Freshmen Shine, But Spiders Fall To Louisiana In Cayman Islands

Wednesday, November 22

Cayman Islands

5:00 PM

University of Richmond

1-4

Louisiana-Lafayette

5-1

Louisiana

Richmond

Freshmen Shine, But Spiders Fall To Louisiana In Cayman Islands

11/22/2017 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Coach Mooney Post-Game Interview

Redshirt freshman Grant Golden scored a game-high 24 points and true freshman Jacob Gilyard added 10 points, five assists, and four steals, but the Spiders fell to Louisiana 82-76 Wednesday night in the third-place game at the inaugural Cayman Islands Classic.

A night after foul trouble limited him to four points against Cincinnati, Golden played a career-high 36 minutes and reached the 20-point mark for the second time in his last three contests. Even with his court time limited in the semifinals, Golden averaged 18 points, five rebounds and two blocks while shooting 56 percent from the field during the Spiders three games in the Caymans and earned a spot on the all-tournament team.

Gilyard used several acrobatic layups in traffic to reach the 10-point mark for the fourth time in his five career games. He also added a career-best five assists and four steals. As a team, Richmond registered a season-best 13 steals and scored 22 points off turnovers, also a season high.

De'Monte Buckingham finished one rebound and two assists shy of joining 2017 Atlantic 10 Player of the Year T.J. Cline as the only players to record a triple-double in school history. Buckingham's eight assists matched a career-high. The sophomore now leads the team in assists (4.0) and rebounds (6.4) per game this season.

Richmond built a lead in the first half behind a full-court attack that resulted in a 14 fast-break points before intermission, more than the Spiders had registered in any game this season entering Wednesday. In only his second game back from a shin injury, Khwan Fore teamed with Gilyard to convert several Louisiana turnovers into easy points for Richmond.

The Spiders led by as many as nine shortly after halftime, but the Ragin' Cajuns found the range from the field - ultimately hitting on 62 percent of their field goal attempts in the second half. Louisiana also built a sizable advantage at the free-throw stripe, where they converted 24 of 31 attempts to just nine of 12 for the Spiders.

Richmond returns to action Saturday against Georgetown. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 PM ET at the Robins Center. Georgetown, with new head coach Patrick Ewing, is visiting Richmond for the first time since 1961.