Spiders Misfire in Loss at Charlotte

Wednesday, November 13

Charlotte, NC

7 PM

University of Richmond

1-2,0-0Atlantic 10

Charlotte

2-1,0-0AAC

Richmond

Charlotte

11/13/2024 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Spider men's basketball team seemed to largely correct the defensive lapses it suffered in last Saturday's loss to Marist Wednesday on the road, holding Charlotte to 35 percent shooting and just five three-pointers. But Richmond's offensive aim was off-target for most of the evening, as UR went 5-13 from the foul line and 3-21 from three-point range in a 65-48 non-conference loss.

It's going to be very hard to win a game, especially on the road, when you shoot so poorly," said Spiders coach Chris Mooney. "Neither team shot well, but they had so many points from the free throw line. Not only did they get there more than us, but we shot so poorly from the free-throw line and the three-point line."

Richmond's three-point performance (14.3 percent) and free-throw percentage (38.5) were its worst in any game since the team's loss to Providence in the second round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament (among games with at least 20 three-point attempts and 10 foul shots).

"We have what I think is our best shooting team we've had and we just missed so many shots — some very open, some with a guy there. But I don't think we took very many bad shots," said Mooney.

"The three [three-pointers] that went in, I didn't think they looked or felt too much different from the other 18."

Richmond's first basket of the game came on a three-pointer from Dusan Neskovic, who would finish with a team-high 14 points. Neskovic scored seven early points as Richmond built a 12-7 lead over the game's first six minutes.

But UR missed 15 of its final 17 shots in the first half and was outscored by the 49ers 22-7 over the remainder of the half, with Charlotte taking a 29-19 lead at intermission.

Early in the second half, Jonathan Beagle started a 12-3 Spiders spurt with back-to-back buckets, and a steal and dunk by Apostolos Roumoglou brought Richmond within two at 38-36 with 11:24 to play.

"We were at our best when our center started to be aggressive," said Mooney. "Jonathan has great ability and he's been too ... not necessarily passive but not really exerting himself. I thought that was our best stint there when he started to do that."

After Richmond made it a one-possession game, the 49ers made nine of their next 11 shots from the field to pull away for the win and drop Richmond to 1-2 on the season.

Beagle (10 points) joined Neskovic in double figures and added a team-high nine rebounds. He played the last 9:27 of the game, much of it with four fouls, after starting center Mike Walz left the game midway through the second half after being hit in the head.

DeLonnie Hunt added nine points, including the 999^th and 1,000^th points of his collegiate career on a jumper with 15:23 to play.

Richmond returned to campus Wednesday evening to prepare for another road trip as the Spiders visit Bucknell Saturday.

"I don't think it's bad to be upset with tonight and be disappointed, but once we get out there tomorrow our energy and focus has to be good," said Mooney.