It took the University of Richmond men’s basketball team almost 12 minutes of gameplay to make any meaningful separation on the scoreboard against the University of Mount Olive in its season opener, but the Spiders eventually made their presence known, defeating their Division II opponent handily, 101-68, Nov. 6.
Given the staggering amount of new faces on this year’s roster, there were question marks coming into the 2024-25 season about how the team would fare.
Four key pieces from the Spiders’ Atlantic 10 regular season championship run, Jordan King, Zae Bigelow, Neal Quinn, and Dji Bailey, all either graduated or, in Bailey's case, transferred to a different program for an additional year of eligibility.
These departures paved the way for substantial roster turnover, as the Spiders added six players via the transfer portal and three players as part of the incoming class of first-years.
This left graduate guard DeLonnie Hunt and junior center Mike Walz as the primary bridges between returning and new players – a dynamic that was on full display in the Spiders’ first contest of the season. Hunt and Walz led the charge alongside transfer graduate forward Dusan Neskovic and junior forward Jonathan Beagle.
It was Neskovic who got things rolling on the offensive end for the Spiders, driving to the basket for his first points in a Spider uniform to put the team up 2-0. His aggressiveness on his way to the basket drew fouls, which called for trips to the free throw line in the early going for UR. In just the first half alone, the Spiders attempted 21 free throws.
What made it tough to create separation from Mount Olive early on for the Spiders was the Trojans’ full-court pressure from the get-go. Mount Olive’s traps limited UR from moving the ball down the floor at a fast pace as the Spiders had to continually deal with defensive traps.
Eventually, though, the Spiders fell into a rhythm offensively.
“I think that was just the adjustment period with the new team,” Walz said in the postgame press conference. “A lot of guys getting their first real minutes, me starting for the first time in my career – that was an experience that I had to get used to. And then once we figured it out, ball started moving well, ball started going in the bucket.”
At the 8:42 mark, UR held a nine-point lead, but what got both the Spiders and the Robins Center ignited was Hunt, who, within 19 seconds, scored a layup, forced a turnover and also scored a 3-pointer for a quick five points. This made the score 31-19.
Hunt continued to give the Spiders some momentum, as just 50 seconds later, his and-one brought UR’s lead to 13. From there, the team was seemingly on its way to taking full control of the scoreboard.
This momentum carried into the second half, as over the course of the first 10 minutes, UR outscored Mount Olive 24-7 to go ahead by 32 points. The Trojans would ultimately cut into some of the scoring discrepancy, but by the time the final buzzer sounded, the Spiders had eclipsed 100 points en route to a 33-point opening night win.
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“We’re very excited to open the season, we’re pleased with the win and were able to play a fair amount of guys and see a little bit of our depth of talent,” UR Head Coach Chris Mooney said during the postgame press conference.
Throughout the game, 13 Spiders showed up in the box score, five of which scored in double figures. Hunt led all scorers with 17 points, while Neskovic had 16, sophomore guard Collin Tanner had 13 and Beagle had 11. Walz finished with a double-double, scoring 10 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.
Other important contributions came from Mikkel Tyne, who scored eight points, Ryan Soulis, who scored seven points, and Jason Roche, who scored six points.
“We got a lot of talent on this team, and any given night somebody can give us 20,” Walz said.
The 1-0 Spiders will continue their stay at the Robins Center to start out the season, taking on Marist College at 6 p.m. Nov. 9.
Contact sports editor Jimmy James at jimmy.james@richmond.edu.
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