Game 29, 2019-20: at Richmond (2/29)

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Game 29, 2019-20: at Richmond (2/29)

Post by MikeUMA » Thu Feb 27, 2020 6:47 pm

Time to get this started. 3 games to go on the regular season, and a trip to Richmond is up first.

The Fire Mooney Mafia has been relegated to the shadows, as Richmond is 21-7 overall and 11-4 in the league, solo possession of third place. They can't catch Dayton at 15-0, but they still have a shot at moving into second past URI (12-3). They're also not locked into the double-bye yet either. Bona is in 4th at 10-5, and there's a 3-way tie for 5th at 9-6. Richmond still has much to play for.

Saturday's game is already a sell-out. It is not their Senior Night, they still have one more homer to play.

They've been tough at home, at 12-2 on the year, the losses coming against...
SLU (74-58). Off night for the Spiders, -9 on the glass and allowed SLU 67% shooting in the second half.
Dayton (87-79). Dayton, 'nuff said.

They were 10-3 in the non-conf, starting 10-1, including a 20 point win over Boston College. (Thank you, Richmond, for that.) Losses came versus Auburn in Brooklyn, a stumble vs Radford in DC, and at Alabama.

By the numbers, Richmond is 3rd best in the league in scoring at 74.5. (We're 9th at 68.4) On D, they're 8th, we're 13th, and a 4 point gap in between.

They've put up some points, with scores of 100 (vs St Francis), 97 (at Mason), 93 (vs Vandy), and 90 (vs Cal Northridge).

They shoot well at .464, 2nd in the league. From 3, their .360 rate is 3rd best. Those numbers could be trouble for us, especially on the road.

From the line, they're best in the league, at .767. (We're .689)

Rebounding is not their strength though. They're -2.3 on the year. We're still a -3.2 on the year, but over the last 6 we're +1.8.

They're a +3.3 in turnover margin (3rd best), and best in A:TO at 1.4. In those categories we are +1.1 and 1.0.

They're led by Blake Francis (6'0 175 RS Jr G). His 17.4 ppg is league 4th best. (Tre's 16.9 is #5) Played his first 2 at Wagner. He missed a few games in late Jan / early Feb with a fractured sternum, but he hasn't missed a beat since returning on 2/8.

Grant Golden (6'10 255 RS Jr F) 13.4 ppg (league #16). His 7.0 on the glass is #13 in the league, and his .523 FG% is #9. (Freshman year was cut short with a heart condition, turned into redshirt year.) Another battle for Tre Mitchell.

Jacob Gilyard (5'9 160 Jr G) 13.3 ppg (league #17) and 3.2 rpg. His 2.9 A:TO number leads the league, as does his 3.1 steals/game number.

Nathan Cayo (6'7 195 Fr F) adds 8.6 and 4.9, and hits a team-best .547 from the field. Hails from Uxbridge MA.

Nick Sherod (6-4 230 RS Jr G) adds 12.4 and 5.1. He's #3 in the league from 3 at .417, and his 163 attempts are #6. He tore his ACL early last season, turned it into a redshirt. Anyway, right behind Sherod with 162 3-attempts is Francis (a .364 shooter). Then add Gilyard at 143 / .378. Perimeter D needed.

Other than Francis missing a few games, their starting lineup has been pretty consistent: Gilyard / Francis / Sherod / Cayo / Golden.

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Re: Game 29, 2019-20: at Richmond (2/29)

Post by bobolink » Thu Feb 27, 2020 8:45 pm

MikeUMA wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 6:47 pm
The Fire Mooney Mafia has been relegated to the shadows, as Richmond is 21-7 overall and 11-4 in the league, solo possession of first place... Richmond still has much to play for.
...
good summary Mike, but slip of the fingers putting them in first place. Coming off a close loss to SBU in Olean, they squeaked by GW on the road and fell from 50 to 53 in NET ratings. This is a reminder that they not only need to win but win big. They will be the 4th highest rated team we've faced this year (behind Dayton, Rutgers and URI). The 5th highest was VCU. Richmond is in the "first 4 out" in both Lunardi and USA-Today bracketology. After Saturday they play Davidson and @Duquesne, so they have no room for error. Much to play for is an understatement. They start 5 juniors and have no seniors on the roster.

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Re: Game 29, 2019-20: at Richmond (2/29)

Post by 69MG » Thu Feb 27, 2020 8:54 pm

I'll be shocked if the spread is less than 12. Richmond is very hard to defend, our offense still has a few kinks and it's a road game.

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Re: Game 29, 2019-20: at Richmond (2/29)

Post by capezona » Thu Feb 27, 2020 8:57 pm

I don't see us getting into the win column on this one.

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Re: Game 29, 2019-20: at Richmond (2/29)

Post by Worcester_To_Amherst » Thu Feb 27, 2020 9:06 pm

If they can keep it competitive until the end I’ll be pleased. Richmond could be pre season favorites next year.

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Re: Game 29, 2019-20: at Richmond (2/29)

Post by philosopher » Thu Feb 27, 2020 9:50 pm

There is always a chance the Spiders will be looking last the Minutemen. (There's also a chance I just bought a winning lottery ticket..., ANY freaking lottery ticket!). Still...

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Re: Game 29, 2019-20: at Richmond (2/29)

Post by uz2b-len » Thu Feb 27, 2020 9:53 pm

69MG wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 8:54 pm I'll be shocked if the spread is less than 12. Richmond is very hard to defend, our offense still has a few kinks and it's a road game.
I'd be shocked if we lost by less than 12
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Re: Game 29, 2019-20: at Richmond (2/29)

Post by Jackson96 » Thu Feb 27, 2020 10:24 pm

I’ve watched very little (about seven and a half minutes) of Richmond but they have definitely been surprisingly good this year. Good balance, veteran club with a bunch of dudes who can score.

Doubt we come of there with the upset — not sure we can keep up with them on offense — but we are playing everyone tough as of late so I’m looking forward to see how we respond on the road.
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Re: Game 29, 2019-20: at Richmond (2/29)

Post by Floyd » Thu Feb 27, 2020 10:53 pm

I think our recent run of playing well and playing tough will keep us in this, and it wouldn't surprise me if we won. But we do really need a few guys other than Tre to put up some numbers in this one. It will take good games from everyone to get this road win
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Re: Game 29, 2019-20: at Richmond (2/29)

Post by MikeUMA » Thu Feb 27, 2020 11:04 pm

bobolink wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 8:45 pm good summary Mike, but slip of the fingers putting them in first place.
Bugger. Fixed now.

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Re: Game 29, 2019-20: at Richmond (2/29)

Post by TheInsider » Fri Feb 28, 2020 6:50 am

With the way we've played offense this could get out of hand.. I mean we had a barn burner at the end of the VCU game and the VCU point total was in the 40's.. think about that.... i think we will have some good moments but a 75-55 loss isn't hard to imagine.

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Re: Game 29, 2019-20: at Richmond (2/29)

Post by JoleonLescottsHair » Fri Feb 28, 2020 8:41 am

^
Or...With the way we've played defense this could be a win. We had a barn burner at the end of the VCU game and our point total was In the 50s...think about that...I think we’ll have some bad moments, but if we continue to play good D and limit turnovers an ”ugly win” isn’t hard to imagine.

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Re: Game 29, 2019-20: at Richmond (2/29)

Post by InnervisionsUMASS » Fri Feb 28, 2020 9:15 am

The turnaround at Richmond has been quite surprising. It wasn't long ago they had billboards to fire Mooney, making some of the people here look like little kittens in comparison. This could easily be a flash in the pan situation, which we are familiar with, but who knows.



With the way we've been playing, if we can keep this close we can absolutely steal a road win here. Confidence is high with this group and I don't expect that to dissipate, even if there are some early performance struggles. Hopefully the staff comes in with a good scheme to deal with UR's D, especially since we know they will likely focus very heavily on Tre. ESPN+ for this one, so looking forward to seeing it.
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Re: Game 29, 2019-20: at Richmond (2/29)

Post by MikeUMA » Fri Feb 28, 2020 9:45 am

One more thing I saw yesterday: Jacob Gilyard's 3.1 steals per game not only leads the A10, it leads the nation. He was recently named one of 10 semifinalists for the 2020 Naismith Men's Defensive Player of the Year award.
https://richmondspiders.com/news/2020/2 ... -year.aspx

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Re: Game 29, 2019-20: at Richmond (2/29)

Post by uz2b-len » Fri Feb 28, 2020 10:26 am

If we come out at three-quarters speed like we did against VCU, we'll be down by 20 at the half.
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