Robins Center, Richmond, VA
Wednesday, January 6, 2021
6:00PM
Media
TV: CBSSN
Online: CBSSN
Radio: 101.5 FM (B101) or Tune In Radio App
Previews:
Richmond’s Fan Forum
After winning their last 2 home conference games, albeit in ugly fashion, the Rams head to Richmond to take on the Spiders. Rhody has taken 5 of the last 7 against Richmond, but this is a different Richmond team. The Spiders were picked in the preseason to win the A10 & are led by all-conference & all-defensive team winner Jacob Gilyard. This will be a fun matchup between Gilyard & Fatts. Gilyard has a great supporting cast in both Blake Francis & Grant Golden, both of whom were picked second team all-conference. The Spiders are coming off a home loss to the Bonnies, so their will be coming out for revenge Wednesday night as Gilyard had a Fatts-like night shooting 5-13 & 1-6 from deep. Fatts & Sheppard will need to handle the ball better (both have had 3 or more turnovers in their 4 of their last 5 games) or Gilyard & to a lesser extent Francis will have a field day with steals. Richmond plays their starting 5 a majority of the game & have a rotation of 6. That is the opposite of Rhody who have 10 players seeing significant minutes, so hopefully the Rams can tire them out with all the extra bodies. Rams will need to play better if they expect to get a road win here. I know, I will say it again, but we are desperate for a good Fatts shooting night. As we all are painfully aware of, he is 1 for his last 18 from behind the arc. As the Richmond fan forum says about this game “let this sucker shoot, egg him to shoot” & sadly I would have to agree. Fatts driving & getting to the line is how he gets his points. If he is settling for long jumpers it could be a long night. Hopefully he can draw fouls on them, so they have to go deeper into their bench. Walker & Mitchell need to continue their strong play & hopefully 2 more of the rotating cast have solid games & maybe we have a shot. I am guessing the line will be about Richmond -5.5 & I think we lose this one by 6, 78-72. Really don’t feel good about this one given how poorly we have played as of late. You can play poorly against Saint Joe’s at home & sneak out a victory in overtime but on the road at Richmond is a different story. But hey, stranger things have happened. Wear a Mask & Go Rhody!
Opponent
Record:
7-3, 1-1 in the Atlantic 10
Last season: 24-7, 14-4 in the Atlantic 10
Rankings (URI):
RPI: 41 (87)
KenPom: 59 (77)
NCAA NET: 68 (79)
BPI: 39 (82)
Sagarin: 55 (80)
Leaders:
Points – Blake Francis 16.5 (Sr., G)
Rebounds – Tyler Burton 8.4 (Soph., G)
Assists – Jacob Gilyard 5.7 (Sr., G) (1.4 TO per game)
Historical
Series: 11-15
H: 8-4, A: 3-9, N: 0-2
Most Recent Matchup: 1/5/20 69-61 L at URI
Most Recent Win Streak: 1 – Richmond
Match-up Predictor: 27.2% Chance of URI Winning