Spiders Sprint to Finish, Dispatch Ball State in Gulf Coast Showcase Finale

Wednesday, November 27

Fort Myers, FL

6 PM

University of Richmond

4-4,0-0Atlantic 10

Ball State

3-5,0-0MAC

Ball St.

Richmond

Spiders Sprint to Finish, Dispatch Ball State in Gulf Coast Showcase Finale

11/27/2024 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

FORT MYERS, Fla. — With shots not falling and Ball State looking more and more comfortable on offense early in the second half Wednesday at the Gulf Coast Showcase, the Spiders made a decision to speed things up.

"We started to say 'hey – let's run. Let's push this,'" said Spiders coach Chris Mooney.

With Richmond flying the ball up the court — and to the basket — the Spiders scored 25 of the game's next 27 points over a period of nine minutes, turning their 11-point deficit into a 12-point lead they wouldn't relinquish on their way to a 73-60 win.

"Tonight showed speed and the pressure that it can put on the defense," said Mooney.

DeLonnie Hunt led Richmond with a career-high 28 points including 15 free throws, the fourth most in a game in program history.

"The refs weren't really letting us play as much. They were calling touch fouls," said Hunt "So it's like 'OK, let's get downhill. Let's just kind of change the game.'"

Mikkel Tyne added a career-high 22 points, including a team-high 15 after halftime.

"I feel like that was a very big game for Mikkel," said Hunt. "Him stepping up, finally getting comfortable and taking shots that he's used to making."

"I've really been on him," said Mooney of Tyne. "Of all the great guards we've had he probably reminds me the most of Kendall Anthony when he was young in that Kendall's sense for the game really developed over his time in college."

Wednesday was the first time a pair of Richmond guards scored 22 or more points in the same game since November 14, 2019 vs Vanderbilt (Blake Francis, Jacob Gilyard).

"I think everyone really contributed to … making it feel like we were running and they were playing half court," said Mooney. "You can't always get that because sometimes you get into a race. But we were good at the point of attack and stopping the ball."

A night after holding Louisiana Tech without a field goal for the final 6:58 of the game, Richmond held Ball State to 12 points over the game's final 14 minutes, as the Cardinals missed 13 of their 18 shots from the floor during that span.

"I thought the last two nights our defense has been so, so improved," said Mooney. "We're grinding. We're grinding. Part of that is being able to adjust and then can you stay aggressive with that adjustment. Anybody can move the X's and O's around the board but then can you stay aggressive and alert."

Mooney singled out Apostolos Roumoglou, who finished with six points and a team-high nine rebounds in a career-high 36 minutes. "I think Apostolos is really coming on because he does so many things well," said Mooney. "He's a playmaker. He has a sense for how to play. He's got great energy. And he rebounds the ball."

With the win, Richmond left South Florida with a pair of wins in three games at the Gulf Coast Showcase. The Spiders are now 4-4 on the season.

"These guys really, really want to do well and they really want to be good and I need to be more patient with the team," said Mooney. "But we also need to press ahead."

"It's a long season. It's early. We're still a new team and it's about little things like responding to adversity," said Hunt. "We're going to go through rough patches but it's just best that we figure out how to get through them early rather than later in the season."

After an 11-day break, Richmond's longest in-season break since the 2020-21 season, the Spiders will return to action December 8 at 4^th-ranked Auburn. Tip time is scheduled for 12 PM on SEC Network.