Men's basketball falls to Minnesota 74-59

The University of Richmond men's basketball team could never getting it going against the University of Minnesota as a late Golden Gopher surge defeated the Spiders 74-59.

The Golden Gophers (3-0) avoided being upset in their only nonconference road game of the season. Minnesota's Austin Hollins and Malik Smith scored 11 points apiece on a night where neither team shot very well. Both teams shot under 40 percent from the field and 70 percent from the line.

"Very proud of our team to be able to, over the last 7:24, I believe it was--we held them without a field goal and that's why we won the game," Minnesota coach Richard Pitino said.

Senior Cedrick Lindsay paced the Spiders (2-1) with 15 points on 5 of 16 from the field. Deion Taylor scored 11 points and Terry Allen ripped down 12 rebounds for the home team.

With the game tied at 59 with just less than six minutes left, Andre Hollins put Minnesota in the lead with a floater in the lane and the visitors never looked back. Andre Hollins, a third-team All-Big Ten selection last year, was the conference scoring leader going into the game and is now averaging 22.7 points per game.

"He is a great player," Lindsay said of Hollins. "It was a great opportunity for us."

A Smith corner 3-pointer with less than four minutes to play deflated the home crowd and continued what turned into a 19-2 run to close the game for the Golden Gophers. Although they struggled from the line (17 of 28), Minnesota knocked shots down when they counted.

The Spiders couldn't get anything going from behind the arch for a third straight game, hitting 3 of 25 and is now shooting 13.8 percent (9 of 65).

"We have to make more shots," Richmond coach Chris Mooney said. "This is the third straight game where we haven't shot the ball well and it's important that we do make enough to keep teams honest and give ourselves a better chance to win."

In the first half, the Golden Gophers stormed to a 12-0 lead that led to a Spider timeout less than two minutes into the contest. With the Minnesota lead reaching as many as 14 points, the Spiders spent the entire half crawling back into the game.

A back-door cut from Taylor was rewarded with a slicing bounce pass from Lindsay for the layup and the foul. The free throw put the Spiders ahead 37-36 with 2:20 remaining. But four unanswered points from Hollins in the closing minutes of the half gave the Golden Gophers a 40-37 lead going into the break.

Lindsay had a team-high 11 points on 4 of 10 shooting, seemingly getting into the lane and finishing at will. Taylor chipped in eight points and helped the Spiders control the paint, outscoring the Golden Gophers 20-14 inside for the half.

The Spiders let a late second-half lead slip away on a night when the Robins Center was electric and Mooney was going for his 150th win as head coach of Richmond.

Minnesota's Pitino, the son of University of Louisville's coach Rick Pitino, remains undefeated in his first season.

"They've never had a Big Ten opponent in their building," Pitino said. "That's not a coincidence, nobody wants to come and play here because it's a great program and a tough place to play."

The Spiders will return to action at home 7 p.m. Nov. 19 against Hofstra before going on their first road trip of the season.

Contact staff writer Oliver Murphy at oliver.murphy@richmond.edu