Spiders Bothered by "Bigger" Gators in South Florida

Saturday, December 9

Sunrise, FL

4:00 PM

University of Richmond

5-5,0-0Atlantic 10

Florida

6-3,0-0SEC

Richmond

Florida

12/09/2023 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

SUNRISE, Fla. — "They're bigger. We've got to be tougher."

Spider guard Jordan King didn't need many words to summarize his feelings about Richmond's Saturday matchup with Florida, which ended in an 87-76 Gators win in the Orange Bowl Classic.

Despite some timely three-point shooting and some fast-fingered defense, Florida's size proved to be an insurmountable obstacle for the Spiders Saturday, as the Gators outrebounded Richmond 49-30 and held the Spiders to 39 percent shooting inside the arc. Richmond entered the day shooting 58 percent on two-point field goal attempts, one of the highest rates in the nation.

"You have to be as tough as you possibly can," said Spiders coach Chris Mooney. "They're going to get some [rebounds] with their size, their athleticism. That's what they're really good at. We had to be a little bit tougher. We scrapped. We stole some balls in the lane to make it harder for them, but we just needed a little bit more."

Richmond was led by Isaiah Bigelow, who finished with 17 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Neal Quinn also scored 17 points while adding six assists, tied with King for most on the team. He scored 12 points on 5-8 shooting in the second half after being limited to five points on 2-5 from the field in the game's first 20 minutes.

"He's become a great player and I wish he had played a little bit better in first half because he's generally our advantage," said Mooney. "As great as Florida is and their front line, he's still an advantage for us."

Freshman Mikkel Tyne registered his first career double-digit scoring game with 16 points, shooting 5-7 from three-point range as UR hit on half (11) of its 22 three-point attempts. Jordan King was the fourth Spider in double digits, with 14 points, six assists, and six rebounds.

Dji Bailey led the Spiders defense with a career-high six steals, the most by a UR player since NCAA all-time steals leader Jacob Gilyard had six vs Rhode Island in the 2022 Atlantic 10 Tournament.

Florida led 40-30 at halftime, but the Spiders scored the first six points of the second half to trim UF's lead to 40-36 with 18:31 to play. The Spiders stayed within striking distance until Florida's Will Richards hit three straight three-pointers in 83 seconds to extend the Gators lead to 16 with 11:47 remaining.

Richmond responded, closing the gap to seven at 70-63 with 7:19 to go. But the Gators proved too much down the stretch, keeping UR at arm's length for an 11-point victory.

"I thought we played pretty well and did some good things but not enough to create enough tension in the game for them to get out of their comfort zone," said Mooney.

Richmond will be off this week for final exams. The Spiders will finish their non-conference schedule with three straight home games, starting Saturday vs Charlotte at 7 PM.

"If you count [today[, this is our fourth away game already," said Mooney. "The things you try to do in scheduling to get you the best possible chance for the NCAA Tournament are going to result in some setbacks, or more setbacks than if you just played home games. We've been awfully good at home and hopefully that will continue."

"I feel like we could have a few more wins under our belt, but I feel like our schedule is definitely preparing us for the A-10," added King.