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.
.
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!!