University of Richmond Athletics
Wednesday, March 6
Robins Center
7:00 PM
University of Richmond
23-7,15-2Atlantic 10
73
vs
66
Saint Joseph's
18-12,8-9Atlantic 10
1
2
F
Saint Joseph's
27
39
66
Richmond
36
37
73
Spiders Make History With First Regular Season A-10 Title
03/06/2024 | Men's Basketball
RICHMOND, Va. — For the first time, the Richmond Spiders are regular season championship of the Atlantic 10. Richmond secured the No. 1 seed in next week's Atlantic 10 Tournament as well as least a share of the league's regular season title for the first time since joining the conference in 2001 with a 73-66 win over Saint Joseph's Wednesday.
"It's just such a tremendous accomplishment. I'm just so proud of the guys and so honored to be their coach," said Spiders coach Chris Mooney. "What a great group of guys. You saw tonight everybody helping in different ways."
The Spiders were led by center Neal Quinn, who scored 21 points with four rebounds and a team-high four assists as the Spiders finished their home schedule with a 15-1 record at the Robins Center, the best mark in 52 seasons of Spider basketball in the arena.
"I'm at a loss. It's so indescribable," said Quinn after the game. "All the years of training and sacrifice so you can have a moment like this on your home floor. I'm beyond grateful to have this opportunity and to do it with these guys right here."
DeLonnie Hunt added a season-high 18 points with three steals while shooting 6-9 from the floor. Isaiah Bigelow was the third and final Spider in double figures, finishing with 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
Prior to 2023-24, Richmond's best regular season result in the A-10 had been a runner-up finish in 2019-20, when the A-10 Tournament was canceled due to COVID-19. With eight newcomers on the roster, this year's team was picked 11th in the league's preseason poll in October.
"I knew we would exceed the preseason polls and expectations but as we progressed through the season we got better and better each game," said Bigelow. "I just love these guys."
"For new guys we just gelled so well together, and we have so much talent and everyone brings something unique to the table," said Quinn. "Coach [Mooney] has done a phenomenal job of morphing it all together to the finished product that we have right now."
"To be this good and to have these guys come together as quickly as they did, it's really special," added Mooney.
This is the seventh regular season title in program history and the first since UR won the regular season championship in its final season in the CAA in 2000-01. Richmond is 15-2 in A-10 games this year, a program record for conference wins in a season.
"We just put our name in history," said Jordan King. "I'm just proud of my guys and all the coaches, they put us in the right spot. Everyone just came to work hard, and I'm just glad we got the win tonight."
King, Richmond's leading scorer, finished with eight points, six of them coming at the foul line in the game's final minutes.
"It's just next man up mentality," said King of his teammates stepping into his scoring role. "Mike Walz had a great game for us. Neal played amazing. Zae [Bigelow] had a couple of buckets for us. Everyone just played their part. At the end of the day, it's all about winning. No one cares about the individual stats."
Walz scored eight points and grabbed five rebounds, but his best play was his lone assist of the night, when he received an entry pass to the post and zipped a one-touch pass back to Hunt for a three-pointer that stretched Richmond's lead to 12 at 62-50 midway through the second half.
The Hawks cut Richmond's lead to five with 7:50 and 6:27 to play, and again in the final 30 seconds. But the Spiders answered every Saint Joseph's bucket to secure their sixth straight win and place in program history.
As they cut down the nets at the Robins Center, the Spiders were asked how and for how long they planned to celebrate, with one regular season game still remaining (Saturday at George Mason).
"I'm going to go home and do some homework. I've got school tomorrow," said King.
"Just one night," said Bigelow. "Then we've got to lock in to the A-10 Tournament. We've got bigger goals."
"It's just such a tremendous accomplishment. I'm just so proud of the guys and so honored to be their coach," said Spiders coach Chris Mooney. "What a great group of guys. You saw tonight everybody helping in different ways."
The Spiders were led by center Neal Quinn, who scored 21 points with four rebounds and a team-high four assists as the Spiders finished their home schedule with a 15-1 record at the Robins Center, the best mark in 52 seasons of Spider basketball in the arena.
"I'm at a loss. It's so indescribable," said Quinn after the game. "All the years of training and sacrifice so you can have a moment like this on your home floor. I'm beyond grateful to have this opportunity and to do it with these guys right here."
DeLonnie Hunt added a season-high 18 points with three steals while shooting 6-9 from the floor. Isaiah Bigelow was the third and final Spider in double figures, finishing with 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
Prior to 2023-24, Richmond's best regular season result in the A-10 had been a runner-up finish in 2019-20, when the A-10 Tournament was canceled due to COVID-19. With eight newcomers on the roster, this year's team was picked 11th in the league's preseason poll in October.
"I knew we would exceed the preseason polls and expectations but as we progressed through the season we got better and better each game," said Bigelow. "I just love these guys."
"For new guys we just gelled so well together, and we have so much talent and everyone brings something unique to the table," said Quinn. "Coach [Mooney] has done a phenomenal job of morphing it all together to the finished product that we have right now."
"To be this good and to have these guys come together as quickly as they did, it's really special," added Mooney.
This is the seventh regular season title in program history and the first since UR won the regular season championship in its final season in the CAA in 2000-01. Richmond is 15-2 in A-10 games this year, a program record for conference wins in a season.
"We just put our name in history," said Jordan King. "I'm just proud of my guys and all the coaches, they put us in the right spot. Everyone just came to work hard, and I'm just glad we got the win tonight."
King, Richmond's leading scorer, finished with eight points, six of them coming at the foul line in the game's final minutes.
"It's just next man up mentality," said King of his teammates stepping into his scoring role. "Mike Walz had a great game for us. Neal played amazing. Zae [Bigelow] had a couple of buckets for us. Everyone just played their part. At the end of the day, it's all about winning. No one cares about the individual stats."
Walz scored eight points and grabbed five rebounds, but his best play was his lone assist of the night, when he received an entry pass to the post and zipped a one-touch pass back to Hunt for a three-pointer that stretched Richmond's lead to 12 at 62-50 midway through the second half.
The Hawks cut Richmond's lead to five with 7:50 and 6:27 to play, and again in the final 30 seconds. But the Spiders answered every Saint Joseph's bucket to secure their sixth straight win and place in program history.
As they cut down the nets at the Robins Center, the Spiders were asked how and for how long they planned to celebrate, with one regular season game still remaining (Saturday at George Mason).
"I'm going to go home and do some homework. I've got school tomorrow," said King.
"Just one night," said Bigelow. "Then we've got to lock in to the A-10 Tournament. We've got bigger goals."
Team Stats
SJU
UR
FG%
.410
.464
3FG%
.300
.333
FT%
.538
.818
RB
36
33
TO
14
9
STL
6
6
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
21
FGM
9
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
18
FGM
6
3FGM
2
FTM
4
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
8
FGM
1
3FGM
0
FTM
6
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballC
/ Men's Basketball
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