Spiders Knock Off VCU, Advance to A-10 Semifinals

Friday, March 11

Washington, DC

8:30 PM

University of Richmond

21-12,10-8Atlantic 10

VCU

21-9,14-4Atlantic 10

Richmond

VCU

03/12/2022 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Behind a record-breaking night from Jacob Gilyard, the sixth-seeded Richmond Spiders defeated the third-seeded VCU Rams, 75-64, Friday night at Capital One Arena to advance to the Atlantic 10 Championship semifinals.

The Spiders advance to the A-10 semifinals for the sixth time and the first time since 2017, and will face No. 2 seed Dayton Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.

"I'm really proud of our guys. We played physically and with tremendous energy and passion," said head coach Chris Mooney. "I thought our defense was terrific. We forced turnovers, came up with lose balls, and rebounded the ball. Obviously, Jacob [Gilyard] was incredible and that was one of the great performances by a Richmond guard. I'm really proud of our guys and looking forward to tomorrow's game."

Gilyard paced all scorers in the game with a career-high 32 points, which set the Richmond record for points scored in an A-10 tournament game, previously held by Darien Brothers (31 points, 2012). With his second steal of the night, Gilyard also broke his own school record of steals in a single season. He finished his night with four steals for a current season-total of 102.

Additionally, with seven triples on the night, Gilyard tied the Richmond record for 3-pointers in a single season, with 85. He shot 7-of-12 beyond the arc and 9-of-17 from the field alongside a perfect 7-of-7 from the charity stripe.

After trailing by as many as six in the first half, a pullup triple from Gilyard at 8:11 narrowed the gap to one point, at 17-16. He would later post eight straight points as part of a 10-0 Richmond run to give the Spiders a 31-24 lead at 2:29 in the first half. The lead reached 10 points on another Gilyard trey in the closing minute of the half. The Spiders would never trail again in the game.

VCU opened the second half on a 9-1 run to even the score at 38-38, but Gilyard immediately answered with a 3-pointer that sparked a 7-0 run to push Richmond's lead back out to 45-38. The lead reached as high as 14 points at 63-49 with 4:33 left in the game, and the Spiders took advantage of trips to the line down the stretch, hitting nine free throws in the last minute.

Tyler Burton posted 14 points and led the Spiders on the glass with eight rebounds, while Nathan Cayo and Andre Gustavson rounded out the Spiders in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

The win was Richmond's first over VCU in an A-10 Tournament. The Spiders entered the night 0-3 all-time vs the Rams at the A-10 Men's Basketball Championship.

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