12 school for the second-straight year after winning at Airzona State last December. The Spiders are 11-5 in their last 16 games against BCS conference teams, including 2-1 this season and Chris Mooney has 16 wins over BCS conference teams in 8 years as a D-I head coach, including 14 in 7 seasons at Richmond. Richmond is 6-8 vs. the Pac 12.
- Junior Darien Brothers, the only returning starter off last year's Top-25 and Sweet 16 team, scored a career-high 38 points in the win over Old Dominion on Tuesday. It was the most points scored by a Spider since Greg Stevenson scored 38 against McNeese State on Jan. 4, 2001. Brothers made 7-of-11 three-pointers against Old Dominion and has now made 30-of-53 three-pointers in the last 10 games for an impressive 56.7 percent.
- The Spiders lost four starters and 5,000 career points to graduation last spring after winning 55 game, making back-to-back NCAA Tournaments, reaching the 2011 Sweet 16, winning the 2011 A-10 Championship and finishing the last two seasons ranked in the Top-25.
- Richmond hits the road for the 7th time in the last 9 games. The Spiders, who have been the best road team in the A-10 the last three years, are 3-4 away from the Robins Center this season, having lost their last two road games.
- Senior Darrius Garrett just missed a triple-double Tuesday against Old Dominion with 9 points, 9 blocks and 13 rebounds. Garrett, who blocked the 2nd most shots in NCAA Division I game (14), is 2nd on Richmond's all-time career list for blocks with 171, needing 12 blocks to tie Tim Faulconer for first. Garrett is 7th in the nation in blocks per game (3.8 bpg) and the Spiders are 32nd in the nation (5.8).
- With more athleticism and strength in the lineup, Richmond expected to get to the foul line a lot more this year and the Spiders are doing just that, having taken 283 free throws through 12 games, for an average of 23.6 free throws per game, Richmond is connecting on 75.6 percent of its free throws this season, which ranks 16th in the nation.
Quick Hitters
It is impossible to defend a free throw, but the Spiders rank 344th out of 350 teams in free throw percentage defense with opponents shooting 78.5 percent from the line...this year's senior class needs just 9 more wins to equal last year's seniors as the winningest class in school history (91 wins)...the Spiders have led from start to finish in 5 of its 7 victories this season...Richmond is 68-25 (.731) in last 93 games...the Spiders are 16-2 vs. non-conference opponents in the Robins Center over the last three seasons...Richmond is 24-4 in the last 28 non-conference home games dating back to the 2007-08 season...Richmond is 31-5 in its last 36 home games....Justin Harper, the 31st pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, signed a two-year contract with the Orlando Magic...the Spiders current senior class needs 10 victories to equal last year's senior class as the winningest in school history...the Spiders are 28-6 in their last 34 Atlantic 10 regular-season games.
Easy As A (Anthony)-B (Brothers)-C (Ced)
Richmond has boasted one of the best backcourts in the Atlantic 10 over the last few years, but even after graduating two of the top-6 scorers in school history (Kevin Anderson and David Gonzalvez) over the last two years, it looks like Richmond might have its deepest backcourt yet under Chris Mooney with three guards averaging double-figures in scoring. Sophomore Cedrick Lindsay starts at point guard and is averaging 13.0 points and 4.3 assists after playing a key role in Richmond's run to the A-10 Championship and NCAA Sweet 16 last March. Junior Darien Brothers is the only returning starter and is averaging 12.8 points per game while shooting 51.7 percent from 3 (30-56). Freshman Kendall Anthony has quickly established himself as a high-level scorer off the bench. The runner-up for Mr. Basketball in Tennessee last year, Anthony leads the team in scoring at 14.2 points per game and has won three A-10 Rookie of the Week awards.
Giant Killers To Giants
Richmond earned a reputation for being Giant Killers with its NCAA Tournament victories in the 1980s and 90s, but the Spiders' victories over so-called Giants have become the norm. Richmond won 5 of 7 games against BCS conference teams last season, the most in school history. The Spiders are 11-5 in their last 16 games against BCS conference teams, including 2-1 this season and Chris Mooney has 16 wins over BCS conference teams in 8 years as a D-I head coach, including 14 in 7 seasons at Richmond. The Spiders have defeated a team from all 6 BCS conferences in Mooney's tenure, including multiple wins against the Big East (5), SEC (3) and ACC (3). Many of these recent BCS wins have not been upsets, the Spiders finished the 2009-10 season ranked No. 24 in the nation and finished last season ranked No. 21.
