Spiders Sunk By Dayton's Deep Shooting

Saturday, January 28

Dayton, OH

4:00 PM

University of Richmond

11-11,4-5Atlantic 10

Dayton

14-8,6-3Atlantic 10

Richmond

Dayton

01/28/2023 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

DAYTON, OHIO — The preseason favorites in the Atlantic 10 overwhelmed the defending champions Saturday. Dayton, one of the nation's biggest teams, dominated the game from beyond the three-point arc, shooting 14-27 from three-point range en route to an 86-60 win over the Spiders.

12 of those three-pointers from the Flyers came in a span of less than 18 minutes, as Dayton shot 12-14 from deep (not including a half-court heave just before the halftime buzzer) over the final eight-and-a-half minutes of the first half and first nine-and-a-half minutes of the second half.

"That's hard to overcome when they're on their home floor and they're already such a presence inside," said Richmond Head Coach Chris Mooney of the Flyers three-point barrage. "When they make three points shots as well and especially the kind they made today, which were fast and flying up the court, because you're really going to get spread out."

"We had a ton of defensive breakdowns towards the end of the half," said Spiders forward Isaiah Bigelow, who led Richmond with a season-high 19 points. "And that momentum transferred into the second half."

The loss was Richmond's third straight, dropping the Spiders to 11-11 this season and 4-5 in the Atlantic 10.

After Neal Quinn and Tyler Burton combined to score Richmond's first 10 points, Andre Gustavson drove baseline and finished with an acrobatic layup in traffic to give the Spiders a 12-11 lead midway through the first half. It would be Richmond's last lead of the day.

The Flyers responded with 12 straight points, with a three-pointer by Kobe Brea and back-to-back layups by Dayton's Mustapha Amzil punctuating the run. It was the start of 11 straight made shots for the Flyers, a stretch that included five three-pointers.

Dayton built its lead to 43-23 at intermission, shooting 7-17 from three-point range in the first half compared to 1-10 for Richmond. The Flyers were even more on target after halftime, shooting 7-10 from three-point range in the final 20 minutes.)

Bigelow's 19 points came on 7-13 shooting from the field and 3-6 from three-point range. He accounted for three quarters of Richmond's made three-pointers Saturday (4-18 as a team).

"Isaiah was good throughout," said Mooney. "He was aggressive in the first half. He had a good game and made a couple of shots and also had some really aggressive drives to the basket."

"I was able to get to the rim pretty easily during the game," said Bigelow. "That's what coach has been telling me to do, drive the ball a little bit more." The Spiders actually outscored the Flyers in the paint (36-32) but had no answer for Dayton's deep-range shooting. Dayton's 14 made three-pointers were the most surrendered by Richmond in any game this season.

After Dayton's lead ballooned to as many as 36 midway through the second half, Richmond's reserves were able to reel the Flyers back in a bit down the stretch, in part due to the play of Dji Bailey, who finished with five points and two assists.

"Dji played really well I thought," said Mooney. "He's a little bit of a different presence because he's a very good athlete and he's long. He makes good decisions, he can make quick decisions, and he can defend. I was glad to see him play as many minutes as he did and play well today."

Neal Quinn scored 12 points for Richmond, while Tyler Burton added 11 to go with a team-high five rebounds.

Richmond is 1-14 all-time at University of Dayton Arena, with its lone win coming in 2011.

"I told them I was disappointed," said Mooney. "Coaches and players, I don't think we were good enough today and we certainly didn't compete enough."

"We've kind of got to learn from this, but not dwell on it," added Bigelow. "Kind of flush it and move on and have a great practice and let that trickle over into the next game."

Richmond will return to the Robins Center Wednesday to host St. Bonaventure at 7 PM on MASN2 and ESPN Plus.