Wake Forest has rarely if ever considered a game against Richmond a sure victory, especially a game played on the road at the Robins Center.
That said, the Deacons sure have had their way against the Spiders.
Going into tonight's game at Richmond set for 7 p.m., Wake Forest holds a 36-9 advantage in a series that began in 1921. The Spiders last beat the Deacons during the 1989-90 season, Dave Odom's first as Wake Forest's head coach.
Odom and his successors, Skip Prosser and Dino Gaudio, have since coached the Deacons to 15 straight victories against the Spiders, with six of those victories coming in Richmond. Wake Forest has won three of the past four by at least 13 points.
Wake Forest, ranked No. 10 at 9-0, will again be strong favorites against Richmond, which has lost three of its past five to fall to 5-4. But Gaudio said this week he expects little to come easy against the deliberate Spiders.
"It's going to be a big challenge," Gaudio said. "They're a very good basketball team. They're running the Princeton offense, which we've faced in the past.
"It will in essence be our first road test. Now, playing Cal State Fullerton eight miles from their campus was like a road game."
Chris Mooney is in his fourth season as the Spiders' head coach. As usual, Richmond's strength can be found in the backcourt. Junior guard David Gonzalvez leads the team with 17.7 points and 4.7 rebounds, and sophomore Kevin Anderson is averaging 16.7.
The Spiders' starting center is Jarhon Giddings, a 6-9 center who played at Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem. Giddings is averaging nine points and 3.8 rebounds.
Richmond, which plays in the Atlantic 10, has lost to Syracuse (76-71), Bradley (80-66), Old Dominion (65-62) and VCU (77-76). Gaudio said the experience of playing against half-court teams such as Bucknell and Wright State should help against the Spiders, who average 73.8 points a game.
"We've now played several teams like that," Gaudio said. "And I've told the team, ‘What happens is we guard for 32 seconds and we try to score in 10 seconds.'
"We surely can't guard for 35 and give them the ball right back. I think we've understood that. I think we're grasping that. And we'd better have -- and I think we do -- a healthy respect for the A-10."
Gaudio said a main point of emphasis for the Deacons will be taking care of the basketball. Wake Forest is averaging 18 turnovers a game, most in the ACC.
"Some of our turnovers are just unforced errors," Gaudio said. "They're careless turnovers. We're casual with the ball.
"We go up (against Wright State) by 22, and we think ‘Game's over, I'm just going to chill a little bit.' I think we're a good team. But when we become a great team we'll handle all that stuff."
■ Dan Collins can be reached at 727-7323 or at dcollins@wsjournal.com.
Game night
WFU at Richmond
• Site, time: Robins Center, 7 p.m.
• TV/radio: ESPNU Ch. 143; WBRF 98.1; WZTK 101.1
• Of note: The Deacons' first game of the season on an opponent's home floor will begin a segment of the schedule during which they play three of four games away from Joel Coliseum. The Deacons are 36-9 all-time against the Spiders, whom they have beaten 15 straight times. Guard Jeff Teague, who leads the ACC with 19.4 points a game, will be attempting to bounce back from a subpar game against Wright State, in which he scored 10 points and committed six turnovers. Guard Harvey Hale, on the other hand, will try to build on his performance against Wright State, when he hit his first five 3-point attempts and scored 17 points. The Deacons will play at East Carolina on Dec. 22, at home against Radford on Dec. 30 and at Brigham Young on Jan. 3 before beginning their ACC schedule at home against North Carolina on Jan. 11.
Journal staff report
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