The Opponent: Richmond Spiders 2-3, Atlantic 10 Conference

The Coach: Chris Mooney (Tenth season at UR, 169-135, 187-147 overall, Last season 19-14, 8-8 A-10 -7th-). Ten years ago Mooney led the Air Force Academy to a 18-12 season, the second best in AF history... Mooney is the 13th head coach in Richmond men's basketball history.

The Series: Tonight’s game will be the 200th meeting between William and Mary and Richmond ... Each school is the other’s most often played opponent ... The Spiders lead the close series, 102-97 after a 71-60 Richmond win last season at Kaplan Arena. The Spiders have won the last four meetings, including the last game in the Robins Center, 86-78 (2OT), two seasons ago in Richmond… the Tribe holds a 55-32 cushion in Williamsburg, but are only 34-64 versus the Spiders in Richmond… 3-4 in neutral sites ... The first ever meeting between the two schools goes back to Feb. 18, 1914, a W&M win.
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Last Time Out: Richmond lost their third road game of the season, falling to Northern Iowa by 55-50. The Spiders were led by Sr. point guard Kendall Anthony with 12 points and 2 rebounds, while Junior Trey Davis added a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds


The Skinny: The Spiders play a variation of the Princeton Motion offense, as does the Tribe. Richmond continues to play the Matchup Zone as their key defense, while the Tribe, in recent years, has gone more to a switching man to man, with the Matchup and 2-3 zone mixed in. The Spiders are much more experienced inside this season.



The Key Players:

0 Kendall Anthony 5'8" Sr. G 15.4 ppg 1.6 apg Preseason All-A-10 First Team
3 ShawnDre’ Jones 5'10" So. G 7.8 ppg 3.6 apg Third in NCAA in asst/to ratio (9.0)
5 Trey Davis 6'5" Jr. F 6.6 ppg 4.6 rpg Double-double (11pts/11reb) at UNI
15 Terry Allen 6'8" Jr. F 10.2 ppg 5.0 rpg Second on team in rebounding
33 Alonzo Nelson-Ododa 6'9" Jr. F 9.4 ppg 7.2 rpg Fourth in A-10 in def. rebounds (6.2)

10 T.J. Cline 6'9" R-So. F 10.8 ppg 3.4 rpg Shooting .667 FG, 2nd in A-10




Tribe Disa & Data


• W&M is off to a 5-1 start for the first time since 1992-93.

• Senior G Marcus Thornton averaged 22.0 ppg last week. He scored a team-high 19 points vs. WIU and a season-best 25 points vs. Wofford. He was 14-of-21 from the floor, 5-of-10 from 3 and 11-of-13 at the FT line and was named POW.

• Sophomore F Omar Prewitt has reached double figures five times in six games after scoring 13 points against WIU and Wofford.

• So. Guard Daniel Dixon hit 4-of-5 treys and finished with 14 points and six rebounds in the WIU victory.

• Junior Terry Tarpey averaged 11.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 2.5 apg and 3.0 bpg last week.

• W&M’s 65.6% FG shooting vs. Wofford was the 7th-best performance in school history.



The Broadcast: This game has a 7 PM tip. The Countdown to Tipoff begins at 6:30 PM on our affiliates 92.3 FM and 107.9 FM and on the internet at http://www.tribeathletics.com. Tune in early to hear Tony's thoughts on the game and our analysis of the Spiders. There is TV coverage of this game on CSN+.




Final Thoughts: Through five games, Richmond has played the second-toughest schedule in the nation, according to ESPN’s RPI. The Spiders opponents have a combined record of 24-6 with UNI, N.C. State and ODU all receiving votes in the national polls.
Richmond, like the Tribe, shares the ball very well. Five different players have six or more assists for UR this season. Richmond’s assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.3 currently ranks second in the A-10.
The Tribe will have to be strong on the boards against a good inside group of Spiders and will have to take advantage of the height advantage out front to be successful in search of their sixth consecutive win.



Go Tribe!!

Good stuff, Billy. I'm going to miss these when you selfishly focus on your "other" job.

THANKS, BILLY MAC!

This looks like it may be the biggest test yet for our 4 and 5 spot that have length, but not size. However, my hope is that defensively we can cause real headaches for their undersized guards since our guards are so big.

As has been the case all season, I think a win here will have to start with the tenacious defense we're capable of playing.

I wonder if we'll be able to get Omar and Daniel isolated on small guards that they can shoot over. We get 6-10" on their starters.

(12-02-2014 03:53 PM)TribeInTheBurg Wrote:  I wonder if we'll be able to get Omar and Daniel isolated on small guards that they can shoot over. We get 6-10" on their starters.

I could be wrong, but I'm not sure even with a 6"+ advantage that that's the most comfortable spot to be in for Dixon. I'm not sure he's the guy that's going to take a lot of "contested" threes, even with a shorter defender.

Omar I think we can definitely make that happen.

Richmond fans seem to think this is a guaranteed win. I think it's a tough test, but definitely a game where we can make a statement.

(12-02-2014 04:04 PM)hktribefan Wrote:  Richmond fans seem to think this is a guaranteed win. I think it's a tough test, but definitely a game where we can make a statement.

Richmond fans believe that they own us. Let's hope their team and coach suffer from the same delusion. I like our "shock and awe" starts of recent times and the grit we've shown in holding off comebacks.

Just Do It Tribe!

RPI/Sagarin etc. loves the Spiders--not hard to see why given their strength of schedule. They don't have any impressive wins yet, but all their losses have come against high quality opponents. This could be a great matchup and another opportunity for the Tribe to turn some heads.

How much better are we since Fl ? How much of a difference does TT make? Who can make a difference off the bench
Will this be a coming out party for who ?