Richmond improves to 8-1
Richmond defeated South Alabama 75-57 today at the Robins Center. The Spiders were led by Grant Golden who bounced back well from his left ankle injury. Golden registered 8 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists in the Spider victory, and had great awareness all game long. In the 1st half, they didn’t particularly shoot the 3 ball well, as they went 3-11 in the first 20:00. Jacob Gilyard was held scoreless in the 1st half, but turned it on for the final 20. He finished with 15 points, including three 3’s. Blake Francis looked good today as well, as he scored 15 in the Spiders win. Nick Sherod had another good showing today as he finished with 17 points & 9 rebounds, leading the team. Richmond had 4 players in double figures (Gilyard, Francis, Sherod, & Gustavson). Andre Gustavson had a solid game as well coming off the bench for the Spiders. He provided the energy that Tyler Burton usually provides, but Burton did not play today due to an illness.
Spider Court Vision
Richmond did a fantastic job today of sharing the ball and looking for the extra pass. Grant Golden was phenomenal down low today as he had 7 assists, and always seemed to find someone cutting to the rim. When asked in the postgame press conference, he said that his ankle felt good. The Spiders pulled away in the 2nd half thanks to 22 team assists on 30 made shots. Coming into this contest, Richmond has been averaging 17.6 assists through 8 games, and today proves how important this stat is. This team is fun to watch when they get hot from the outside. Earlier in the season, I asked Chris Mooney what his thoughts were on their hot 3-point shooting, and he backed that up even further today, as the Spiders had excellent ball movement leading to open looks.
Road Ahead
The Spiders will be back in action on Dec. 14, as they take on Charleston at the Robins Center (5:00/NBCSN). Following the Charleston game, Richmond will play 3 straight on the road (ODU 12/18, Radford 12/22 in DC, & Alabama on 12/29). Be sure to stay up to date with A10Talk on Twitter (@A10Talk) as well as online at www.a10talk.com. We will see you on Saturday Spider Nation!