AMHERST, Mass. – For a lot of the second half on Sunday, it looked like Richmond might keep their momentum going. It looked as though the Spiders were knocked back at first, but they rallied and by the second half seemed to be in control of the game at times. Then they went cold, and as UMass rallied to take the game away by a 70-65 score, the Spiders’ momentum may have gone with it.
UMass scored the game’s first six points and ran out to a 12-3 lead before Richmond came to life. They would get closer in the first half, but it wasn’t until the second half that their aggressiveness had come back fully, and that was when they took the lead and held on to it for a while. They got a number of key stops and baskets to keep UMass at arm’s length.
With just over six minutes left, they went up 63-56 on two free throws by freshman Alonzo Nelson-Ododa. They wouldn’t hit a single field goal the rest of the way, with their last one coming 22 seconds earlier, as they missed their last ten shots and had one of their nine turnovers in the mix at a bad time.
This isn’t the Richmond teams of the past couple of years that were loaded with veterans. The Spiders have just four upperclassmen among their top 11 players, and one of them was out of action on Sunday as junior forward Derrick Williams sat out his seventh straight game with a left ankle sprain and is projected to be out at least two more weeks. Still, in the second half the Spiders looked like the more experienced team as they were more consistent in their play and execution until the final six minutes.
“I thought we stayed aggressive and we got good looks, we just weren’t able to make them,” said head coach Chris Mooney.
Williams is their leading rebounder and second-leading scorer, but that’s not all they’re missing. He also gives the offense some balance since so much of this team’s experience and firepower is in the backcourt. Their top two active scorers are senior Darien Brothers and sophomore Kendall Anthony, and on Sunday they combined to go 4-24 from the field, including 1-13 from long range.
“With Derrick being out, we need to shoot the ball well,” said Mooney. “We didn’t shoot the ball horribly, but (Brothers) had some looks there that he knocks down. We’re confident in him. If he doesn’t shoot the ball well, it’s hard for us to score.”
Without Williams, Nelson-Ododa is the only true post player oftentimes, and he’s not ready to carry a big load inside. His body has a lot of developing to do and it showed on Sunday against UMass’ more mature frontcourt. Classmate Terry Allen also gets minutes and was reasonably productive on Sunday, but there is plenty of development to come there.
The Spiders have been out-rebounded by almost 11 in Atlantic 10 play, and that’s been a season-long issue even when Williams was healthy. Sunday’s differential of minus-nine was a bit deceiving in that the defense didn’t generate enough stops to have a lot of available rebounds, as UMass grabbed six offensive rebounds while the Spiders had 14 defensive rebounds. Richmond had nine offensive boards, so they generated a few second chances. UMass shot 52.3 percent from the floor, while Richmond shot 36.4 percent. Rebounding isn’t just a post player problem, as guards have to do it as well, but it often starts up front.
“We’ve just got to keep building up these young guys and keep them coming along, just having confidence in them,” said Brothers, who is high on them from their work ethic and said he feels the early start to workouts and practice has helped them.
There is plenty of time left for Richmond to become an NCAA at-large candidate, but there’s also plenty of work to be done. Sunday’s loss hurts, though, in that they’re running out of chances and already had little room for error. It also hurts the momentum they gained from winning two straight after losing five of seven, and the wins were big ones: a blowout of Charlotte and an overtime win over local rival VCU. Mooney said he will take a lot of positives from this game, but finishing it to get the win to go with it would have certainly helped.
The Spiders have a lot of experience on the perimeter, which is a good place to have your experience if it’s concentrated into a position. The young frontcourt players have needed to grow up fast with Williams out for a long stretch, and while there have been growing pains, they can make this into a positive down the road. If Williams comes back and they seamlessly re-integrate him into how they play, the development during his absence can be a blessing in disguise. They are hopeful that right now they’re making the best of a bad situation.
“We just need to keep playing, and when he comes back we’ll be even better,” said Mooney.
