VCU Game Observations

[spider23]

1. Shooting - Looked it up, Gilyard and Francis both down 3PT % from last year. I can't even blame the disparity from playing D3 vs D1 for the wide swing in performance. Gilyard had wide open looks from 3, just missed them in this game. Mooney looked so damn uptight and it seemed to carry over to the team's shooting performance. Yes, big difference in defense from St Marys to VCU, but lots of open shots, and some bad shots - mostly missed. Francis 1-7 from 3 and Gilyard 1-5, Burton 0-3 from 3. Covid/No Covid these types of performances from the back court are hard to overcome.
2. Cayo - Lets go positive here. Cayo played well entire game, attacked and played with energy. Great game. 8-9 from FT line. Tremendous. Will be interesting to see if he comes back next year. I'm sure are coach is in his ear with #SaveMooney.
3. Burton - Not his best game, by the end I was hoping he had not been texting Chris Beard and Marcus Santo-Silva all day before the game - though I do know TTECH is loaded at the wing - but you get my point. Never got in the game. Tough D from VCU showed some things he needs to work on as a couple posters pointed out (left hand, balance, etc). He has shown nice progression overall this season, but this is one to forget and move on.
4. Grant - Was worried when he scored zero against St Mary's, would have liked him to try to get going in that one to prepare for this one. Guess what, fears were warranted.2-11 FG, Bunch of soft attempts (which the announcers pointed out). I did not get the warm and fuzzies when they said on the broadcast that he does a broadcast called "big guard"
5. Hassan Ward - Not an all time great, but I have pointed out time and time again guys we have not gone after, or whiffed when we should be able to get in the conversation. THis is a classic type of guy, a Darrius Garrett type that we no longer get since Garrett. This is on Mooney and the staff - not on this guy in particular, but not able to recruit athletic big guys.
6. Bones - You could tell he was fully invested. Seemed to be in a lot of pain, but made really good basketball plays, passes, very high basketball IQ and toughness on the court.

1-12 from our back court not going to beat VCU. Classic Mooney let down game when the season is at a pivot point.

 

[Eight Legger]

A major problem this year has been that Jake has not been driving and dishing. He did it once or twice last night and it took me back a couple years. It's striking how infrequently it's happened this year. I don't know why. But without him being a playmaker, our offense is stagnant and we settle for a lot of mind-numbing passes and ultimately an awkward shot with no one attempting a rebound. That's how you lose a lot of possessions.

 

[spider23]

Yes, the more I watch certain guys, the more I think too much press clippings and victory laps were taken before the year began. With Mooney's recruiting, we hardly ever ever have competition for playing time. Yes, it causes some friction, but that can be a good thing. I remember sneaking into a practice once with Tarrant, and after five minutes a fight broke out between Kenny Atkinson and Curtis Blair, two all time players. Curtis was the young guy trying to get some pt, Kenny was the veteran trying to keep him in place.
Not saying we need fights in practice, but it just seems the last 5 years you could just pen in the starting five and rotation a month before practice started. NEED CULTURE CHANGE.

 

[SpiderTrap]

Pretty simple - our guards did not play well and VCU's guard - Bones, did play well. He straight up beat Gilyard and Francis. Yes - they had other guys play well, but hearing after the game that Bones did not practice all week and gutted this game out and then gave that performance, I am sure only gave his team more confidence.

Funny that practice was mentioned here. I wonder if some of the issue is as well that our drop off from 1st team to 2nd team is so great that really our starting 5 gets no competition in practice.

 

[ur2K]

One additional observation was those SOBs ran like 4-5 backdoors on us last night. Did we have any?

 

[SpiderRick]

Anyone missing Woj?

 

[CarolinaSpider]

1. Half Bones points were cherry picked cause we were not rebounding.
2. Isiah Wilson plays just 3 minutes, scores five points and no TOs and Mooney never lets him sniff the court
again and Goos plays looking lost on court much of game. Goos has not been his old self since he returned
from groin pull.
3. Burton looked to me like he did not feel well. His shot was short on everything, even on wide open shots
4. Golden passed up open shots and yet he and Cayo could not hit wide open close in shots
5. Matt Grace has no clue how to box out. Stick your butt in the guy and hold your ground. He constantly
turns into the guy with his back to basket and tries to push him away. Horrible technique.
6. In reality I thought we played for majority of the game, great defense but did not capitalize on keeping
momentum or being patient enough on offense.

 

[SpiderTrap]

I noticed in the latest ESPN mock draft that they had Bones in the 2nd round. I can only imagine a game like last night and the story behind it only helps his cause. He could be a guy to watch as well in terms of leaving early or maybe even trying to move up to a P5 team if there is a one time transfer waiver granted.

 

[Spiders4ever]

At least we know where to get Viagra now.

 

[spiderman]

I'm admittedly not a Mooney hater (I feel so all alone) but it's his program and the buck has to stop somewhere. tough to jump right in the fire with a must win game against your in town rival, but that's life. it's not always fair. the D3 idea may have been worth a shot but it clearly didn't help. so unless we pull something out of a hat the next month, I don't know that it's salvageable.

VCU was pretty unimpressive. they're a mess handling the ball. they didn't force turnovers. they didn't rebound on the offensive end. and they didn't shoot it all that well. the won because we were horrible at scoring the ball.
I do like their big guys, Ward and Watkins. they definitely had a hand in Golden's struggles. but still. we're better than that team, at least when they play like that. and I think VCU fans would agree they didn't play well. yet they won by 12.

the good:
1) Cayo - great effort and energy. he was terrific. I think I read one player was able to work out this entire break. I'm wondering if it was him. would make sense if he was the one quarantined earlier.

2) Wilson obviously flashed in his brief run.

2) Defense - I thought we were really good on most possessions. I thought that was some of Jacob's best on ball efforts I've seen. yes, we got burned on more releases than acceptable. sometimes Jacob stayed in the front court looking for a steal and his man released. but in general the defense was good enough to win.

4) the offense or system or whatever you call it got us plenty of good shots at the rim and good looks from the perimeter.

ok, I'm out of positives.

the bad:
1) Golden - tough day at the office offensively. I'll give VCU big men a little credit, but still. not the way to play your last game at the SC.

2) Burton - sophomore on a senior laden team, but you're not at the kids' table. I said it before ... he's got to have more of an alpha mentality. he was invisible. and while he's always had a pretty high arc, it just got too high.

3) Gilyard - the guy had so much fun, had such swagger, for 3 years. that confidence is gone. totally gone. he doesn't seem to want the shot anymore. and he's off when he takes it.

4) Goose - that's a long layoff. tough to expect much early. but he's a cutter and a non-shooter. tough to play a non-shooter at a shooting position unless you have shooters at traditionally non-shooting positions (4 & 5) ... and we don't.

 

[Eight Legger]

Excellent analysis, s-man. We're didn't need to play particularly well last night to win by 5 or 6. We just needed to not play awful. It really reminded me of the Kentucky game. We should have beaten Kentucky by 25 that day -- they were horrific. We played a very mediocre game untill the last 7 minutes or so. Same thing last night for the first 32 minutes or so, but then we did the opposite of the UK game.

I'm sure the layoff didn't help matters, but at some point you have to actually want to win and care about winning enough that you will do whatever it takes in the biggest moments. Instead, we seemed to be indifferent.

 

[Spider B]

My observation is that last night's performance is typical of CM teams over the years. All the excuses of it being tough after a layoff, its hard to win on the road, ect, ect are old and tired.

 

[plydogg]

We really needed somebody to step up along with Cayo last night. And it felt like the second best player on the floor for us was Isaiah Wilson in his 3 minutes.

Tyler Burton was invisible and took bad shots in crunch time. Continually got beat on the drive and was a defensive liability the final 10 minutes. He needs to watch the film and I think a coaching staff that prioritizes defense would be able to do wonders with him

 

[MrTbone]

If anyone uses “ road game” as an excuse for last nights performance that is cringeworthy. They’re six miles down the road and could fit the entire fan attendance into a half a dozen tour buses. Non-starter.

 

[spider23]

He could be a guy to watch as well in terms of leaving early or maybe even trying to move up to a P5 team if there is a one time transfer waiver granted

I think Burton and Bones were on a conference call with Beard and MSS before the game. Excuse my oldness, on a zoom conference.

 

[SpiderRick]

My observation is that last night's performance is typical of CM teams over the years. All the excuses of it being tough after a layoff, its hard to win on the road, ect, ect are old and tired.

Groundhog Day

 

[GKiller]

If anyone uses “ road game” as an excuse for last nights performance that is cringeworthy. They’re six miles down the road and could fit the entire fan attendance into a half a dozen tour buses. Non-starter.

The real excuse was teed up by Mooney over & over leading to game. An exceedingly tough challenge coming back etc etc. It's ok after 19 other excuses UR was glad to play a new one. And r media guys like Noah, JOC, Beck and headliner Philly Bob eat it up. maybe lane casadonte won't idk.

Except remember that is why we played Holy Mary Mother of God first. So to use that excuse is strange. Also fwiw last night game was at a slower half court pace.

 

[97spiderfan]

A couple things that killed me last night.

1. We avoided any attempt at offensive rebounding like the plaque, like we always do. Fine, but then how the hell do you give up some many fast break points by not getting back on defense. That was pure lack of hustle from our guys, inexcusable.
2. Wilson came in the first half and gave us some great minutes, knocked down a tough 2 and then a 3 ball. And then Mooney doesn't put him back on the court ever again.
3. S-man nailed it. Gilly has lost his swagger. He is our leader and we needed a huge game from him last night and he didn't deliver. Their leader, Hyland, did deliver and they won. But no means is this all on Gilly but man, I just don't see the fire and swagger he had last year. It becomes more apparent every game that he is just not having an off night.

And that kind of goes for the team. Cayo played his guts out last night, both physically and emotionally. Most of the rest of the starters looked like they were half interested in even being there. I know the COVID situation has to be grinding but it was disheartening to see and I don't see how we get that vibe back and turn things around.

We just are not playing with any energy and we haven't been for most of the season.

 

[SpiderRick]

This team changed after Kentucky. How can any young man who wants greatness ignore all the press clippings? Then after the WVa beat down and the lost to Hofstra, they have lost the fire and confidence.

That's all coaching....

 

[64Spider]

I may have missed it but I can’t remember a single chest bump or any celebration of any kind after a score or a defensive stop. Can’t bring myself to watch again.

 

[spider23]

Good point 64, other than a few walkons enthusiasm, not a lot of excitement. Watching FSU-UVA the other day, saw a lot of excitement from FSU for teammates success.

I'll still watch, now that we have one real game under our belt after covid shutdown, I am hoping we come back strong. Follow Cayo's lead, he played hard.

 

[spiderfriend]

Long time lurker on the boards.

Agree the team just looks to be going through the motions. Team doesn't appear to be connected.....With Grant I never liked how heavy he is playing the game (same with Nick). Imagine Grant playing the game at 225 vs 250.

 

[kneepadmckinney]

Re: Gilyard...

I thought our first half defense was about the best of the year, primarily because I thought Gilyard was playing great off-ball defense on his man. He wasn't hunting steals, he was sticking Hyland. No backdoors, no easy catches, no jumping a pass and then forcing everyone else to scramble around. That all changed in the second half, and he was back to hunting steals and putting us in shitty situations.

Offensively, he needs to be scoring 16 a game. We need that aggressive GIlyard that is putting pressure on the other team by attacking them all the time. He's scoring 11 a game, and it's all passive. It might be too late, but this is what I observed.

Team wise, we were good last year because we figured out that when the going gets tough, buckle down and get a stop on the defensive end. We've collectively reverted to, when the other team is on a run or momentum shifts against us, shoot three pointers. We're a worse team because of it.

 

[97spiderfan]

Re: Gilyard...

Team wise, we were good last year because we figured out that when the going gets tough, buckle down and get a stop on the defensive end. We've collectively reverted to, when the other team is on a run or momentum shifts against us, shoot three pointers. We're a worse team because of it.

Yes. We are not a great 3 point shooting team and a much more efficient offense when we work inside and our guards penetrate. I would say every single player on our roster has a much better shot in their arsenal than a 3 ball Sherod was the one player, who you wanted to shoot the 3 with regularity, but he isn't playing this year.

 

[spider fan]

Only enjoyable part of the game was when we briefly led shortly into the half. The total "fadeout" at the end of the game with missing almost every shot was too painful to continue watching. Have to give credit to the Rams and particularly Nah'Shon for the determination and energy they exhibited to win. It "pains me" to praise Broad Street basketball but would sure like us to show that kind of desire to win.

 

[plydogg]

I’m just glad the VCU troll is gone. If that loss to VCU gets him gone and Mooney fired then that’s a deal I’ll take 100% of the time

 

[spider fan]

The troll had his fun but Mooney's will continue.

 

[ur2K]

Re: Gilyard...

I thought our first half defense was about the best of the year, primarily because I thought Gilyard was playing great off-ball defense on his man. He wasn't hunting steals, he was sticking Hyland. No backdoors, no easy catches, no jumping a pass and then forcing everyone else to scramble around. That all changed in the second half, and he was back to hunting steals and putting us in shitty situations.

Offensively, he needs to be scoring 16 a game. We need that aggressive GIlyard that is putting pressure on the other team by attacking them all the time. He's scoring 11 a game, and it's all passive. It might be too late, but this is what I observed.

Team wise, we were good last year because we figured out that when the going gets tough, buckle down and get a stop on the defensive end. We've collectively reverted to, when the other team is on a run or momentum shifts against us, shoot three pointers. We're a worse team because of it.

7 of our 15 DI games this year, he's scored in single digits. Including 5, 2, 9 in the last 3. We go nowhere if he doesn't carry a bigger load offensively. We need the URI game version of him every time.

2024-25 Men's Basketball Cumulative Statistics - University of Richmond Athletics

The official 2024-25 Men's Basketball cumulative statistics for the University of Richmond Spiders

richmondspiders.com

 

[whampas]

I’m just glad the VCU troll is gone. If that loss to VCU gets him gone and Mooney fired then that’s a deal I’ll take 100% of the time

Until we win consistently, he will be back, over and over, and he will bring friends. Thank Mooney.

 

[spider fan]

Sadly you are correct.

 

[SpiderAlways]

Yet it’s so easy to ignore them all. There’s a button for that

 

[whampas]

Yet it’s so easy to ignore them all. There’s a button for that

You are correct and I use it often but that is only treating the symptom and not the disease. We really need a cure.

 

[97spiderfan]

7 of our 15 DI games this year, he's scored in single digits. Including 5, 2, 9 in the last 3. We go nowhere if he doesn't carry a bigger load offensively. We need the URI game version of him every time.

2024-25 Men's Basketball Cumulative Statistics - University of Richmond Athletics

The official 2024-25 Men's Basketball cumulative statistics for the University of Richmond Spiders

richmondspiders.com

2K, at some point, we have to consider games like the URI game for Gilly to be outliers and rely upon the body of work he has produced this year.

Each game, I come into hoping I see last year's Gilly but then am disappointed when this year's keeps showing up.

 

[spiderman]

Long time lurker on the boards.

Agree the team just looks to be going through the motions. Team doesn't appear to be connected.....With Grant I never liked how heavy he is playing the game (same with Nick). Imagine Grant playing the game at 225 vs 250.

I've thought about that too. I'm pretty sure he's much more than 250 too. I'd like him around 240-245. not that he'd be jumping out of the gym or anything, but senior year TJ Cline really cut down and it made a difference.

 

[SpiderAlways]

Stop it guys! They are both fine players for our expectations of a basketball program. Great kids! We can win in the Patriot league

 

[I-M-UR]

A couple things that killed me last night.

1. We avoided any attempt at offensive rebounding like the plaque, like we always do. Fine, but then how the hell do you give up some many fast break points by not getting back on defense. That was pure lack of hustle from our guys, inexcusable.
2. Wilson came in the first half and gave us some great minutes, knocked down a tough 2 and then a 3 ball. And then Mooney doesn't put him back on the court ever again.
3. S-man nailed it. Gilly has lost his swagger. He is our leader and we needed a huge game from him last night and he didn't deliver. Their leader, Hyland, did deliver and they won. But no means is this all on Gilly but man, I just don't see the fire and swagger he had last year. It becomes more apparent every game that he is just not having an off night.

And that kind of goes for the team. Cayo played his guts out last night, both physically and emotionally. Most of the rest of the starters looked like they were half interested in even being there. I know the COVID situation has to be grinding but it was disheartening to see and I don't see how we get that vibe back and turn things around.

We just are not playing with any energy and we haven't been for most of the season.

You could certainly argue the team has quit. Seniors, not meeting expectations, moving on. I certainly hope I’m wrong but the effort certainly hints that’s the problem

 

[Gospiders06]

We need to stop bringing up theses stats. I could careless how many career points you score at Richmond. What really matters is did the team win a title? The awful record vs VCU continue to accept it.

 

[SpiderRick]

Seniors come and go, but the real problems aren't going anywhere.