The 19th-ranked Richmond Spiders dropped their first game of the season Sunday afternoon at #11 West Virginia by a final score of 87-71.
With the loss, Richmond falls to 4-1.
Richmond committed a season-high 16 turnovers, leading to 19 Mountaineer points, and allowed West Virginia (6-1) to shoot 58 percent from the field and 57 percent from three-point range, both season highs for WVU.
“They haven’t shot that well too often in the last couple of seasons,” said Spiders head coach Chris Mooney. “Maybe there were too comfortable because we were so concerned about their interior players and making sure we were in the passing lanes on the passes that went into the post. But you still have to be aggressive and firm when you’re guarding your guy. If they shoot that well they’ll be very difficult to beat, but a lot of that’s our responsibility.”
The Mountaineers took control of the game with a 29-10 run over the final seven-plus minutes of the first half, taking a 52-30 lead into the break. West Virginia, which entered the game shooting 39 percent from the field and 31 percent from three-point range this season, shot 66 percent from the field and 6-of-9 from three-point range over the opening 20 minutes.
Tyler Burton scored 14 points, tied with Cayo for the most on the Spiders, and added a team-high 10 rebounds for his second career double-double and second in as many games.
Gilyard recorded six of UR’s 13 assists to join Greg Beckwith as the only players in Richmond history with 500 or more career assists. (Gilyard now has 502. Beckwith has 573.) He also added four steals to give him 297 for his career, tied with VCU’s Briante Weber for the fifth-most in Atlantic 10 history.
The Spiders will return to action on Wednesday at Vanderbilt. Tip time is scheduled for 1 p.m. and the game will be broadcast nationally on the SEC Network.
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