This was not a fun non-conference season for Richmond, and reliving it is probably less enjoyable. The Spiders reached double digit losses before the New Year, and this team made a complete 180 after the losses of T.J. Cline and ShawnDre’ Jones to graduation. This was a fall to forget for the Richmond Spiders…
Good Wins
Of the two wins Richmond picked up, one of them was actually pretty good. Beating UAB on a neutral court by double digits was encouraging at the time, especially because it was Grant Golden’s first big game. The redshirt freshman scored 26 points, and Richmond’s defense was pretty good throughout. However, that would be Richmond’s last promising win of 2017, and that game was more than a month ago…
Bad Losses
Well, let’s see. Richmond opened up the regular season with home losses to Delaware and Jacksonville St., both in crushing fashion. That had to be the most disappointing part: the Spiders got run out of their own building, and neither game was even close. A 29 point road loss to Wake Forest was less than impressive. Richmond actually led at Old Dominion at the half before blowing that lead and falling by 19. Not much was good…
Richmond looked good in the 2nd half against Boston College on the road and erased a double digit deficit to force overtime. This was maybe UR’s most promising loss, but it was still a loss, and it was Mooney’s 10th.
Non-Conference Grade: F+
I’ll give the Spiders the + because they at least held their own in some really competitive games against top-level competition. Vermont, Georgetown, and Boston College found it tough to oust the Spiders, though all 3 of those teams would come up victorious. I believe Richmond did get a little better as the non-conference season went on, but you can’t expect me to give this team much better of a grade than an F+. The Spiders are now the lowest ranked team in the Atlantic 10 according to Kenpom. That’s not a good look for this program.
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