Spiders rally for major road win at Rhode Island

Tuesday, January 25

Kingston, RI

6:30 PM

University of Richmond

13-7,4-3Atlantic 10

Rhode Island

12-6,3-3Atlantic 10

Richmond

Rhode Island

01/26/2022 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Mooney, Golden Postgame

KINGSTON, R.I. – Trailing by 13 at halftime in front of a large, hostile crowd, the Richmond Spiders retreated to their locker room and decided to look forward to the next 20 minutes instead of analyzing the previous 20.

"The whole halftime we just talked about strategy in the second half. We didn't dwell on anything that we might have done better in the first half," said Richmond coach Chris Mooney. "We talked about playing a lot of guys, rotating guys in. We knew that would be important and making sure we continued to press. Even if we got beat a couple of times we wanted to continue to press and try to really be aggressive offensively as well."

The switch to a full-court press keyed another big second-half comeback by the Spiders, who overcame a 15-point deficit in the game's final 19 minutes to beat Rhode Island 70-63 Saturday night. It was Richmond's fourth comeback win of 14 or more points this season.

"This was a tremendous win," said Mooney. "I thought our togetherness, resiliency, teamwork, and all these positive attributes really showed in the second half … and that's a difficult thing to do on the road."

Playing nine different players three or more minutes, the Spiders pressed the Rams for the entirety of the second half, turning seven Rhode Island turnovers into nine points and holding URI to 10-26 shooting from the field (38.5 percent).

The aggressive tone helped the Spiders dominate the boards over the final 20 minutes as UR outrebounded Rhode Island 27-14 and collected nine offensive rebounds while shutting out the Rams on the offensive glass.

"We wanted to have our traps be aggressive … and it really paid dividends," said Mooney of Richmond's second-half defense. "The energy and effort that we were playing with made it really, really difficult on them and it really seemed to give us a tremendous boost."

After starting the game on a 7-0 run, the Spiders were outscored 39-19 over the remainder of the first half.

After a Rhode Island basket extended its lead to 41-26 with 19:23 remaining, the Spiders started to climb back into the game. Grant Golden converted an old-fashioned three-point play. Nathan Cayo added a layup. Jacob Gilyard was fouled on a three-pointer and made all three free throws, cutting the deficit to 43-34 with 17:54 to play.

"We knew coming into this place … it was going to be a tough, physical game," said Golden. "We weren't going to get the calls that we wanted, and we just grinded it out. … We just continued to chip and chip away."

The Spiders chipped the lead down to four before a three-pointer by Rhode Island put the Rams ahead 62-55 with 5:50 remaining. It would be Rhode Island's final field goal of the game.

Benefiting from a withering press, the Spiders sprinted to the finish, outscoring the Rams 15-1 down the stretch to secure their third straight win, all in the last eight days and all on the road.

Jacob Gilyard and Grant Golden each scored 15 points to lead Richmond. Gilyard, who scored all 15 of his points after halftime, added six assists and three steals, both team highs.

Tyler Burton, playing not far from his hometown of Uxbridge, Ma. In front of more than 30 friends and family members, scored 14 points and matched a career high with 13 rebounds. It was Burton's 10th career double-double and fourth this season.

The win was Richmond's third straight vs Rhode Island, matching the Spiders longest win streak in series history. The Spiders have won three straight Atlantic 10 games for the first time since winning their final four conference games in 2019-20.

Richmond will return to the Robins Center for the first time in more than two weeks to face VCU Saturday in the Richmond Area Honda Dealers Capital City Classic. Tip time is 4 PM and the game will be televised national on CBS Sports Network.