Spiders Swamp Bonnies to Win A-10 Opener

Saturday, January 6

Robins Center

4:00 PM

University of Richmond

9-5,1-0Atlantic 10

St. Bonaventure

10-4,1-1Atlantic 10

St. Bonaventure

Richmond

01/06/2024 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Mooney, King Postgame Instant Highlights

RICHMOND, Va. — After having the opportunity to watch the other 14 Atlantic 10 teams begin conference play earlier this week, the Richmond Spiders had a good idea of what they were in store for Saturday vs St. Bonaventure in their A-10 opener. And they prepared accordingly.

"This week has been a dogfight in practice. We've just been competing and challenging each other to try and get better and I think it showed tonight," said Jordan King, who scored a game-high 18 points to lead Richmond to a 65-54 win Saturday.

"That was very much a conference game. Very physical, very competitive," said Spiders coach Chris Mooney after securing his 334^th win at Richmond, breaking a tie with former West Virginia coach Gale Catlett for the third most in conference history.

The Spiders outrebounded the Bonnies, third among A-10 teams in rebounding margin entering Saturday, by a 34-32 margin, and forced 14 turnovers. Isaiah Bigelow led Richmond in both respects, collecting 13 rebounds and three steals.

"I thought Isaiah Bigelow was everywhere," said Mooney. "He was just tremendous. In my memory, that's the best game he's had as a Spider. His energy level was so high and he was so focused it was just a huge, huge thing for us."

Bigelow added 13 points to collect his third straight double-double, becoming the first Spider with three consecutive double-doubles since T.J. Cline did it in January 2017 en route to winning A-10 Player of the Year honors.

"For us it's difficult because generally [our players] also have to be skilled players. You have to be able to dribble, pass, shoot, and make decisions. Rebounders don't always come with those skills," said Mooney. "We haven't had a ton of really good rebounders, but he's up among the best."

St. Bonaventure, picked third in the A-10 preseason poll and coming off a Wednesday win at VCU, matched its lowest point total (54 in a loss to FAU) and registered its second-lowest shooting percentage (38.8) of the season.

"We just didn't want to give them any standstill threes," said Mooney. "To do that, you have to be able to guard [Center Chad] Venning one-on-one, which is a tall order. We thought Neal [Quinn] and Mike [Walz] could do that. Because they could do that, we didn't get sucked in [on the perimeter] as much. We can defend on the perimeter against three-point shooting pretty well because we do have some very good team speed."

The Bonnies missed nine straight shots over a nine-minute stretch late in the first half, allowing Richmond to seize control of the game with a 15-0 run, turning an eight-point deficit (21-13) into a seven-point lead (28-21). The closest the Bonnies came after halftime was with 16:15 remaining, when five straight points made the score 32-31 in favor of the Spiders.

Dji Bailey finished with 13 points for Richmond, scoring in double figures for a career-best fourth straight game. Quinn scored 10 points and led UR with four assists and three blocks.

Richmond has won four straight games and is 9-5 on the season, including 8-0 at home and 1-0 in the Atlantic 10. Richmond's four straight wins are its longest win streak since winning five in a row in the 2022 Atlantic 10 Championship and NCAA Tournament. UR is 8-0 at home for the fourth time in Robins Center history, joining 1985-86, 2009-10, and 2019-20.

The Spiders will go for a fifth straight win Tuesday at Loyola Chicago. The game tips at 8 PM and can be seen on ESPN Plus and heard on ESPN Richmond radio.