Atlantic 10 Basketball: Recap of 1st and 2nd rounds of 2023 tournament
Round 1 – Tuesday, March 7th, 2023
(12) Richmond 71 vs (13) UMass 38
After ending the season on a three-game losing streak, the defending champion Richmond Spiders, under interim head coach Peter Thomas, were looking to kick things off the right way.
Unfortunately for first-year head coach Frank Martin and the Massachusetts Minutemen, they only led twice, and both lead changes occurred in the first five minutes of the game.
UMass had no answer for senior forward Tyler Burton, who dominated with 28 points and six rebounds. While the Massachusetts native could not be stopped, he was not alone; senior forward Matt Grace posted 13 points, and senior center Neal Quinn had seven points and ten boards.
The Minutemen were led by freshman guard RJ Luis, who contributed 12 points and eight rebounds.
The Spiders’ veteran leadership was powerful against an inexperienced Massachusetts team, resulting in a 71-38 victory for Richmond to open up Atlantic 10 tournament play.
(10) Saint Joseph’s 72 vs (15) Loyola Chicago 67
With the high competition level in Atlantic 10 conference tournament play, many did not expect this to be the best game we would get on day one.
This was a two-point game with a little over ten minutes remaining in regulation, and every time Saint Joseph’s looked to pull away, Loyola Chicago would keep it close and not let them get away with an answer on their end of the floor. For a while, it looked like we might get the first upset of the Atlantic 10 tournament.
The Hawks were the better team at the end of the day, thanks to Lynn Greer III and Cameron Brown. Greer III put on a show with 22 points, ten rebounds, seven assists, and shooting 7-for-11 on the day, and Brown contributed 16 points and six rebounds.
The scoring didn’t end there, as Erik Reynolds II had 13 points, and Christian Winborne added 16 off the bench.
(11) La Salle 73 vs (14) Rhode Island 56
The Rhode Island Rams were believed to have the best shot of pulling off a first-day upset; however, the La Salle Explorers had other plans.
The difference in this game was shooting and rebounding; La Salle shot 50%, Rhode Island shot 29.3% from the field, and the Explorers outrebounded the Rams 51-32.
Jhamir Brickus had 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting and had a perfect day at the free-throw line, going 4-for-4, and Daeshon Shepherd finished with 15 on 7-of-10 shooting.
The Rams’ key to this game was to feed their star talent, which is junior guard Ishmael Leggett; however, he shot 4-of-19 and 1-of-8 from range which hurt Rhode Island’s chances. Senior guard Malik Martin led the scoring with 19 points and shot 50% from behind the arc.