Spiders Roll Past VMI to Reach 4-0

Wednesday, November 19

Robins Center

7:00 PM

University of Richmond

4-0,0-0Atlantic 10

VMI

3-3,0-0SoCon

VMI

Richmond

11/19/2025 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Mooney, Walz Postgame Instant Highlights

RICHMOND, Va. — The Spiders sprinted out to an 8-0 lead in the first 88 seconds and never looked back Wednesday night, cruising to an 87-54 win over VMI at the Robins Center. The win moved Richmond to 4-0 for just the third time in the last 40 seasons, along with 2020-21 (4-0) and 2019-20 (5-0).

"I think a lot of our point of emphasis this year has been on defense," said Spiders senior Mike Walz, whose three-pointer at the 18:32 mark upped Richmond's lead to 8-0 and forced an early VMI timeout. "Really getting off to a great start early, shutting them down ... And defense leads to offense. It's a cliche, but it was really true tonight."

The Spiders held VMI to 37% shooting from the field (18-49) and forced 16 turnovers. Keydets forward TJ Johnson, who had been averaging 25 points per game, was held to four points on 1-11 shooting, as the Spiders switched nearly every screen, giving the Keydets a variety of different defensive matchups to deal with.

"We've been pretty tenacious on defense," said Spiders coach Chris Mooney of the Spiders frequent switches on defense. "What they're great at is getting three-point shoots off quickly. They're so confident and drilled so well that they shoot them on the catch. So it's not just if you're there. You have to be there and maybe a little bit closer."

The Keydets made just eight of their 31 three-points attempts (26%) while Richmond was 12-24 from behind the arc, by far its most three-pointers and best three-point shooting percentage in a game this season.

"When you play [against] a zone defense, you're going to get three-point shots," said Mooney. "I've always talked about that we don't want to live and die with our shooting. We want to live and die with our passing and our sense. So the better passing you have, the better sense you have, the more open those shots are going to be. The more fluid those shots are going to be, and comfortable. I thought we did a very good job of that today."

Grad student AJ Lopez scored a team-high 12 points to lead four Spiders in double figures. Freshman Aiden Argabright added 11 and junior Jaden Daughtry and David Thomas finished with 10 each. Argabright (24 minutes) was the only Spider to play at least half the game as Richmond went deep into its rotation early and often. 12 different Spiders scored, equaling the most in any game during Mooney's 21 seasons at Richmond.

The Spiders outscored VMI 17-2 over the final four minutes of the first half to take a 49-26 lead at halftime. A 10-0 Richmond run early in the second half ballooned the lead to 32 with 13 minutes remaining.

Mike Walz led Richmond with nine rebounds, while Argabright registered a team-high five assists.

UR's 33-point margin of victory was its best vs a D-I opponent since a 90-48 win vs Siena on Nov. 11, 2023. Richmond is now 89-44 all-time vs VMI, its second-most common opponent, and has won six straight in the series.

Richmond will return to action Saturday at 7 PM in the Robins Center against Gardner-Webb. The game can be seen on ESPN Plus.