University of Richmond Athletics
Saturday, February 10
Robins Center
2:00 PM
University of Richmond
17-6,9-1Atlantic 10
82
vs
65
La Salle
11-13,2-9Atlantic 10
1
2
F
La Salle
27
38
65
Richmond
36
46
82
Spiders Dominate Late in Win vs La Salle
02/10/2024 | Men's Basketball
RICHMOND, Va. — The Richmond Spiders followed one of their worst stretches of the season with one of their best, outscoring La Salle 30-12 in the final 9:40 to pull away for a 82-65 win at the Robins Center Saturday. Richmond's strong closing stretch came shortly after La Salle scored 16 straight points to erase what had been a 15-point Spiders lead.
Richmond's response came after UR switched to a smaller lineup, inserting 6'5" Dji Bailey at center. With Bailey directing the Spiders offense against the La Salle zone, UR scored 27 points in the game's final nine minutes, going 9-12 from the field and 7-8 from the foul line.
"We move really well when he's at center," said Spiders coach Chris Mooney of the decision to play Bailey in the middle of the La Salle zone. "Really, we did it for defensive purposes. Defensively, if the ball screen showed up we could switch and have a perimeter defender on their ball-handler. That was a big part of the game, I thought. I thought that then they weren't quite as good offensively and they couldn't attack right away off the ball screen. That was a great response by us and much of it was keyed by Dji."
Richmond (17-6, 9-1) improved to 12-0 at home, extending the longest single-season win streak in program history. The win was the program's 500th at the Robins Center, which opened in 1972.
Bailey finished with 22 points, smashing his previous career high of 14. He shot 6-7 from the field and 9-10 from the free throw line while adding a team-high seven rebounds with three assists and two steals. He is the first A-10 player to score at least 22 points on no more than seven field-goal attempts in a game this season.
"He's just improved so much," said Mooney. "For him to be able to have the confidence and ability to play like that and have such a significant impact on so many games is impressive."
"I was getting myself open and being aggressive," said Bailey. "Neal [Quinn] was finding me on cuts. I saw the ball go in some and saw my first couple free throws go in and that was a huge part of it."
Isaiah Bigelow added 17 points and six rebounds, while Jordan King scored 13 points with a team-high five assists. Both Bigelow and King shot 3-5 from three-point range, combining for all but one of UR's seven three-pointers.
Richmond is in first place in the Atlantic 10 at 9-1, a half-game ahead of Dayton and Loyola Chicago (both 9-2).
The Spiders will host Massachusetts (14-8, 5-5) Wednesday at the Robins Center. The game tips at 7 PM and will be broadcast on ESPN Plus and MASN.
Richmond's response came after UR switched to a smaller lineup, inserting 6'5" Dji Bailey at center. With Bailey directing the Spiders offense against the La Salle zone, UR scored 27 points in the game's final nine minutes, going 9-12 from the field and 7-8 from the foul line.
"We move really well when he's at center," said Spiders coach Chris Mooney of the decision to play Bailey in the middle of the La Salle zone. "Really, we did it for defensive purposes. Defensively, if the ball screen showed up we could switch and have a perimeter defender on their ball-handler. That was a big part of the game, I thought. I thought that then they weren't quite as good offensively and they couldn't attack right away off the ball screen. That was a great response by us and much of it was keyed by Dji."
Richmond (17-6, 9-1) improved to 12-0 at home, extending the longest single-season win streak in program history. The win was the program's 500th at the Robins Center, which opened in 1972.
Bailey finished with 22 points, smashing his previous career high of 14. He shot 6-7 from the field and 9-10 from the free throw line while adding a team-high seven rebounds with three assists and two steals. He is the first A-10 player to score at least 22 points on no more than seven field-goal attempts in a game this season.
"He's just improved so much," said Mooney. "For him to be able to have the confidence and ability to play like that and have such a significant impact on so many games is impressive."
"I was getting myself open and being aggressive," said Bailey. "Neal [Quinn] was finding me on cuts. I saw the ball go in some and saw my first couple free throws go in and that was a huge part of it."
Isaiah Bigelow added 17 points and six rebounds, while Jordan King scored 13 points with a team-high five assists. Both Bigelow and King shot 3-5 from three-point range, combining for all but one of UR's seven three-pointers.
Richmond is in first place in the Atlantic 10 at 9-1, a half-game ahead of Dayton and Loyola Chicago (both 9-2).
The Spiders will host Massachusetts (14-8, 5-5) Wednesday at the Robins Center. The game tips at 7 PM and will be broadcast on ESPN Plus and MASN.
Team Stats
LaS
UR
FG%
.466
.518
3FG%
.300
.438
FT%
.556
.944
RB
34
29
TO
13
5
STL
2
6
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
22
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
9
Pts
17
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
AJ Lopez Returns to the Robins Center
Tuesday, September 23
Chris Mooney Mic'd Up
Thursday, September 11
David Thomas is Already Learning at Richmond
Friday, September 05
Jaden Daughtry Returns to Richmond
Friday, August 01