Big Stretch: Wake Forest will play tough Richmond

Credit: AP File Photo

Kevin Anderson of the Spiders is their leading scorer averaging 17.1 points a game.

By: By Dan Collins | JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: December 31, 2009

It takes only glance at Wake Forest's schedule to see that the gimmes are gone.

Beginning with tonight's home game against a Richmond team that spent the first weeks of the season beating Mississippi State, Missouri and Florida, the 9-2 Deacons will face nothing but teams more than capable of beating them. Xavier comes to town for Sunday's game, and then Wake Forest will play 15 straight conference games leading into March's ACC Tournament.

"I mean from here on out -- Richmond, Xavier, at Miami, Maryland, Duke, Carolina -- it's on," Coach Dino Gaudio said yesterday.

There have been seasons that the Deacons could feel pretty comfortable playing a home game against Richmond of the Atlantic 10, but this is not one of them. The Spiders, in their fifth season with Chris Mooney as head coach, are 10-3 -- the program's best record after 13 games in 22 seasons.

Their losses have come at William & Mary (78-71), at VCU (65-57) and at South Carolina (76-58). They beat Mississippi State (63-62) and Missouri (59-52) in the South Padre Island (Tex.) Invitational and beat the Gators, then ranked No. 13, in Sunrise, Fla.

"I don't think anybody is shocked or overzealous about this win," guard David Gonzalvez said afterward.

Mooney said that they shouldn't have been.

"We feel we are just as athletic and just as good as them, and so when you can stop at halftime and recognize that, I just think you breathe a little more confidence," Mooney said. "The game was well within our grasp."

Richmond's offense is built around guards Kevin Anderson and Gonzalvez. Anderson, a 6-0 junior, is averaging 17.1 points while shooting 47 percent from the floor, 36 percent from 3-point range and 81 percent from the line. Gonzalvez, a 6-4 senior, is averaging 14.1 points while shooting 49 percent from the floor, 37 percent from 3-point range and 62 percent from the line.

Anderson made eight of 11 field-goal attempts for 21 points last season while going head-to-head with Jeff Teague, who has since left Wake Forest for the Atlanta Hawks. The Deacons beat the Spiders 86-79 in Richmond on Dec. 19.

"I think he really has a knack for finishing around the rim as well as he can shoot the 3," Gaudio said. "He's really quick off the dribble. He got the better part of Jeff last year."

Mooney played at Princeton and has installed the Princeton offense -- known for spreading the floor and looking for back-cuts to the basket -- at Richmond. The Spiders are well-versed in the system, with every starter from last year back, along with Dan Geroit, a 6-9 junior who missed last season with a torn knee ligament.

The Deacons, in recent years, have fared well against teams running the Princeton offense, but stumbled the last time they faced it in a 78-68 home loss to William & Mary on Nov. 28.

"They're running all the Princeton stuff, but they're pushing the ball on offense, not just solely walking it up the floor," Gaudio said. "(Mooney) gives his guards, Anderson and Gonzalvez, a lot of freedom to create."

The Deacons extended their defense from the usual Pack-Line alignment to hold William & Mary to seven 3-pointers (on 17 attempts), but paid for it when the Tribe shot 44 percent from the floor. Only Gonzaga (45.1 percent) has shot better against Wake Forest, which has held eight of its 11 opponents to less than 40 percent.

Gaudio said that the Deacons may have overcompensated defensively against William & Mary, but plan to play the Spiders more conventionally.

"We weren't where we usually are on our defense, and it was by design because we wanted to make sure they didn't make 3s on us," Gaudio said of the William & Mary loss. "And we were too spread out defensively.

"I think we will stay more to our Pack principles, with making slight adjustments in our rules so we don't get hurt with the back-door. That's their whole deal. They're going to get one or two a game. When they get a back-door against us, we can't get all frustrated."

dcollins@wsjournal.com.

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