Flyers Defeat Spiders

Richmond, VA —

The Richmond Spiders were defeated by the #7 Dayton Flyers 87-79 tonight in front of a capacity crowd (7,201) at the Robins Center.  Richmond did a good job of hanging around in the 1st half, and only trailed by 8 heading into the locker room.  Jacob Gilyard scored 15 points in the 1st half, including going 3-4 from deep.  Obi Toppin proved how dangerous he can be, as he contributed 24 points in the Dayton victory.  Richmond went cold for a stretch in the final 20 of this one, shooting 27-69 and 39.1% total in the loss.

What This Tells Us

Yes, losing at home is never what you want as a fan.  This loss will not be the end all be all for the Spiders. Dayton is a special talent, and a legitimate Final Four contender come March/April.   Jalen Crutcher was also feeling it tonight, as he finished up with 24 in the Dayton victory.  Richmond cut Dayton’s lead to as low as 6 in the late going.  This team showed tremendous heart and fought to the end.  This tells us a lot about this squad, as it would’ve been easy to roll over and rest up for VCU.  This was an emotional game and tension was high and it was a great test for Mooney’s squad.  Richmond will come out more than ready at the Siegel Center on Tuesday night.

Bright Spots

Don’t let this loss get to you. Dayton is really good, and they are #7 in the nation for a reason.  Basketball is a game of two halves, and tonight showed just that.  Through the opening half in this one, there was plenty of reason to be hopeful for the upset.  Trey Landers picked up 2 fouls in the first few minutes of the half, and Richmond was in the bonus early on as well.  Things were trending in the right direction until the 2nd half.  Jacob Gilyard performed well on the big stage tonight, as he scored 27, going 9-17 in the contest.  Andre Gustavson was all over the place early in the 1st half which really had Dayton in a frenzy for a few possessions.  Nick Sherod finished with 23, and  had a nice 6 point run for himself in the 2nd half as he knocked down a 3, as well as converting a 3 point play.

Road Ahead

The Spiders will hit the “road” on Tuesday night as they play crosstown rival VCU.  This will be another hostile environment, just like this one.  Richmond will have some conditioning for the crowd that is expected at the Siegel Center.  As always, be sure to follow along on @AustinDaisey11 & @A10Talk on Twitter, as well as on www.a10talk.com.  See you Tuesday Spider Nation!