Richmond 93, Fordham 82: Quotes From Chris Mooney

Richmond head coach Chris Mooney's opening statement:
"Jeff (Neubauer) has them (Fordham) playing so hard in such a unique style. In this building especially, it makes it difficult. They're so aggressive, they're so relentless defensively, it makes it really difficult and I think that really showed for us in the first eight minutes of the game. I think we had seven turnovers, which is extremely high for us, but we settled down to a certain degree. Obviously, we made a lot of shots, so that's always going to be important. We're really pleased to get a road win, and we're looking forward to Wednesday night. Hats off to Fordham for just how hard they play and how Jeff has them going."

On how much Fordham has improved from last season:
"To be honest, I thought late last year, they were playing really well. Obviously, they lost the kid that transferred to Villanova, (Eric Paschall) but they were playing really well. We had an overtime game with them in Richmond, and those young guys are competitive. (Mandell) Thomas is a great player, and as much as anything, it's the energy and the style that is really driving them to be...he's subbing so many guys, there's enthusiasm, I think that's what's really driving them to be successful."

On Richmond's 30-7 run to end the first half and how it galvanized the Spiders in the second half:
"It was really big. Making threes, one thing we talked about was if you can handle the pressure, you'll get open shots. Whether you make them or not will be critical, and we made them in the first half at the end, so that was really, really critical to give us some confidence and some footing as we entered the second half."

On Marshall Wood (29 points, 10-16 FG, 7-12 3-pt FG):
"He can really shoot. He can really, really shoot and obviously he's a good athlete to go along with that. He was great. He took advantage of opportunity, and he's been working really hard. He had a little bit of a lull for us, but in previous games, he came out of it at Rhode Island and was great tonight, of course. What I was really proud with was that he rebounded the ball really well, too. He had, I think he might have had three of the last five rebounds of the game, he tipped a rebound from himself to another one of our players defensively. He was great. Obviously, a tremendous performance."

On Wood's three with 1:24 remaining, which essentially iced the game:
"Very deep, and I think part of that is confidence because you've made so many, but that was very big."

On only four players scoring and accounting for 93 points:
"Well, it's interesting: The guy who didn't score, Trey Davis, had 11 assists and no turnovers. You just don't see that very often for any player at any level. Eleven assists, four steals, no turnovers. I thought he was in the running for player of the game, a guy that didn't even score. His defensive plays were big, and to have 11 assists and zero turnovers is just a tremendous stat line."

On Trey Davis (11 assists, 4 steals) not taking a shot and it being a product of Fordham's defense:
"I think as they're trapping and running over, he has such a good sense, so it didn't turn out that a shot showed up, so I think he had a good sense of distributing the ball, and that was really big."

On changing his strategy after Fordham built a 15-point lead:
"Against a team that plays like this, it's really hard to have a strategy, because they might drop the first pass, they might drop the ball handling. It's hard to say 'hey, let's run this play.' I think you have to be a basketball player and be able to make plays. They did that in a great way today, those shots showed up for them. I thought we forced a few shots in the first half, but not too many, and I didn't know that 33 of the first 35 (points were scored by either Wood or ShawnDre' Jones, who had 35 points). That's incredible."

On Fordham's 12-0 second half run to regain the lead:
"We had to just try to withstand that. I thought we were getting good shots. I didn't call timeout...that was part of it. We were getting good shots and moving the ball nicely. It wasn't such a thing where I thought we were being overwhelmed. We were as the score went, but I thought we were getting good shots and not turning the ball over, so it was pretty critical for us. We came back and got Terry (Allen) on the layup, next time down, ShawnDre' made a three and then we called timeout."

On his message to the team during the timeout after Jones' three-pointer:
"Really, more than anything, it was just reemphasizing 'look, don't be in any kind of rush. We have a transition opportunity, take it, but don't be in any kind of rush.' It's hard to guard the whole court and then still protect the basket, but I thought we were able to get them some good looks because of our good passing and good spacing."

On getting Richmond's first Atlantic 10 win and what he expects against La Salle and VCU:
"Really, our guys played so many minutes. I'd really just like us to just be as settled down as we can. We lost a starter today, and came in and won a road game. That's a unique accomplishment. Let's be settled down, let's practice well tomorrow. La Salle, even though they've been struggling, they just beat a ranked team (Dayton) on Saturday. Just be mindful of who we are, how we're going to win, and play as well as we can on Wednesday."