Richmond leads the Atlantic 10 in steals and has three players in the top-10 of the league with Kevin Anderson tied for 2nd (2.0) and David Gonzalvez and Ryan Butler tied for 4th (1.7). Those three players are all in the top-6 on Richmond's all-time career steals list with Butler 4th (156), Gonzalvez 5th (150) and Anderson 6th (149).
Quick Hitters
The Spiders defeated Saint Louis 62-36 last Saturday, holding the Billikens to the lost point total for a Richmond opponent in Atlantic 10 play since joining the league in 2001-02...it was the lowest point total for a Richmond opponent since defeating American 73-32 on Feb. 21, 2001...the Spiders have 6 wins against teams that played in the postseason last year....Richmond has wins over Chattanooga (NCAA), Mississippi State (NCAA), Missouri (NCAA), Florida (NIT), Old Dominion (College Insider.com Champion) and Duquesne (NIT)....the Spiders tied the school record for steals last season with 262 and have grabbed 194 in 23 games this season (8.4 spg), which leads the A-10...Kevin Anderson is 2nd in the A-10 in minutes played, 3rd in steals and 5th in scoring...the Spiders have won 2-straight vs. ranked opponents with wins over No. 13 ranked Florida on Dec. 22 and No. 17 ranked Xavier last March...Richmond has won 3 of its last 5 vs. ranked teams in the last three seasons under Chris Mooney...the Spiders are 3-2 vs. teams from BCS conferences this season, giving Richmond the most wins against teams from the Power 6 conferences since the 1985-86 team defeated Providence, Wake Forest, Stanford and Virginia...Chris Mooney has 9 victories over teams from a BCS conference in 6 years as a D-I head coach, including 7 in his 5 seasons at Richmond...the Spiders have won 4 of the last 6 games against BCS teams dating back to a win over St. John's last March...the Spiders have erased deficits of 8 or more in 6 wins this season...Richmond has two of the 11 Spiders who have reached 1,000 points as juniors (David Gonzalvez and Kevin Anderson) and junior Dan Geriot (966 points) needs 34 points to become the 12th...Richmond's defense held Florida to its lowest point total in a loss in Billy Donovan's 16 seasons as head coach of the Gators...it was just the 5th time in 460 games under Donovan that Florida did not reach 54 points...Richmond held Missouri to the second-lowest point total under fourth-year head coach Mike Anderson and the 2nd lowest shooting percentage of the season behind Kansas...Richmond has allowed just 70 fastbreak points in 23 games (3.1 pg)...Richmond has held the opposition to 5 fastbreak points or less in 19 of 23 games...the Spiders have held the opposition to 64 points or less in 16 of their 17 wins...Richmond has led by double-figures in 15 of its 23 games, at least 8 points in all but 3 games and by at least 6 points in every game...Richmond has won by 26 points or more 4 times this season...the Spiders have held three of the top-8 teams in the nation in scoring from last season to 62 points or less this year (VMI, Missouri, Miss. St.) and 4 of the top-25 teams, including Florida...Richmond has forced over 20 turnovers 5 times in 23 games and at least 19 turnovers in 7 games...the Spiders are scoring 17.0 ppg off of turnovers, compared to 10.9 for their opponents...the Spiders average 27.3 points per game in the paint....Chris Mooney and the basketball staff finished the intramural regular-season undefeated and are looking for their 3rd-straight title.
South Padre Island Champions
The Spiders won the 2009 South Padre Island Invitational, defeating defending SEC Champion Mississippi State in the semifinals and defending Big 12 Champion Missouri in the title game. Kevin Anderson was named tournament MVP, while Ryan Butler and David Gonzalvez joined him on the All-Tournament Team. The four previous winners of the South Padre Island Invitational were Illinois (twice), Vanderbilt and Oklahoma State. The last time the Spiders defeated BCS teams in back-to-back games was in the 1988 NCAA Tourney with wins over Indiana and Georgia Tech.
Stealing The Show
The 2009-10 Spiders have three players, among the top-6 on Richmond's career list for steals. Ryan Butler is 4th on the school's career list with 156 steals, David Gonzalvez is 5th with 150 and Kevin Anderson is 6th with 149. All three are also in the top-10 of the Atlantic 10 for steals with Anderson tied for 2nd (2.0), while Gonzalvez and Butler are tied for 4th (1.7).
Gonzo Top-10 In Scoring
Senior David Gonzalvez is 8th on Richmond's all-time scoring list with 1,518 points and is 4th on the school's all-time list in three-pointers with 208, needing 12 to tie Mike Skrocki for third.
Anderson Top-20 In Scoring
Junior Kevin Anderson scored his 1,000th career point on Nov. 22 against Chattanooga, becoming the 38th Spider to reach the milestone and just the 11th Richmond junior to do so, joining teammate David Gonzalvez. Anderson is 18th on Richmond's all-time scoring list with 1,325 points.
A-10 Tion
Only four of the 14 Atlantic 10 teams have finished in the top-5 in the conference standings in each of the past two seasons, Xavier, Temple, Saint Joseph's and Richmond.
Preseason Honors
The Spiders have piled up the preseason honors as the only Atlantic 10 team with three players earning preseason all-conference honors. Junior Kevin Anderson was named to the Atlantic 10 Preseason All-Conference First-Team, while senior David Gonzalvez was tabbed to the Second-Team and junior Dan Geriot was named to the Third-Team. With Anderson, Gonzalvez and Geriot, the Spiders boast three of the nine A-10 players who have earned all-conference honors in their career. Anderson was a Second-Team All-Atlantic 10 pick last season, while Gonzalvez was honorable mention all-conference. Geriot was named Third-Team All A-10 as a sophomore, before missing last season due to injury.
Preseason Hype
Richmond has been picked to finish third in the Atlantic 10 by almost every preseason poll, including the conference's coaches and media poll from which they received four first-place votes. USA Today and FoxSports.com have the Spiders in the 2010 NCAA Tournament field, while FoxSports' Jeff Goodman had the Spiders on his list of Twenty More To Watch outside the Top-25. ESPN's Jay Bilas, Fran Frachilla and Andy Katz mentioned the Spiders multiple times in their blogs and the Denver Post ranked Richmond as the No. 4 on its list of program's on the rise. Jay Bilas and Fran Fraschilla both picked the Spiders as the nation's sleeper team for this season. Lindy's ranked Kevin Anderson as the No. 17 best point guard in the nation and Dan Geriot as the No. 23 center, while FoxSports.com's Goodman tabbed Gonzalvez the No. 39 best shooter in the country. Jay Bilas was quoted in the Charlotte Observer as saying he would be "surprised if Richmond is not included "in the NCAA Tournament field.
Like Father, Like Son
Richmond junior Ryan Butler and his father Jeff Butler are the second father-son duo to play for the Spiders, joining Pat DiServio (1981-83) and Tony DiServio (1945-47). Jeff Butler was a star for the Spiders from 1975-77, leading the team in scoring both seasons. He averaged 14.3 points per game in 1975-76 and 16.3 points per game in 1976-77. Jeff Butler was later an assistant coach for the Spiders under Hall of Fame coach Dick Tarrant, who regularly attends games in the Robins Center. Ryan Butler grew up in the shadow of campus, and starred at Douglas Freeman High three miles from campus. Butler scored a career-high 19 points in the win over Mississippi State and was named to the All-Tournament Team as the Spiders won the South Padre Island Invitational.
Tenacious D
In Chris Mooney's first season at Richmond in 2005-06, the Spiders led the nation in fewest points allowed for most of the season, not allowing 60 points or more for the first 10 games of the year with a complex match-up zone that frustrated opponents. The Spiders finished the year allowing 57.8 points per game, which ranked seventh in the country. In 2006-07, with five freshmen seeing the bulk of the minutes, the Spiders did not have as much success defensively, but the past 3 seasons Richmond has been better on the defensive end, allowing 66.0 ppg in 2007-08, 67.5 ppg in 2008-09 and 60.4 ppg in 2009-10. After a slow start on the defensive end last season, Richmond held back-to-back opponents (Rice and George Washington) to under 50 points for the first time since the 1950-51 season. The Spiders have held opponents to 50 points or less 20 times in 151 games under Mooney and have held teams to 60 points or less 67 times, including 16 this season. Richmond has allowed over 70 points in regulation just 37 times in Mooney's 5 seasons and has allowed 80 or more points just 12 times. Richmond is 26th in the nation in scoring defense (60.4 ppg), 19th in field goal percentage defense (.386), 21st in three-point field goal percentage defense (.299), 33rd in the nation in blocked shots (5.3) and 39th in steals (8.4).
4 Man
With three players earning Preseason All-Conference Honors the Spiders are looking very capable of scoring on the offensive end, but do not forget about forward Justin Harper. A sportswriter passed on that when doing a preview for one of the summer preseason publications, Atlantic 10 coaches mentioned Harper as the league's best NBA prospect. The 6-foot-10 forward had a 28-point, nine-rebound performance in a win over Rhode Island last season with a Los Angeles Lakers scout in the Robins Center, earning him Atlantic10 Player of the Week honors. Harper also had 20 points and eight rebounds in Richmond's win over No. 17 ranked Xavier last March. Harper has scored in double-figures in 8 of the last 9 games, including a season-high 24 points vs. Charlotte and his first-career double-double vs. UMass.
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