Game 50: Men vs. Richmond

The men's team hosts Richmond (14-10, 7-4) tonight at the Smith Center. GW (7-14, 3-8) is coming off of its first road win of the season, an 80-71 triumph at St. Bonaventure on Saturday night. In that one, four Colonials reached double figures in scoring: Maureece Rice (17 points), Damian Hollis (17 points, six rebounds), Noel Wilmore (16 points, five rebounds), and Rob Diggs (12 points, five rebounds).

The Spiders, who were picked to finish 12th out of 14 teams in the Atlantic 10 Conference, return three starters from the squad that went 8-22 and lost in the opening round of the conference tournament. Richmond is led by a talented trio: 6-9 sophomore forward/center Dan Geriot (13.9 points, 5.4 rebounds per game this season), 6-4 sophomore guard David Gonzalvez (12.2 points), and 5-11 freshman guard Kevin Anderson (9.3 points). Coach Chris Mooney is 35-49 in his third season with the Spiders; he is 53-61 in four seasons as a head coach.

Richmond is coming off of a 79-76 overtime home win over Charlotte on Wednesday night. In that one, three Spiders reached double figures in scoring: Gonzalvez (20 points, four rebounds, five assists), Anderson (19 points), and Geriot (11 points, six rebounds). Richmond was able to win despite the fact that the 49ers shot 28-52 (53.8%) from the field. The Spiders have won two-straight and four of their last five games. Richmond is 5-3 in road games and 6-4 away from the Robins Center.

This is the 81st-ever meeting between these programs; GW is 55-25. The last meeting came on February 21, 2007 at the Smith Center, which the Colonials won 68-49. In that one, three GW players reached double figures in scoring: Diggs (24 points, six rebounds), Rice (16 points), and Carl Elliott (14 points, 10 rebounds, five assists). Geriot (14 points) and Gonzalvez (11 points) led the Spiders, who were held to just 5-21 (23.8%) shooting from three-point land. GW has won the last five meetings in the series and is 7-4 against Richmond at the Smith Center; the Colonials are 29-6 all-time against the Spiders in games played in Washington, DC.

While Richmond is currently third in the A-10 standings, GW has played well at home this season. The pick here is for coach Karl Hobbs and company to pull off the upset.

Ben Toder and Alex Tainsh have the call for WRGW with Phil Kaminski handling production duties. You can listen here starting at 1.40 p.m. Our own Greg Shapiro will join Byron Kerr for the 3WT broadcast. You can listen here starting at 1.50 p.m.

Game notes: GW is 33-4 in its last 37 home games...The Colonials are 6-3 at home...GW hasn't lost four home games in a season since going 7-4 at the Smith Center during the 2002-2003 campaign...GW is just 3-4 when scoring at least 70 points...The Colonials were 16-1 when scoring at least 70 points last season...Coach Karl Hobbs has used 12 different starting lineups through 21 games...GW used just five different starting lineups in 32 games last season...This season, the backcourt accounts for only 35% of GW's points...Last season, the backcourt accounted for 54% of the Colonials' scoring...GW has six losses by 20 or more points this season...Over the first six years of the Hobbs era, the Colonials only suffered 10 losses by that margin...Rice needs 26 points to pass Tom Glenn for 27th place in program history...Hobbs is 7-5 against Richmond and 4-0 against Mooney...Mooney is 0-4 against GW...Diggs is averaging 9.5 points per game in four career meetings with the Spiders...Rice is averaging 8.3 points per game in six career meetings with the Spiders...GW is 3-4 on Saturdays, 1-10 when allowing 70 points or more, and 1-8 in its last nine games...The Colonials have faced Richmond more than any other A-10 opponent...GW has only faced Georgetown more than the Spiders...The Colonials and the Hoyas have met 96 times.

Starting lineups and other notes to follow from the Smith Center once we get closer to tip-off. Julian Gompertz will be live-blogging, so please check back later.

Update, 1:45 p.m. - Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome to another edition of Colonials basketball live-blogging. Will keep you posted with lineups and live game action, but the word here at Smith Center is today will be another game with no Miles Beatty. He is nowhere to be found warming up and we will keep you posted on this development.

Update, 1:57 p.m. - Here are your starting lineups:

Richmond
G - Kevin Anderson (5-11 freshman from Duluth, GA)
G - David Gonzalvez (6-4 sophomore from Marietta, GA)
F - Ryan Butler (6-6 sophomore from Richmond, VA)
F - Gaston Moliva (6-7 senior from Yaounde, Cameroon)
F - Dan Geriot (6-9 sophomore from Springfield, PA)

GW
G - Johnny Lee (5-8 sophomore from Nashville, TN)
G - Maureece Rice (6-1 senior from Philadelphia, PA)
F - Xavier Alexander (6-6 freshman from Forest Park, OK)
F - Damian Hollis (6-8 sophomore from Ft. Lauderdale, FL)
F - Rob Diggs (6-8 junior from Brandywine, MD)

Just got word from Brad Bower that Miles Beatty has officially been suspended indefinitely for violating team rules.

Update, 2:16 p.m. - An ugly start for this GW team in what almost becomes a must-win game for a team trying to make the A-10 tournament. Richmond leads 14-4 as GW's zone has given up three 3-pt shots, including two from freshman point-guard Kevin Anderson who went to high-school in the same town (Duluth, GA) as our own Wynton Witherspoon.

Update, 2:27 p.m. - The Colonials are finally getting back to the basics, playing good trap-defense and using Rob Diggs to run the offense. GW has thrown Richmond out of its early offensive rhythm while utilizing Diggs' size inside to score 10 of the 12 Colonial points. Richmond is still up 16-10 with Anderson having eight but GW is coming alive here midway through the first-half.

Update, 2:41 p.m. - GW is hanging around here, but cannot seem to get over the hump. Richmond leads by six, and one of the criticisms of Karl Hobbs has been that he can destroy the confidence of his players. This was made evident when Cheyenne Moore checked in, and then made a great play by saving a rebound that ended up resulting in a Diggs basket. On the next possesion, he threw an errant pass and was taken out immediately.

Update, 3:04 p.m. - At the half, it is Richmond by 7. One of the things to notice is how when GW gets within one or two points, Richmond, twice, has gone on a 5-0 run that has given them a comfortable lead. Rob Diggs had a Dayton-esque first-half with 18 points and a couple of monster dunks for good measure. Problem is no one else has more than two points as he has contributed for over 70% of our offense. Richmond has used 10 from freshman Kevin Anderson and eight from David Gonzalvez to take the lead at the half. More coming as the second-half gets underway.

Update, 3:22 p.m. - Well for one thing, GW is hanging around, but they seem to be trading baskets with Richmond and they will need to defend better if they want to get this much-needed victory against the Spiders. Working in their favor is that at the 11:50 mark, the Colonials will be shooting free-throws for the rest of the game as the Spiders have gotten sloppy and are at 7 team fouls for the half. Rob Diggs has been quiet and scoreless, but Damian Hollis has done a nice job getting inside and he now has eight points.

Update, 3:29 P.M. - 10-0 run and the Colonials take their first lead of the game at 43-40. The Spiders have awoken the sleeping GW fans who are now making noise. Richmond has not had an answer all game for the trap defense and since they hit three 3-pointers to open up the game, they have gone 1-8 from behind the arc. They are also turning the ball over and GW has capitalized on the foul situation, nailing all 6 of the free-throws in the bonus. It is all GW right now and they need to keep the foot on the pedal.

Update, 3:50 p.m. - The Spiders have hung around, as they have begun to employ a similar version of GW's full-court trap. It has taken GW out of its offensive rhythm. GW leads by 5 with three minutes to go and this should be a good finish.

Update, 3:59 p.m. - With 29 seconds left it is GW by three. They have the ball, and have hit 15-16 FT's since going into the bonus with 11:50 to go. Their ability to make their free-throws has been the difference in this game as they have scored 19-31 points in the second half at the charity stripe. Look for the Spiders to foul and GW will have to make its free-throws to close this one out.

Update, 4:04 p.m. - And that will be a wrap. GW did just as they needed to, ending the game by hitting 18-20 free throws from the line and doing the little things right to win down the stretch. GW was led by Rob Diggs' 20 points, though he had just two points in the second half. It was the superb play of Damian Hollis (16 pts) and Cheyenne Moore hitting big free throws down the stretch. A superb overall performance on both offense and defense that now puts GW in a position to control their own destiny and sneak into the A-10 tournament, something that was not a remote possibility just a few weeks ago.