Richmond rolls early, claims 72-60 win over VCU

Analysis of the University of Richmond's 72-60 subjugation of VCU last night begins with this question: When was it over?

When UR went ahead 7-0? When the lead grew to 20-5? When it was 49-19 a couple of minutes into the second half?

Before 8,906 at the 9,071-seat Robins Center, the Spiders seemed to take out the frustration from six straight losses to the Rams on them in a 40-minute Black & Blue Classic beat-down.

VCU maintained a high-energy effort throughout, and that made the final score respectable. But Richmond imposed its will early, and drama was absent. Twelve minutes in, VCU was one for 13 with four turnovers, and down 15 points.

"I can't imagine we can play much better than we did in the first half," said UR coach Chris Mooney. "I thought we were just tremendous defensively. I think we kind of set a very good tone for ourselves, and our offense kind of followed suit."

UR (8-2) used its match-up defense to keep the Rams out of any offensive rhythm. VCU (6-3) failed to convert a 3-pointer until late, and missed 13 of 14 from beyond the arc.

"We didn't know who was guarding who, really," said VCU forward Jamie Skeen (14 points, 10 rebounds). "So we had to get ourselves situated after that first timeout, when it was 7-0, and try to figure out who was guarding who because they switched off every time we used a pick-and-roll, or every time we used a screen, they switched."

Even the area in which UR periodically struggles – rebounding – was a Spiders' strength. They beat VCU on the boards 33-28. Richmond's focus was "not only play defense on our man to keep our man in front of us, but finish the defensive play off with the rebound," said UR guard Kevin Anderson.

UR senior forward Justin Harper (16 points) called the result, "a great feeling of redemption, man, knowing that ever since I've been here, we haven't been able to knock the Rams off."

Anderson led UR with 21 points and seven assists, and Harper scored 11 of his 16 before halftime, when Richmond led 40-17.

Nobody scored during the first four minutes. UR then rolled. VCU stayed cold.

"We got shots around the basket we didn't finish, and when we got shots outside, we missed, and I think that took away from our belief in terms of attacking their [match-up]," said VCU coach Shaka Smart. "It's to Richmond's credit. They do that with a lot of teams they play. It kind of messes with your mind. If you don't have some success early, it affects you."

VCU didn't score a field goal until 11:16 remained in the first half, and the Rams shot 26.1 percent (6 for 23) on the way to trailing 40-17 at the break. When VCU pressed full-court to try to get generate some momentum, Richmond handled it. When the Rams went to a 2-3 zone to change the looks UR was getting, the Spiders handled that.

In the first 12 minutes, Smart twice used timeouts to try and interrupt UR runs. That didn't work either.

Anderson, the 6-0 senior and 2010 Atlantic 10 Conference player of the year, organized Richmond vs. VCU's full-court pressure. UR committed only three first-half turnovers. He penetrated VCU defense for buckets and assists (five of his seven came in the first half), and hit a pair of 3-pointers.

The Rams trailed 29-20 at halftime last December before scoring 45 points in the second half and winning 65-57. This time around, VCU's defensive pressure caused the Spiders to commit 10 second-half turnovers, and the Rams got layups.

"In the second half we figured it out," Smart said of UR's defense. "It was just too late."

UR has won 22 of its last 23 games at home.

NEXT: Both teams have a week off. VCU plays on Saturday (2 p.m.) vs. Tulane at the Siegel Center. UR meets Georgia Tech on Saturday (5 p.m.) in the Battle of Atlantis in the Bahamas.

joconnor@timesdispatch.com

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