Men’s basketball (14-11, 3-9 A-10) extended their losing streak to eight, falling to Richmond (18-7, 10-2 A-10) 90-74 Saturday at the Smith Center.
The Revolutionaries struggled to stop the Spiders’ offense throughout the game, as the Spiders shot 56.3 percent from the field. The Revs improved their offensive and defensive plan in the second half, which resulted in cutting the lead to 4, but the 15-point halftime deficit proved too much to overcome.
Senior guard James Bishop IV led the Revs with 23 points, shooting 5-9 from the 3-point line with four assists while freshman guard Jacoi Hutchinson added 15 points, hitting all three of this 3-pointers. Redshirt sophomore guard Maximus Edwards scored 19 points on 6-10 shooting off the bench.
“A lot of decisions I make don’t work, but I guess my decision worked today because Maximus played well coming off the bench,” Head Coach Chris Caputo said.
The Spiders’ offense was largely driven by senior center Neal Quinn, who posed an offensive threat to the Revs, scoring 19 points while going 7-8 from the paint in the first half in addition to seven assists and three blocks.
The Revs struggled defensively in the first half, allowing the Spiders to go on a 10-0 run in the seventh minute of the first half to build a 17-7 lead. Caputo said the squad’s defense was lacking due to the diminished presence of redshirt freshman forward Darren Buchanan Jr. despite playing for 30 minutes in this game. Buchanan missed the previous game against George Mason due to a groin injury and remained injured this game.
“Darren is probably our best individual defender but he can barely move,” Caputo said.
The Spiders held their largest lead of 17 points with 33 seconds remaining as Diji Bailey made a basket to wrap the Spiders’ offense. Edwards responded with a quick layup to seal the first half, ending the half at 52-37.
The second half brought a better performance for the Revs on both ends of the floor, holding the Spiders to 38.2 percent from the field while shooting 43.8 percent themselves. They held the Spiders to just 27.3 percent shooting from beyond the 3-point line.
“We tried to switch it up a little bit and try to slow them down and switch to the zone, moving the ball around and taking some tough shots,” Hutchinson said.
Bishop made a 3-pointer to open the second half with an assist from Hutchinson to make the score 52-40. Two minutes into the second half, Buchanan made a layup — his first basket of the game. With his nagging injury, he struggled in the first half but ended the game with 7 points with seven assists.
Edwards shot a 3-pointer, assisted by Trey Autry, allowing the Revs to go on a quick 6-0 run with nine minutes remaining. Bishop then hit a 3-pointer off a screen from Babatunde Akingbola, as the Revs cut the lead to 4 points which ended the run, and put the score at 63-59. Coming off a timeout, the Spiders’ graduate student forward Isaiah Bigelow responded to the GW run with a 3-pointer, extending the lead to 66-59.
Looking ahead to the rest of the conference games, Caputo said he is focused on how the team moves forward rather than the game itself and is trying not to dwell think about the eight-game losing streak.
“I’ve never been part of an eight-game losing streak, so this is a first for me,” Caputo said. “But again, I think you really can’t worry about results as much as you worry about the process.”
The Revolutionaries will head to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to play against Saint Joseph’s on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
