New-Look Spiders Fall To Georgetown

Wednesday, November 28

Washington, D.C.

7:00 PM

University of Richmond

2-5

Georgetown

6-1

Richmond

Georgetown

11/28/2018 | Men's Basketball

Box Score AUDIO: Coach Mooney Post Game AUDIO: Julius Johnson Post Game

WASHINGTON, D.C. – An unproven and largely inexperienced Spiders rotation battled Georgetown for 40 minutes Wednesday night, testing the Hoyas until the final horn in a 90-82 loss.

"I thought we handled the adversity [of playing without two injured starters] well," said head coach Chris Mooney. "Jacob Gilyard and Nick Sherod are great players … so I thought for us to battle through [their absence] was a really good sign."

With Gilyard and Sherod -- two of Richmond's three returning starters from last season -- sidelined, the Spiders started a senior, two sophomores, and two freshmen Wednesday.

"I thought our ball movement was really good," said Mooney. "We had 21 assists against 11 turnovers playing with two freshmen guards."

Gilyard, the Spiders staritng point guard and second-leading scorer, missed his second straight game with a groin injury. In his absence, freshmen Jake Wojcik and Andre Gustavson – who made his first career start - split the ball-handling duties. Wojcik contributed a career-high 20 points while Gustavson recorded 10 assists, the most by any Spider in the last two seasons.

Senior Julius Johnson filled in for Nick Sherod, who suffered a season-ending knee injury Sunday against Hampton, and scored a season-high 14 points.

A three-pointer by Johnson put Richmond ahead with 12:22 remaining in the first half before a a 16-5 run gave Georgetown one its few double-digits leads of the game. A Jake Wojcik three-pointer just before halftime narrowed the Hoyas lead to 40-35 at intermission.

Richmond stayed within striking distance throughout the second half, tying the game on a three-pointer from Gustavson with 14 minutes remaining and getting as close as five down the stretch.

Grant Golden totaled a team-high 22 points and 10 rebounds for his seventh career double-double and Nate Cayo added 18 points on 7-11 shooting from the field. It was Golden's third straight 20-point performance, making him the first Spider with three consecutive 20-point games since T.J. Cline did it en route to winning A-10 Player of the Year honors in 2017.

Richmond will return to action with a nationally-televised matchup against Wake Forest Saturday night at the Robins Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 pm and the game will be shown on the NBC Sports Network. The contest is presented by Bank of America.