Spiders Host Liberty Wednesday Night
12/27/2011 | Men's Basketball
The Latest
- The Spiders got a quick Christmas break upon their red-eye return from playing UCLA. Richmond has two non-conference home games remaining before starting conference play next week on the road.
- Junior Darien Brothers, the only returning starter off last year's Top-25 and Sweet 16 team, was named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week after averaging 31.5 points per game in two games last week.
- Brothers connected on 17-of-31 (.548) shots from the floor and 12-of-21 (.571) three-point attempts. He scored a career-high 38 points in the win over Old Dominion last Tuesday, the most points scored by a Spider since Greg Stevenson scored 38 against McNeese State on Jan. 4, 2001. Brothers followed that up with 25 points against UCLA. Brothers has scored in double-figures in four-straight games and is second on the team in scoring at 13.7 points per game. He is shooting 46.7 percent from the field and 51.5 percent from behind the arc this season.
- 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. The Spiders are relying on underclassmen in key roles this season and while the results have been impressive at times, Richmond is experiencing some expected growing pains.
- Senior Darrius Garrett, who blocked the 2nd most shots in NCAA Division I game (14) in 2010 against UMass, is 2nd on Richmond's all-time career list for blocks with 176, needing 7 blocks to tie Tim Faulconer for first. Garrett is 5th in the nation in blocks per game (3.92 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 304 free throws through 13 games, for an average of 23.4 free throws per game, Richmond is connecting on 76.0 percent of its free throws this season, which ranks 16th in the nation.
Quick Hitters
Richmond's second-leading scorer Kevin Anderson ('11) will be at Friday's game when he will have a banner raised to the Robins Center rafters alongside Dick Tarrant, Johnny Newman and Warren Mills...it is impossible to defend a free throw, but the Spiders rank 343rd out of 350 teams in free throw percentage defense with opponents shooting 78.1 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 68-26 (.723) in last 94 games...the Spiders are 17-2 vs. non-conference opponents in the Robins Center over the last three seasons...Richmond is 25-4 in the last 29 non-conference home games dating back to the 2007-08 season...Richmond is 32-5 in its last 37 home games....Justin Harper, the 31st pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, signed a two-year contract with the Orlando Magic and made his debut Monday night against the Rockets...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 12.6 points and 4.2 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 13.7 points per game while shooting 51.5 percent from 3 (35-68). 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 13.8 points per game and has won three A-10 Rookie of the Week awards.
