Richmond Spiders (Game 2)

Date/Time: Wednesday February 8th @ 7:00 PM at The Charles E. Smith Center in Washington DC.
TV: ESPN+

Game 1 Result: Richmond 73, GW 63 (Bishop 25 points, Lindo 12 points)
Richmond Preview: Link
Richmond Record Since Last Matchup: 4-5 (Wins vs. Duquesne, at Davidson, vs. Rhode Island, vs. Fordham; Losses at St. Bonaventure, vs. VCU, at UMass, at Dayton, vs. St. Bonaventure)

Projected Starting Lineup:
Tyler Burton (Senior; Uxbridge, MA) 19 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.6 spg; 46% FG, 32% 3-PT, 73% FT
      Game 1 @ Richmond: 26 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals; 9-19 FG, 1-4 3-PT, 7-8 FT in 40 minutes.

Neal Quinn (Senior; Allendale, NJ) 8.7 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.7 apg; 55% FG, 17% 3-PT, 63% FT
     Game 1 @ Richmond: 8 points, 3 assists; 4-6 FG, 0-2 FT in 19 minutes.

Matt Grace (Senior; Hamilton, Canada) 7.9 ppg, 4 rpg, 2.6 apg; 43% FG, 35% 3-PT, 84% FT
     Game 1 @ Richmond: 5 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists; 2-4 FG, 1-1 FT in 28 minutes.

Andre Gustavson (Senior; Helsinki, Finland) 4.8 ppg, 3 rpg, 1.3 apg; 48% FG, 44% 3-PT, 60% FT
     Game 1 @ Richmond: 6 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists; 1-2 FG, 4-4 FT in 33 minutes.

Dji Bailey (Junior; Wilson, NC) 2.5 ppg, 2 rpg, 1.3 apg; 39% FG, 33% 3-PT, 50% FT
     Game 1 @ Richmond: DNP (ankle injury)

Projected Bench:
Jason Nelson (Freshman; Richmond, VA) 8.7 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 2.2 apg; 36% FG, 29% 3-PT, 70% FT
      Game 1 @ Richmond: 11 points, 5 rebounds; 3-8 FG, 2-5 3-PT, 3-4 FT in 32 minutes.

Isaiah Bigelow (Senior; Greensboro, NC) 8.6 ppg, 5.9 rpg; 35% FG, 27% 3-PT, 88% FT
      Game 1 @ Richmond: 9 points, 8 rebounds; 1-3 FG, 1-2 3-PT, 6-6 FT in 23 minutes.

Jason Roche (Sophomore; Berkeley, CA) 6.6 ppg, 1.7 rpg; 41% FG, 41% 3-PT, 94% FT
      Game 1 @ Richmond: 8 points, 3 rebounds; 3-5 FG, 2-4 3-PT in 18 minutes.

Marcus Randolph (Sophomore; Willingboro, NJ) 3 ppg, 1 rpg; 45% FG, 44% 3-PT, 67% FT
      Game 1 @ Richmond: 0 points; 0-1 FG, 0-2 FT in 6 minutes.

Conference Ranks (A10 play only):
Team FT Percentage - 76.8% (2nd) (GW is 1st at 76.9%)
Scoring Defense - 68.4 ppg (6th) (GW is 15th at 80.2 ppg)
Team Defensive Rebounds - 25.3 drpg (6th)
Combined Opponent Rebounds - 33.6 rpg (7th)
Turnover Margin - -0.45 (8th)
Opponent FG Percentage - 43.6% (9th)
Opponent 3-PT FG Percentage - 34.9% (10th)
Scoring Margin - -2.7 ppg (10th)
3-PT FGs Made - 6.6 3pg (11th)
Assist Turnover Ratio - 0.91 (12th)
Rebound Margin - -1.6 rpg (12th)
Team FG Percentage - 41.7% (12th)
Steals Per Game - 5.27 spg (13th)
Blocked Shots Per Game - 1.82 bpg (14th)
Combined Team Rebounds - 32 rpg (14th)
Opponent FT Percentage - 75.4% (14th) (GW is 13th at 74.6% - seems like things have averaged out a bit during conference play)
Team 3-PT FG Percentage - 29.9% (14th)
Assists Per Game - 10.36 apg (15th)
Scoring Offense - 65.6 ppg (15th) (GW is 1st at 76.2 ppg)
Team Offensive Rebounds - 6.7 orpg (15th)

Keys/Trends:
- Richmond enters this game as the lowest scoring offense in conference play while GW remains at the top despite a few rough games. GW is also last in scoring defense giving up over 80 ppg. You would have to think that goes down by default at some point, but I'm still more concerned about the offense going into the game than the defense. GW was winning in the first half last time the two teams played by getting to the basket but lost the second by settling for too many threes. If the ball is not moving (as has been the case the past few games) it will still be hard to get a home win.

- This Richmond team is not one you want to be putting at the line. That's arguably their biggest strength in conference play as they are 2nd behind only GW. In the last matchup, the Spiders took 27 free throws to just 9 for GW. You would think we get the home whistle in this one, but Richmond's FT attempts have to be limited.

- With the number of new players entering the fold, Mooney's squad this year isn't as good moving the ball as they have in previous years. It takes time to learn the Princeton offense and the Spiders are prone to going a bit one-on-one for stretches - especially Burton. Richmond is last in conference in assists per game.

- Richmond has shot 29.3% from three (61/208) since our last matchup. We will still have to contest shots and change things up if they get it going from distance but the #1 priority will be staying in front of Spider players. This Richmond squad isn't particularly strong offensively - they didn't have a FG in the final 5 minutes of our last game. Our inability to get inside shots/score late ended up making the difference because Richmond left the door open for much of the game.

- Richmond has been outrebounded in 6 of the past 9 games. In the six games they got outrebounded, they lost all but 1 (they defeated Fordham most recently despite being outrebounded by 2). The Spiders are not an overly strong rebounding squad, particularly on the offensive side of things where they rank dead last in conference. Securing the defensive rebound will be key. We were outrebounded by 4 in the last game - I think winning the rebounding battle is attainable against this squad.

- Tyler Burton has scored in double figures every game this season. He has strangely made exactly five field goals in six of the past seven games. Burton showed in the last meeting that he's looking to take it to the hoop and get to the line. We need to take away those driving lanes and force him to shoot jumpers. He is 2-14 from distance in Richmond's past three games yet he's taken a combined 22 free throws in the past two.

- Outside of our last meeting, Jason Nelson has only scored in double figures in one other conference game (Davidson). He is a guy you can want to take their shots - Nelson is 3/21 from the field in the last four games.

- Neal Quinn did not put up a ton of points in the last matchup but he was certainly a difference maker in how Richmond operates their Princeton offense and commands a lot of space in the paint. Quinn has had some fouling issues recently - he's had four personals in three of their past five games so attacking him when he's in the game will be important.

- Isaiah Bigelow has only had three conference games in which he's shot over 40%. In our last game, he only went 1/3 from the field but still finished with 9 points thanks to a 6-6 performance from the FT line. Bigelow has not missed a FT in the past six games and is shooting 88% from the line on the year. When he has the ball, it's again important to force him to take a jumper instead of allowing him to get to the hoop.

- Before their last game against Fordham, Matt Grace was 4/16 from 3 in the previous four games. If you take out two outlier shooting performances against St. Bonaventure and Bucknell, he's only 28% for the year from 3 despite taking over 3 attempts a game. The running theme here is force him to shoot.

- Jason Roche has played just 8.3 minutes per game in Richmond's last three games as Bailey has returned from injury. He may not play as many minutes in game 2 but he is definitely the one guy you don't want getting into a groove from 3.

- If there is a guy who might be okay to foul it's Andre Gustavson. He's a relatively low usage player as he doesn't even average four shot attempts per game despite playing nearly 29 minutes and starting. Gustavson is just 9/15 from the FT line on the year and get this - the last GW game was the only time this year he did not miss a free throw in a game where he attempted one. There might just be a small sample size here (along with bad GW luck) but the story here is to force him to be more than a defensive factor for Richmond.

Projected Score: GW 72, Richmond 71. 56% chance to win (Bart Torvik). ESPN gives us a 39.6% chance to snap a three game losing streak and move to 6-5 in conference.
 

Duquesne thrived on Saturday by taking advantage of GW helping on screens and hedging on pick-and-roll opportunities, only to lose a man altogether. With GW's lack of depth and struggles handling a lot of motion on offense, I think that a patient Richmond team could run GW ragged. Sloppy execution by the Spiders makes this anyone's game.

Very early thoughts-
Where are the students? Looks empty.
Someone needs to tell the unpaid intern GW has run the sound board to put Pastos´ mic in to key. Or, maybe not, sometimes silence is golden.
Amazing what happens when there is ball movement (see the backdoor to Lindo).
 

No idea what Patsos is saying - maybe that’s OK

Quinn,No.32, has been getting away with mauling our big men,especially when he's on offense.

Still no points for Burton.

Tennessee Colonial wrote:

We shoot jump shots, they get layups. Not good.

Mooney and staff have always been great at teaching unathletic big men great footwork.

Bishop is turning the ball over too much.

We don’t defend their screens well, and don’t screen well ourselves on offense