No. 19 Spiders Shake Off Wofford, 77-72

Monday, December 7

Richmond, VA

2:00 PM

University of Richmond

3-0,0-0Atlantic 10

Wofford

2-1,0-0SoCon

Wofford

Richmond

12/07/2020 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Mooney, Gilyard Press Conference Instant Highlights

RICHMOND, Va. – The 19th-ranked University of Richmond men's basketball used late-game heroics of Grant Golden (Winchester, Va.) and Jacob Gilyard (Kansas City, Mo.) to defeat the Wofford Terriers, 77-72, at the Robins Center Monday afternoon.

With the win, the Spiders improved to 3-0 on the season, the first time UR has opened 3-0 in back-to-back seasons since 1953-54 and 1954-55 seasons.

"We made enough plays down the stretch to win the game," head coach Chris Mooney said. "I was proud of the way we played down the stretch."

Richmond faced its biggest deficit of the game with 2:18 remaining in the game after the Terriers scored six straight to take a 70-65 lead. Grant Golden's three-pointer with 2:08 to play narrowed the lead to two and Tyler Burton knocked it to one after going 1-2 from the line after he was fouled while going for an offensive rebound on Golden's shot.

The Spiders forced a turnover on Wofford's ensuing possession and Golden's turnaround jumper from the left block put Richmond back up 71-70 with 1:35 to go. A pair of free throws by Terriers guard Storm Murphy, who finished with a game-high 21 points, put Wofford back in the lead.

Sophomore Tyler Burton (Uxbridge, Mass.) answered for the Spiders, hitting a turnaround jumper over his left shoulder with 1:08 to play. After a Richmond timeout, Wofford missed a contested layup and Gilyard hit a stepback three-pointer to push the Spiders lead to 76-72 with 19 seconds left. Gilyard then sealed the win with his fourth and fifth steals of the game on Wofford's final possessions.

"I'm pleased with a win and to play a game," Mooney said. "I appreciate Wofford being able to play on such a short notice. And they played extremely hard and have some top skill players, as they always do."

After team activities were paused from Tuesday through Saturday while Richmond conducted contact tracing following the results of Monda's COVID testing, the Spiders initially showed no signs of rust, opening the game on a 11-0 run and holding the Terriers to 1-for-14 shooting until the 12:54 mark, when Messiah Jones tallied a layup. UR's biggest lead of the game was 13 points, 16-3 at 11:52 following a Golden jumper.

Wofford would heat up as Richmond cooled, capitalizing on a 2:31 scoring drought by the Spiders in the first half. Back-to-back three-pointers by Tray Hollowell and Storm Murphy pushed the Terriers within three points, 24-21, at the 5:26 mark. The Spiders led 37-30 at halftime.

Gilyard led Richmond in points (18), assists (6), and steals (5) while shooting 4-7 from three-point range. He passed Scott Ungerger (479) to move into sole possession of second place on Richmond's career assists list, with 485.

The Spiders have a quick turnaround, as they welcome in Northern Iowa for a 6 p.m. tip-off on Wednesday at the Robins Center. The game will be streamed on ESPN Plus and broadcast regionally on NBC Sports Washington.