This was a daunting task to say the least to go into Hinkle Field House and win against the Butler Bulldogs who have had an incredible home record with Brad Stevens as coach; the Richmond Spiders, led by head coach Chris Mooney, went into this game without their second leading scorer and leading rebounder, Derrick Williams; on the other hand maybe the Spiders had a shot in the game since Butler's leading scorer, Rotnei Clarke, at 16 ppg was injured and didn't play.
The rebounding of Derrick Williams was sorely needed by the Spiders as they were totally dominated on the boards like you don't see often: it's amazing Richmond was able to get the game down to a single-digit deficit in the second half. Butler led by as many as 20 in the game and that was in the second half. A brief flurry of 3-pointers and defensive stuffs brought the Spiders into a single-digit deficit, in sight of the lead late in the second half.
Richmond struggled greatly in the first half scoring only 21 points...they trailed at the intermission, 33-21. Richmond only briefly led in this game in the first half; the entire story of the game was rebounding with Butler gathering 47 to Richmond's 18.
Butler's freshman Kellen Dunham replaced Rotnei Clarke in the lineup and scored 11 points. He is the third leading free throw shooter in the country coming into the game shooting at 94.4%. Andrew Smith of Butler led the game in scoring with 15 points while Darien Brothers led the Spiders in scoring with 12 points.
It's amazing the Bulldogs didn't launch more shots with the huge advantage they had in offensive possessions because of the rebounding advantage.
Game Numbers
- University of Richmond field goals: 17-52, 7-24 3-pointers
- Butler University field goals: 21-56, 5-19 3-pointers
- Rebounds...Richmond: 5 offensive, 18 total
- Rebounds...Butler: 17 offensive, 47 total
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