HOKIES HOOPS CENTRAL: Richmond (23-9) at Virginia Tech (18-14) 9PM ESPN2

HOKIES HOOPS CENTRAL: Richmond (23-9) at Virginia Tech (18-14) 9PM ESPN2

It's a postseason gameday at the crib 🏰🔥🏆 NIT First Round🆚 Richmond🕘 9PM ET📺 ESPN2#StoneByStone x #Hokies pic.twitter.com/7sWq8AKmde— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 19, 2024

Richmond (23-9)
At Virginia Tech (18-14)
March 19th, 2024
Cassell Coliseum
9 p.m. ET
ESPN2
Virginia Tech Sports Network

ESPN2
Play-by-Play:
Analyst:

Local Radio
Virginia Tech Sports Network
Play-by-Play: Zach Mackey
Analyst: Mike Burnop

Current Spread: VT -1.5
Over/Under: -149.5
No idea
The Hokies host the Richmond Spiders in the first round of the NIT. This will be the 109th time the Hokies have faced the Spiders and the first time since 2009 which the Hokies won 62-48. The teams first played each other in 1915. The Hokies lead the overall series 69-39.

The Richmond Spiders squad comes in having just lost to Saint Joes in the A-10 Tournament and to George Mason in their final regular season game. They are 23-9 on the season and 15-4 in the A10. The Spiders have been coached by Chris Mooney since 2005. Richmond is his third head coaching job with stops at Beaver and Air Force before Richmond.

Richmond lost eight players at the end of last season. The Spiders transfers of Jordan King, formerly of Siena and ETSU, who has surpassed 1,200 career points now entering his graduate season. He was the sixth leading scorer in the Southern Conference last season which definitely helped provide a punch on offense as their leading scorer. Delonnie Hunt transferred in from Wagner after posting career numbers in points (11.1) and steals (1.2) and carried that through this season for Richmond. The freshman class is Collin Tanner, a 6'6" guard who was the No.2 ranked recruit out of North Carolina, Mikkel Tyne was the No.10 guy out of Maryland, and Trevor Smith was the No.5 best prospect out of Virginia. Only Tyne has played a minor role so far this season.

Richmond lost Jason Roche to a knee injury, reducing their bench depth in the frontcourt

Richmond returned 35.8% of minutes played and 37.9% of scoring return from 2022-23 roster. The Spiders five starters average at least 26 mpg and have four more benches guys that play at least 10 mpg. The starting five are King, Bigelow, Bailey, Hunt and Quinn. Walz, Tyne and Harris are the primary subs off the bench.

Mooney's focus is a variety of zone defense focused on matching opponents strengths. His teams use a variety of man-to-man principles while playing zone. Against the Hokies I expect to see a combination of 3-2 zone and 4 out-1 in zone concepts due to the Hokies preference of finding perimeter shots.

Offensively, the Spiders use a modified version of the Princeton offense. Focus inside the perimeter is on pass and cut lay-ups and driving lay-ups from various spots on the floor. The team this season have relied on perimeter movement of the ball to shoot at times but their primary focus is in getting into the paint. They rely on starters to score nearly 61.7 of their 72 points per game.

Spiders Backcourt
Jordan King
2 SR G 6-0 175
18.4 Pts, 3.8 Reb, 2.5 Ast

Isaiah Bigelow
24 SR G 6-7 185
11.1 Pts, 6.4 Reb, 0.7 Ast

Dji Bailey
4 SR G 6-5 175
10.0 Pts, 4.5 Reb, 2.3 Ast

Delonnie Hunt
3 SR G 6-0 160
9.5 Pts, 2.9 Reb, 1.8 Ast

Mikkel Tyne
12 FR G 5-10 180
4.0 Pts, 2.2 Reb, 0.9 Ast

Tyler Harris
9 SR G 6-7 195
2.5 Pts, 1.9 Reb, 0.5 Ast

Spiders Frontcourt
Neal Quinn
32 SR F 7-0 280
12.7 Pts, 5.4 Reb, 3.9 Ast

Michael Walz
21 SO C 6-11 250
2.8 Pts, 2.5 Reb, 1.1 Ast

Aidan Noyes
35 SO F 6-7 190
2.9 Pts, 2.5 Reb, 0.1 Ast

What to expect from Richmond?
The Spiders will run a four guard/single forward set looking to push the pace and create as many possessions as possible. They are led in scoring by their starting guard Jordan King. He and Bailey split duties at the top of the key but they look to King to drive the offense. The Hokies will need to account for him from 40 feet in as he is shooting 42% from the perimeter and 49% inside.

Neal Quinn will be one of the biggest opponents the Hokies have seen this season. Seven feet tall and 285 pounds banging around underneath. Even Poteat may struggle to counter him. That said, Quinn does allow himself to get into foul trouble early and often. As a team though, fouls are very minimal. The use of zone defenses and changing them up allows Richmond to employ double teams that force opponents to adjust.

One area of weakness for Richmond is rebounding. They consistently come up short, especially on the offensive end. That is a big positive for the Hokies, who normally allow significant second chance points.

In losses, one glaring item stands out and that's poor perimeter shooting. In seven of nine losses, the Spiders shot less than 30% from outside. That only occurred in four of their 26 wins this season. In those four wins, their opponents highest shooting percentage was 37% and 30% from outside.

The Hokies

The #Hokies defend our 🏰@HokiesWBB, @HokiesMBB and @HokiesWrestling have the combined second-highest home win percentage across Division I sports! 📎: https://t.co/byywV8auZA pic.twitter.com/XmnvVM5S6s— HokieSports (@hokiesports) March 18, 2024

This team plays well at home. All the parts that fell in place to make this a home game gives Hunter Cattoor one more chance to play in Cassell and I expect him to take full advantage. Boston College earlier this season shot almost 40% from three and more importantly held Richmond under 30% from the perimeter. Richmond allowed seven opponents to shoot at least 40% from outside.

The Hokies overall will have a size advantage but seeing how Kidd and Poteat handle Quinn in the paint will go a long way on deciding this game. Kidd is not shown on the injury report so hopefully he is able to play.
On defense, the Hokies need to put less emphasis on guarding the perimeter and more focus on denying paint touches and disrupting cuts without the ball. Richmond can shoot the three but their biggest impact is getting teams off balance to find guys cutting to the basket for easy layups.

Who outside of Cattoor and Pedulla can step up for the Hokies? They need Collins or Nickel to create or one of the bigs to to have a big game inside considering how balanced Richmond is across their starting five scoring wise. The Hokies have shown a willingness to go inside but need a much more productive version of that if they are going to be successful. Take the ball right at Quinn early and often. Get him to the bench early and it frees up Kidd and Poteat to create.

In Closing
The Hokies will have a sold out Cassell behind them, although looking at Seat Geek, it may not get as full as everyone wants considering some of the exorbitant prices tickets are listed for on the secondary market. Can the Hokies tap into that though considering the success they have had at home this season?

Who wins the points in the paint battle/free throw line scoring will go a long way to deciding this contest. King is extremely undersized but also extremely quick so Cattoor will have his hands full there. Hokies definitely need to avoid hero ball and their seemingly patented four minute dead periods.