2nd-Ranked Auburn Runs Away From Spiders

Sunday, December 8

Auburn, AL

12 PM

University of Richmond

4-5,0-0Atlantic 10

Auburn

8-1,0-0SEC

Richmond

Auburn

12/08/2024 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

AUBURN, Ala. — Spider men's basketball was no match for No. 2 Auburn Sunday, dropping a 98-54 decision to the Tigers at Neville Arena.

The loss dropped Richmond to 4-5 on the season. The game was Richmond's first against against a team in the top two of the AP poll since UR's loss to 2^nd-ranked Kansas in the 2011 Sweet 16.

"It's a difficult thing. You have to pick your poison to a certain extent because [Johni] Broome is such a good scorer, their size and athleticism inside otherwise is all so good. You have to make it a little bit difficult for them," said Richmond coach Chris Mooney. "I think we turned the ball over on our first three possessions. That's probably the biggest issue that affected our defense. Nobody can guard a fast break. You have to be back and be set and make them run offense."

The Tigers scored 18 points off 15 Richmond turnovers, while UR converted seven Auburn turnovers into just three points. Auburn also scored 38 points in the paint, 18 more than Richmond.

"They really made it difficult on our centers," said Mooney. "We need to be more decisive in trying to get the ball where we want them to get the ball. That's on the passer, the cutter, and the center himself."

The Spiders were led by Mikkel Tyne, who scored 16 points on 6-10 shooting from the field, including 3-6 from three-point range. Tyne is now averaging 19 points and shooting 56 percent from the field his last two games after scoring 8.3 points per game and shooting 34 percent in the first seven games of the season.

"I'm definitely feeling more comfortable," said Tyne. "Coach Mooney trusts me with the ball and trusts me to make plays. So that definitely helps — everybody telling me to shoot the ball."

"Mikkel is talented and we really spend a lot of our concentration at practice with him just trying to get him to have a better understanding of space and time and change of speed, because when he uses all that he's awfully good."

Tyne opened the scoring for Richmond with a three-pointer two-and-a-half minutes into the game. Shortly thereafter, Auburn scored 10 straight points to stretch its lead to 22-8 with 12:34 left in the first half.

The Spiders stayed within striking distance for much of the remainder of the half until a 9-0 run by Auburn over the half's final 84 seconds gave the Tigers a 52-27 lead at intermission. Auburn used a 12-0 run early in the second half to further separate itself from the Spiders, and held Richmond scoreless for the final 5:29 of the game.

Joining Tyne in double figures was Dusan Neskovic, who scored 12 points in his first start since November 16 at Bucknell, and DeLonnie Hunt, who added 10 points and three assists, tying a team high.

Richmond will play four of its next five games in the Robins Center, a stretch that starts with a home matchup vs Belmont Saturday at 6 PM. The game can be seen on MASN and ESPN Plus and heard on ESPN Richmond.

"Our guys will have finals [this week] so that's something we really need to concentrate on," said Mooney. "Then toward the end of the week we'll be back in practicing and getting ourselves ready."