No. 12 Richmond stuns No. 5 Vanderbilt in second round

DENVER — The seedings of the University of Richmond and Vanderbilt University say that Richmond's 69-66 victory was an upset. But don't try telling that to Richmond coach Chris Mooney.

"I wouldn't necessarily know the difference between those two teams that took the court," Mooney said. "I don't view it as an upset, with all due respect to Vanderbilt and the great program they have. I don't see it as an upset, as a fan or being out on the court for the last 40 minutes. I think we have a program that can compete on a national level."

Senior Kevin Anderson scored nine straight points as Richmond went on a 9-0 run to turn a three-point deficit into Richmond's first lead of the game at 51-48 with 12:04 left to play in the game.

Richmond survived a rough first few minutes of the game, as Vanderbilt's 6-foot-11 center Festus Ezeli controlled the flow of the game. The Commodores made it a priority to get him the ball, and he responded by scoring seven of the team's first 12 points.

In last year's tournament, Richmond saw something similar in Saint Mary's Omar Samhan. But Mooney would not allow Ezeli to change the way Richmond played in the half.

"We wanted to maintain our game plan and maintain our discipline on the shooters, try to make sure we didn't give up too many threes because we were too worried about him," Mooney said.

A big adjustment that was key to slowing Ezeli was the play of junior Darrius Garrett. In his 19 minutes of play, Garrett blocked five shots and grabbed four rebounds and got a big steal of a Vanderbilt pass with five seconds in the game.

"I knew coming in, I had to bring in energy and lock up on defense," Garrett said. "When I came in, I just focused on making the quickest impact I could. That was blocking shots, getting steals, keeping the guy from scoring. That's what I do."

He did give Vanderbilt the opportunity to tie the game late though. After his steal with five seconds remaining in the game, he was fouled immediately and sent to the line for a one-and-one with Richmond leading 68-65. Garrett missed the front end and Ezeli was fouled by senior Justin Harper on the rebound, sending Ezeli to the foul line for two shots. He made the first one, then missed the second intentionally but Anderson came up with the rebound and once again the Commodores were forced to foul.

Anderson made one of his two shots to give Richmond a three-point lead with three seconds remaining. Vanderbilt had one last look to tie the game, but freshman Rod Odom's three was off and Kevin Smith got the rebound and sent the ball flying through the air as time expired and his teammates rushed the court.

For Anderson, the game was a just another one in his redemption play of late. He was named the Atlantic 10 Conference player of the year last year, and although he was a first team all-A-10 selection this year, he didn't have the type of year that was expected. But during last weekend's A-10 tournament, Anderson averaged 22 points and was named the most outstanding player of the tournament as the Spiders won the conference title. Anderson gave credit to his teammates for keeping him mentally focused for each game.

"It's hard when you don't have good games and you're expected to have good games," he said. "That's really tough. But that's why you have great guys like Justin, Darrius, the other seniors on the team. The freshmen and juniors and sophomores as well, because they lift me up when I'm at a low point. They just let me know to keep up your confidence, everything's going to be okay."

Anderson finished with 25 points on 10-of-24 shooting. Anderson also hit a pair of his trademark floaters late in the game with Richmond holding a one-point lead each time. He also helped set up his teammates throughout the game with open looks, as he finished with four assists.

Early on in the first half, with Anderson starting slowly and Harper not making a basket until four seconds left in the first half, Richmond needed a player to fill the scoring void as Vanderbilt's 2-3 zone shut down Richmond's scorers. In entered junior Francis-Cedric Martel, who came in less than seven minutes into the game as Smith picked up his second foul of the game. Martel responded by hitting three three pointers that half which helped keep Richmond within reach of Vanderbilt.

"I think we just had to be aggressive," Martel said. "In the beginning, everybody was being a little nervous, maybe a little soft against their zone. Then once we got more comfortable, everybody started to be more aggressive."

Martel attributed part of Richmond's ability to calm down after the rough start to last year's experience in the tournament. Although Richmond lost that game last year, it still provided the team with an opportunity to get acclimated to how the tournament works.

"It helped us come out with more poise and give everything we had on the court," Martel said. "Not get excited with being in the tournament and trying to advance."

The Spiders were able to hold the Commodores below their season average in scoring in part by limiting their turnovers. They committed three all game, with one being a five-second violation on an in-bounds pass by Smith.

Vanderbilt was a team that tried to push the tempo and get a fast-break or transition basket whenever possible. Mooney had his team practice those scenarios for most of Wednesday's practice and the work paid off as the Commodores were able to score four points on the break.

Now Richmond, with its first win in the NCAA tournament since 1998, plays No. 13 Morehead State here on Saturday. The Eagles advanced by upsetting the No. 4 Louisville Cardinals in the game before Richmond.

Despite the upset, Richmond's celebration was tame compared to Morehead's. But that's because Anderson said the team had bigger goals than winning the second-round game.

"We don't want to be one-and-done," Anderson said. "We're excited for this win. We want to keep looking forward into this tournament, not just being satisfied with this win. ... We won one game, but didn't win the tournament. That's our ultimate goal."

Contact staff writer Andrew Prezioso at andrew.prezioso@richmond.edu