The University of Richmond wore white on the road Saturday night. That was a good start. The Spiders were 8-3 in white at home, and 3-7 as visitors.
But UR's loose defensive effort translated into an 81-72 win for small, quick, pressing and tempo-pushing Duquesne in an Atlantic 10 Conference game before a sellout crowd of 4,481 at the Palumbo Center.
The Spiders (12-12, 3-6) have lost three consecutive and five of six.
"Staying together as a team and a family," is key now for UR, said sophomore point guard Cedrick Lindsay (11 points, 11 assists). "Keep talking to each other and making sure everybody's OK."
UR wore white because Duquesne donned red throwback uniforms for this game, designated as the Chuck Cooper Classic. Cooper, a former Duke, was the first African-American to be drafted by an NBA team (Boston Celtics in 1950).
Heading into Saturday's game, UR had won all 14 A-10 meetings with Duquesne since joining the league for 2001-02. The Dukes (14-9, 5-4) led 9-0, and outscored UR 17-8 the first 10 minutes of the second half. Duquesne's first eight hoops of the second half: seven layups, a few from penetrating guard Eric Evans (17 points), and a dunk.
"We weren't communicating, we weren't talking a lot," UR forward Derrick Williams said.
Curiously, one of the nation's best shot-blockers, UR's Darrius Garrett (3.5 bpg), was on the bench for all but 11 minutes of the game.
"We needed as many ballhandlers as we could get, I thought, to handle their pressure," said Richmond coach Chris Mooney. "And I didn't feel like we were taking advantage of our size as much."
Duquesne outscored UR in the paint 42-24, and the Dukes picked up 17 second-chance points and 14 offensive boards. Richmond trailed by 16 with 8:23 left.
"When you're running around (during the comeback) in the end, and you're kind of going for broke and there's a little bit of nothing to lose, we need to play with that same amount of intensity at the beginning of the game, and the beginning of the second half," Mooney said.
Junior guard Darien Brothers (14.4 ppg) scored four points on two layups and missed his other nine attempts. Freshman guard Kendall Anthony (21 points) scored 10 of Richmond's first 17 points, keeping the Spiders in contention after Duquesne went up 9-0.
"They're coming out with energy," Lindsay said of Richmond's recent opponents, "and it just seems like we're playing sluggish, with no energy. It's hard to explain, but it's been happening to us a lot."
Duquesne coach Ron Everhart, a former Virginia Tech guard, said his defensive options were to lay back and force the Spiders to shoot over his players, or "get out and make it one of those Mike Tyson heavyweight fights and pressure and pressure and pressure them, and stay on them from start to finish."
The Dukes pressed, causing 17 turnovers from a UR team that was averaging 10.8.
Richmond plays La Salle at the Robins Center on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Explorers (17-7, 6-3) had won four consecutive before Saturday's 70-66 loss to Saint Joseph's.
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