Spiders lose squeaker to VCU

Saturday, January 29

Robins Center

4:00 PM

University of Richmond

13-8,4-4Atlantic 10

VCU

13-6,6-2Atlantic 10

VCU

Richmond

01/29/2022 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Mooney, Gustavson postgame

RICHMOND, Va. – An inch or two. That's all that separated the Richmond Spiders from what would have been one of the most iconic plays in program history Saturday afternoon.

Instead of dropping through the net, Jacob Gilyard's running three-pointer bounced off the back of the rim as the buzzer sounded at the Robins Center, giving VCU a 64-62 win in Capital City Classic presented by Richmond Area Honda Dealers.

"We executed it well," said Spiders coach Chris Mooney of the game's final play. "I thought Jacob got a good look for that kind of situation."

With 3.1 seconds remaining, Richmond had the ball under the VCU basket and trailed by two. Nathan Cayo fired a baseball pass to Grant Golden near center court. Golden collected the pass and shoveled it to Gilyard streaking down the right sideline. Despite tight defense, Gilyard grabbed the pass and launched a three-pointer from 28 feet while sprinting towards the VCU end of the court. The shot was on target but just long, hitting the back of the rim and falling away.

"I wanted to make sure he didn't rush, and I don't think he did. He got a good look and unfortunately it didn't go in. It was a very hard shot," said Mooney.

The Spiders final shoot came after VCU's Vince Williams missed the front end of a one-and-one with 3.7 seconds to play. Moments earlier, Williams had put the Rams ahead for good on a desperate three-pointer from the top of the key after retrieving the ball in the backcourt after Richmond's Andre Gustavson deflected a pass and appeared to have a shot at recovering the loose ball.

"I thought I could have got it. I wish I was there a split second earlier," said Gustavson.

Richmond trailed 45-35 with 14 minutes remaining before putting together a 14-4 run over the next seven minutes to knot the score at 49 on a pair of Golden free throws with 7:34 to go.

With 50 seconds remaining, Nathan Cayo's offensive putback tied the score at 61 and sent the Spiders forward to the foul line with a chance to give Richmond its first lead since the opening minutes of the second half.

Cayo's shot from the charity stripe was off, setting the stage for Williams' game-winning three pointer on the ensuing possession.

Golden led Richmond with 18 points, shooting 7-9 from the field. Gilyard added 14 points and led the Spiders with six assists and three steals.

Richmond shot 35.5 percent from the field and just 18.2 percent (4-22) from three-point range. "A lot of it is their defense," said Mooney. "You're not going to get same exact shots you get against other teams because of how good they are on defense and how they can pressure the ball. … I thought we had some threes that were right and in rhythm that we didn't make."

Up next for the Spiders is a road date at Duquesne on Tuesday at 7 PM. The game will air on ESPN Plus.