University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
7-8,2-0Atlantic 10
Massachusetts
5-10,0-2Atlantic 10
Spiders Beat Minutemen at Their Own Game, Start 2-0 in Atlantic 10
01/04/2025 | Men's Basketball
AMHERST, Mass. — Facing the league leader in offensive rebounding and the unofficial A-10 leader in aggressive play, the Richmond Spiders flipped the script to beat the UMass Minutemen 72-64 in Amherst Saturday. The Spiders held UMass to nine offensive rebounds (five fewer than its season average) and collected 12 offensive boards of their own — their most in the last two seasons. Richmond also seemed to outpace the Minutemen in deflections, dives on the floor and loose balls collected as the Spiders improved to 2-0 in the Atlantic 10 and 7-8 on the season.
"It's a big challenge for us when we play UMass because we're such a skill-based operation," said Spider coach Chris Mooney. "Last year, UMass beat us at home, and they really took the game to us in a physical way with their aggression. Today, we just wanted to be committed to not [letting that happen]."
For the first six minutes Saturday, though, that's exactly what happened. UMass opened a 20-7 lead early, hitting seven of its first 10 shots from the field and forcing an early Spiders timeout with 14:04 on the clock.
"We kind of challenged the guys in the timeout," said Mooney. "This is what the game is. They're going to be very aggressive. They're great at it. And we're going to have to match that."
Richmond responded by matching the aggression of the Minutemen, and then some. The Spiders scored 20 of the game's next 27 points to tie the game with 4:36 before the half and took their biggest lead of the game to that point when a three-pointer by DeLonnie Hunt beat the buzzer to make the score 34-31 in favor of Richmond at the break.
Hunt finished with a team-high 16 points, seven assists (matching a career high) and five steals, becoming the first Spider with five or more steals in consecutive games since NCAA D-I career steals leader Jacob Gilyard did it on Jan. 6-9, 2021.
"He's the heart and soul of our team," said Mooney of Hunt.
The Spiders stayed hot in the second half, opening the period on a 5-0 run and built their lead to as many as 12 early in the frame. UMass rallied with seven straight points to narrow Richmond's lead to 56-53 with eight minutes remaining, but a three-pointer from Collin Tanner following the under-8 media timeout added to UR's advantage. The Minutemen would never again get within one possession of Richmond as the Spiders improved to 10-3 in their last 13 games vs UMass and snapped a six-game road losing streak.
"To get a road win in the Atlantic 10 is terrific and we're really pleased with it," said Mooney. "This has been a very together group, but it hadn't shown up on the court quite as much and I think maybe it's starting to a little bit. I just feel like our mindset was really good today. You're playing such a physical team that's so good at what they do that you have to really be tough. Not just physically tough but mentally tough, and I think we showed that today."
Dusan Neskovic added 15 points for the Spiders, all in the second half. Mike Walz scored 11 points, one off his career high, and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, one game after setting a career high with 15 boards vs George Washington.
"His overall mentality and his overall will to win has really shown up these last few games," said Mooney of Walz. "He's critical for us."
Tanner added 10 points off the bench for his first double-digit effort since scoring 13 in a season-opening win vs Mount Olive on Nov. 6.
Richmond is 2-0 in Atlantic 10 play for a second straight season and for the fifth time under Chris Mooney, joining the 2010-11, 2016-17 and 2019-20 seasons. The Spiders are 3-1 in their last four games following a three-game losing streak.
"A lot of teams are experiencing trying to mesh together and gel together, and we feel like that's taken us a little bit of time," said Mooney of a roster with nine newcomers, his most in 20 years at Richmond. "But our work ethic and care and all those things have been terrific."
Richmond will return to action Wednesday at 7 p.m. vs George Mason at EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Va. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
