University of Richmond Athletics
Men's Basketball Plays At Rival JMU Saturday Night
12/07/2012 | Men's Basketball
HARRISONBURG, Va. - The Richmond men's basketball team returns to rival James Madison for the first time since 2001 for a 7 p.m. Saturday night tip-off with the Dukes.
Richmond leads the series 30-20, but James Madison won the last meeting 66-63 at the JMU Convocation Center.
Richmond is 7-2 after an 80-53 victory at Old Dominion on Tuesday night. The Spiders are looking to match the school's second-best start in 78 years. The only Richmond team to start better than 8-2 since the undefeated 1934-35 team was the 1985-86 squad, which started 9-1.
The Dukes (3-5) are playing their fourth-straight home game, having won the last two. Rayshawn Goins leads the team in scoring (14.6 ppg) and rebounding (7.9 rpg). Andre Nation is second on the team in scoring at 11.4 points per game and Andrey Semenov averages 8.7 points per game.
THE LATEST
- Seven Spider teams (2010-11, 2000-01, 1987-88, 1954-55, 1953-54, 1946-47, 1936-37) started 8-2 and the only Spider team to have a better 10-game start since the undefeated 1934-35 team was the 1985-86 team that started 9-1. A victory Saturday would match 11 other Spiders teams for the 4th best start in school history.
- The Spiders have 3 of the top-20 scorers in the Atlantic 10 with Darien Brothers (14.3), Derrick Williams (13.9) and Kendall Anthony (13.8). Anthony (.895), Brothers (.833) and Cedrick Lidnsay are all in the top-12 in the Atlantic 10 in free throw percentage and the Spiders rank 2nd as a team and 30th in the nation at 76.0 percent.
- Junior Derrick Williams is the reigning Atlantic 10 Player of the Week after averaging 21.5 points and 10.5 rebounds last week. Williams posted back-to-back doubles in wins over William & Mary (17 and 11) and Wake Forest (26 and 10). He ranks 5th in the Atlantic 10 in field goal percentage at 60.0 percent. His 3 double-doubles rank 22nd in the nation.
- Senior Darien Brothers is just 7 three-pointers from cracking Richmond's all-time Top-10 list for career treys. He currently has 141 three-pointers, including 20 this season. He is shooting 48.8 percent from behind the arc and leads the team in scoring (14.3).
- Junior Cedrick Lindsay ranks 1st in the Atlantic 10 and 44th in the nation in assist/turnover ratio (3.0). Lindsay missed 2 games with a concussion, but has led the Spiders to 3-straight wins since his return, including a 19-point, 7-assist performance in the win at ODU.
- The Spiders rank 3rd in the Atlantic 10 in steals (8.9 spg) and are forcing 16.3 turnovers per game and converting that into 19.8 points off turnovers per game.
- Richmond is 4-0 against teams from Virginia and 3-0 against teams from the CAA this season. The Spiders will play George Mason in the Governor's Classic at the Richmond Coliseum on Dec. 22.
- Richmond is holding opponents to 61.3 points per game and limiting the opposition to 39.9 percent shooting. The Spiders have held 6 of their 9 opponents to 60 points or less, including the last 2.
- The Spiders have shot over 50 pct from the field in 2 of last 3 games.
- Kendall Anthony has made 17 consecutive free throws over the last 3 games
