University of Richmond Athletics
Gilyard Wins A-10 Defensive Player of the Year As Three Spiders Earn All-Conference Honors
03/10/2020 | Men's Basketball
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – Three Spiders juniors were included on the list of end-of-year honors announced by the Atlantic 10 on Tuesday. Jacob Gilyard was named the conference's Defensive Player of the Year and was also selected to the All-Atlantic 10 First Team and All-Atlantic 10 Defensive Team. Grant Golden and Blake Francis were both named to the All-Atlantic 10 Second Team, making the Spiders the first team since Davidson in 2015 to have three players named to the top two All-Atlantic 10 Teams.
Gilyard is the first Spider to earn First Team All-Atlantic 10 honors since T.J. Cline in 2017 and the second Spider ever to win A-10 Defensive Player of the Year, joining Tony Dobbins in 2003 and 2004. Gilyard leads the nation with 3.2 steals per game this season and set Richmond's single-season (99) and career steals records (276) in 2019-20. He is one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith National Defensive Player of the Year award and the only one from outside a power conference. Offensively, Gilyard has registered 12.7 points and 5.7 assists per game this season and ranks 10th in Division I in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.97).
Golden earned All-Conference honors for the third-straight season after being named Third-Team All-Atlantic 10 in 2017 and 2018. He is the only Spider to ever earn a spot on an All-Conference team following his freshman, sophomore, and junior seasons and joins Kevin Anderson as the only Spiders to be selected to an All-Atlantic 10 Team three times. Golden averages 13.4 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game this season and is shooting 52.4 percent from the field, fourth best in the conference among qualifiers.
Francis landed on the All-Atlantic 10 Second Team in his first season on the court for the Spiders after averaging a team-high 17.7 points per game, fourth-most in the A-10. He has led Richmond in scoring in a team-best 10 games this season despite missing six games after fracturing his sternum against Saint Louis on January 11. Francis, who sat out the 2018-19 season after transferring from Wagner, was also a Second-Team All-Conference selection in the Northeast Conference in 2018.
In addition to being the only school with three players on the first two All-Atlantic 10 teams, the three players earning All-Conference honors are the most for Richmond since 1998-99, when the Spiders were a member of the CAA and Charles Stephens, Kinte Smith, and Jonathan Baker were named to the All-CAA teams.
The Spiders are the No. 2 seed for this week's A-10 Championship in Brooklyn, their highest since joining the conference in 2001. Richmond will face either Davidson or La Salle in the A-10 quarterfinals on Friday at 6 PM on NBC Sports Network.
Gilyard is the first Spider to earn First Team All-Atlantic 10 honors since T.J. Cline in 2017 and the second Spider ever to win A-10 Defensive Player of the Year, joining Tony Dobbins in 2003 and 2004. Gilyard leads the nation with 3.2 steals per game this season and set Richmond's single-season (99) and career steals records (276) in 2019-20. He is one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith National Defensive Player of the Year award and the only one from outside a power conference. Offensively, Gilyard has registered 12.7 points and 5.7 assists per game this season and ranks 10th in Division I in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.97).
Golden earned All-Conference honors for the third-straight season after being named Third-Team All-Atlantic 10 in 2017 and 2018. He is the only Spider to ever earn a spot on an All-Conference team following his freshman, sophomore, and junior seasons and joins Kevin Anderson as the only Spiders to be selected to an All-Atlantic 10 Team three times. Golden averages 13.4 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game this season and is shooting 52.4 percent from the field, fourth best in the conference among qualifiers.
Francis landed on the All-Atlantic 10 Second Team in his first season on the court for the Spiders after averaging a team-high 17.7 points per game, fourth-most in the A-10. He has led Richmond in scoring in a team-best 10 games this season despite missing six games after fracturing his sternum against Saint Louis on January 11. Francis, who sat out the 2018-19 season after transferring from Wagner, was also a Second-Team All-Conference selection in the Northeast Conference in 2018.
In addition to being the only school with three players on the first two All-Atlantic 10 teams, the three players earning All-Conference honors are the most for Richmond since 1998-99, when the Spiders were a member of the CAA and Charles Stephens, Kinte Smith, and Jonathan Baker were named to the All-CAA teams.
The Spiders are the No. 2 seed for this week's A-10 Championship in Brooklyn, their highest since joining the conference in 2001. Richmond will face either Davidson or La Salle in the A-10 quarterfinals on Friday at 6 PM on NBC Sports Network.
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