Complete notes in .pdf format
The Spiders (12-10, 5-4 Atlantic 10) have won 10-straight against Duquesne (16-7, 6-4 Atlantic 10) since joining the Atlantic 10 in the 2001-02 season. The Dukes won the first eight meetings between the two teams from 1937-1994.
THE LATEST
- The Spiders, who have won eight of the last 12 games, are tied for sixth in the Atlantic 10, a half game behind fourth-place Duquesne. Richmond is 2-2 on the road in the Atlantic 10.
- In Richmond's last 12 games, when the Spiders out-rebound their opponents they are 6-0. The Spiders have been out-rebounded by double-figures three times in the last seven games and have lost all three. In Richmond's 17-point win over Dayton the Spiders were only out-rebounded by six and in a win over Virginia Tech on Jan. 3 they only lost the rebounding battle by seven. The moral of the story, when the Spiders compete on the boards, they have won. When Richmond gets beaten on the boards badly, they lose, such as Sunday's 64-55 loss to Saint Louis when the Billikens held a 41-27 advantage on the glass.
- The youthful Spiders have 81 percent of their scoring coming from freshmen and sophomores and just three scholarship players in their junior and senior years. Richmond's top five scorers are freshmen or sophomores.
- The game pits the Atlantic 10's top two teams in steals. Duquesne leads the league and is 13th in the nation at 9.74 per game, while the Spiders are second in the A-10 and 23rd in the nation at 9.09 per game. Richmond has reached double-figures in steals in six of the last 10 games and 10 times this season. The Spiders have at least five steals in every game and at least seven steals in 20 of 22 games.
- Richmond is third in the A-10 for turnovers forced (17.2), having caused 20-plus turnovers in seven games. Duquesne leads the league in turnovers forced (19.5), while the Spiders have a combined total of 15 turnovers in the last two games.
- Richmond is fourth in the A-10 in fewest points allowed (65.0).
SCOUTING RICHMOND
The Spiders key to success is bringing energy on the defensive end of the court and crashing the glass. Richmond had out-rebounded three of its last four opponents (Dayton, Charlotte, Temple) and held those teams under 65 points, but in losses to Rhode Island and Saint Louis the Spiders were dominated on the glass. Richmond has to keep the Dukes off the foul line, in the Spiders' two A-10 road losses, they have been out-shot by at least 27 free throw attempts.
SCOUTING DUQUESNE
Duquesne had scored over 100 points in back-to-back wins over Saint Joseph's and La Salle, then edged Dayton on the road Wednesday 63-61. Shawn James leads the team in scoring at 14.2 per game and Kojo Mensah is averagine 13.3. Kieron Achara is third at 11.2 ppg.
Quick Hitters
The Spiders have made the same (vs. Saint Joseph's) or more field goals than their opponent in 11 of the last 12 games...the Spiders are 9-1 when they shoot less than 20 three-pointers...Richmond has been no worse than in a one-possession game at the half in 18 of 22 games this season......Richmond is 11-3 when freshman Kevin Smith plays at least 16 minutes...Richmond is second in the Atlantic 10 in field goal percentage for conference games, shooting 46.0 percent through nine A-10 contests...13 of Richmond's 21 games have been decided by six points or less with eight decided by three points or less...Richmond is 10-3 in games decided by six points or less...Richmond is 10-1 when it has a higher shooting percentage than its opponent...the Spiders have led by at least seven points in 17 of 22 games this season and have led by at least four points in all but three games...the Spiders are 8-0 all-time in triple OT games after a 75-74 triple OT win at La Salle on Jan. 9.
Stealing The Show
The Spiders are second in the Atlantic 10 and 17th in the nation in steals at 9.14 per contest. Richmond has double-digits in steals in six of the last 10 games and has had at least seven steals in all but two games this season The Spiders season-low for steals is five. Richmond has three players in the top-11 in the conference in steals. Sophomore Ryan Butler is fourth (1.82), freshman Kevin Anderson is sixth (1.77) and sophomore David Gonzalvez is tied for 11th (1.50).
Balanced Attack
Richmond has had a balanced scoring attack all season. The team's top two scorers, sophomores Dan Geriot and David Gonzalvez, have only scored in double-figures in the same game five times in 22 games and the Spiders have eight different players who have scored in double-figures this season. The Spiders have had four different players lead the team in scoring in the last four games.
Causing Turnover
The Spiders are third in the A-10 in turnovers forced, causing 17.2 turnovers per game. They have forced the opposition into 20 or more turnovers seven times this year, including four of the last 10 games.
Two-Dimensional
The Spiders finished the 2006-07 season ranked 35th in the nation in two-point field goal percentage shooting 52.6 percent from inside the arc. Richmond is shooting 50.1 percent on two-pointers this season, while making just 34.3 percent of its three-pointer attempts.
The Big Man On Campus
Sophomore 6-foot-9 center Dan Geriot scored the third most points by a Spider freshman with 356 and has 308 through 22 games this season (14.0 ppg) giving him 664 points through 52 college games (12.8 ppg). He has the fifth-highest career scoring total for a sophomore at Richmond and is on pace to have one of the school's top-4 scoring totals through sophomore year. Geriot put on quite a scoring exhibition in a five-game stretch from Nov. 10 through Nov. 24. He scored over 20 points four times and reached double-figures in all five games. Over that five-game stretch, the Springfield, Pa. native averaged 19.4 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists. He shot 54.5 percent (33-of-66) in the span, including 44.4 percent from three-point land (8-of-18). Geriot is averaging 15.7 points per game in Atlantic 10 play, which ranks 10th in the A-10, and leads the team with an overall scoring average of 14.0. He also leads the Spiders in rebounding (5.3 rpg) and is averaging 9.0 rebounds per game over the last three contests. He has scored in double-figures 14 times this season and 33 times in his career.
Gunning Down The Running
The Spiders did a good job of stopping up tempo teams in 2006-07, allowing the opposition to score more than 10 fast break points in just three of 30 games last year. The Spiders allowed 5.4 fast break points per game last year and have allowed 4.9 fastbreak points per game this year. Richmond has held the opposition to eight or less fastbreak points in 18 of 22 games this year.
A-10 On The Rebound
After a few down years the Atlantic 10 looks to be back among the nation's elite conferences. The conference, which has had at least four teams in the NCAA Tournament on five occasions since 1996, will look to put three or more teams in the NCAAs for the first time since 2004. That season Richmond was one of four A-10 teams in the Big Dance and No. 1 ranked Saint Joseph's and Xavier advanced to the Elite 8. This season the A-10 has been as high as fifth in the RPI. The conference has had as many as three teams ranked in the same week in each poll.
Tale Of Two Halves
The Spiders had clearly been a first-half team for the first 10 games of this season, averaging just 26.7 points in the second half and shooting just 38.5 percent from the field and 29.6 percent from three after the break. While the Spiders have improved their second-half play, including scoring 40 second-half points in the win over Temple, Richmond still has had it struggles after the break. The Spiders were tied with Rhode Island at the half, but were out-scored by 14 in the second session. Richmond let leads of 17 (with 13 minutes to play), 11 (with four minutes to play) and seven (with three minutes to play) slip away in the second half of three of its non-conference losses.
Tenacious D
In Chris Mooney's first season at Richmond in 2005-06, the Spiders led the nation in fewest points allowed for most of the season, not allowing 60 points or more for the first 10 games of the year. The Spiders finished the year allowing 57.8 points per game, which ranked seventh in the country. Last season, with five freshmen seeing the bulk of the minutes, the Spiders did not have as much success defensively, giving up over 60 points in 27 of 30 games. This season the more mature Spiders' are getting back to their defensive stinginess from two years ago. Richmond is fourth in the Atlantic 10 in fewest points allowed at 65.0 per game. Richmond has held 13 teams to 65 points or less this season, including the last three games. The Spiders have held opponents to 50 points or less 15 times in 82 games under Mooney. The Spiders have held teams to 60 points or less 26 times under Mooney, including seven times this season, and allowed over 70 points just 19 times in Mooney's three seasons in the West End.
Spiders Earn A-10 Honors
Richmond freshmen Kevin Smith and Kevin Anderson have each earned Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week honors this season, giving the Spiders four players on the roster who have earned A-10 Rookie of the Week honors in the last two years. Anderson received the award for the second time in three weeks after scoring a game-high 17 points in the win over Charlotte on Feb. 2. Anderson also earned the award on Jan. 21 after averaging 13.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists in two games. He scored a career-high 20 points and grabbed a career-high eight rebounds in a win over St. Bonaventure on Jan. 16. Smith received the honor on Jan. 6 after scoring a career-high 13 points in Richmond's win over Virginia Tech on Jan. 3. He also had a career-high five assists and tied a career-high with five rebounds and two steals in 28 minutes.
Cutting Down The Threes
Through the first nine games of the 2007-08 season the Spiders were letting three-pointers fly at a clip of 20.5 per game, making an average of 6.8 per game and shooting just 33.5 percent. In the last 13 games Richmond is averaging 18.5 three-pointers, but has still made 6.5 per game. Richmond shot 20 or more three-pointers in seven of the first nine games, but has shot 20 or more threes just five times in the last 12 games. The Spiders are 9-1 when they shoot under 20 three-pointers.
Youth Movement
Richmond has just three scholarship players in their junior and senior seasons and the Spiders are receiving 81 percent of their scoring from freshmen and sophomores. Richmond's top five scorers are freshmen or sophomores. Sophomore Dan Geriot (14.0) leads the team in scoring, followed by sophomore David Gonzalvez (11.6), freshman Kevin Anderson (8.8), sophomore Ryan Butler (6.5) and freshman Kevin Smith (5.1).
Using More Windex
The Spiders have been up and down with rebounding this season, having only out-rebounded the opposition in seven games, but six of those seven have come in the last 12 games with the Spiders winning all six. On the other hand, Richmond has been out-rebounded by double-figures in three of the last seven games and is 0-3 in those games. The Spiders were out-rebounded by 13.7 boards per game in conference play last year, but are being out-boarded by just 4.7 rebounds per game through nine conference games this season. Overall, Richmond is being out-rebounded by 5.5 boards per game this year, averaging 29.0 rebounds per game, an increase over the 24.1 from last year.
Duinker Dunks In ROBC
Sydney, Australia native Josh Duinker arrived in the United States for the first time, landing in Richmond two weeks ago after a 30-hour trip. The 6-foot-10, 215 pound forward/center began taking classes and practicing with the team two days later. He has showed athleticism, living up to his name with several dunks and displayed a smooth shooting stroke and the ability to dribble. The plan is to have Duinker redshirt this season and begin play as a freshman with the Spiders in 2008-09.
Darrius Garrett, of Powder Springs, Ga., and Quebec native Francis-Cedric Martel have signed letters of intent and will attend the University of Richmond beginning with the Fall, 2008 semester.