Richmond 5-0

The Richmond Spiders defeated the Wisconsin Badgers 62-52 in the 1st round of the Roman Legends Classic in Brooklyn, NY.  The Spiders were led by G Blake Francis who led Richmond in scoring with 19 points.  Grant Golden registered his 12th career double-double with 16 pts and 12 reb.  Richmond came out of the gates hot, shooting well from the perimeter.  Grant Golden got some timely rebounds, and looked extremely athletic tonight.  Nathan Cayo had a quiet, yet important 10 points for Richmond.  Jacob Gilyard didn’t score until the 2nd half, but his first shot was a big one, giving Richmond an 8 point lead with 2:42 to play.

Interior play for Richmond

Grant Golden was phenomenal down low, but also showed some flash tonight. He found himself weaving through the defense going coast to coast for a layup late in the 2nd half.  Before this game, I noted how important it would be for Grant to have a career game for Richmond, and that’s exactly what he did.  Hopefully this will be enough for him to up his game for the remainder of the season.  Richmond did a fantastic job limiting Brad Davison’s production. He was held to just 5 points for the Badgers, while he averaged 15.6 on the year.  The Spiders did an excellent job of forcing Wisconsin to take outside jumpers, which they were ice cold on all night.

What’s Next?

Richmond will take on the Auburn Tigers from the SEC tonight at 7:30 on ESPN2.  Auburn is coming off a dominant victory over New Mexico last night, as well as a Final Four appearance last season.  Richmond is playing with house money at this point after defeating Wisconsin, so tonight should be fun to watch.  A victory tonight would be an even bigger boost for Richmond, as well as the A-10 as a league.  Be sure to follow along on our forum at www.a10talk.com, on Twitter @A10Talk & @AustinDaisey11.  See you tonight Spider Nation!