Where does Richmond stand heading into Atlantic 10 play?

“This is something that you don’t always get,” he told The Next. “Maybe you get one big game, you get one big-time opponent, our schedule is littered with it. You got a Texas, you got Tennessee, you got all of these schools; oh, by the way, there’s a Columbia, and there’s a Fairfield, there’s a Georgetown, there’s Temple to start the season — like, these are all heavy hitters.”

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‘It really was a gauntlet’

After Richmond lost to Alabama 75-68 in the West Palm Beach Classic on Dec. 21, Roussell reflected on the team’s first 13 games of the season. He knew the team would be challenged by the tough schedule, saying “it really was a gauntlet.” 

Over the first nearly seven weeks of the season, Richmond recorded a 9-4 record including wins over Fairfield, Oklahoma State and Columbia. Though the team lost four of its last five games — falling to Georgetown, No. 6 Texas, No. 18 Tennessee and R/V Alabama between Dec. 4 and Dec. 21 — Roussell wouldn’t change a thing. 

“For the future, we will load up these games as much as possible,” he said. “This is not anything that we need to run from. Your record is your record. … We kind of said, ‘Hey, we’re going to go after this thing, see what we are.’ And hopefully, that puts us in a good position in March and the time leading up to it. And I guess time will tell.”

Graduate student guard Faith Alston is grateful for the opportunity the schedule provided. “We learned how to push past our limits,” she told The Next. “…[I]t definitely made us tougher, and it brought us closer together as a team because we’ve had to match up with these … Power Five teams. So I think having this tough of a nonconference schedule, some people would have been scared, but I think we took it head on, and we learned a lot, and I think it will help us when we go into conference [play].”

Lessons learned in the last week

Richmond played Texas on Dec. 15, Tennessee on Dec. 20 and Alabama on Dec. 21. “[M]aybe we didn’t prove that we could do it for all 40 minutes, but I think during stretches, I think we proved that we belong, or at least can play with these teams, which I think bodes well for us during January and February,” Roussell said. He was encouraged at the end of the West Palm Beach Classic because he saw his team learn and adjust, rebounding and generating offense better against Alabama than it did less than 24 hours before against Tennessee. 

The Spiders also learned what it feels like when a team makes them uncomfortable during stretches against Tennessee and Alabama, and Roussell wants to ensure his future opponents feel the same way. 

Richmond didn’t finish its nonconference slate the way it wanted to, but Roussell believes the hurt the team feels will drive them in the coming months. He also knows the team can’t take its foot off the gas as it returns to the court on Dec. 29 at home against Dayton to kick off A-10 play. “[T]here’s some very good A-10 teams out there that are probably in the same category as us,” Roussell said. “And then I think there’s some other teams out there that are getting better. And then some of those [teams] that just really want to make their season, make their day with beating some of the top-level teams.”

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Faith Alston returned, Ally Sweeney stepped up, who’s next? 

On Dec. 5, Roussell told The Next that for all the team’s success and 8-1 record the team still wasn’t at full strength. Alston made her season debut 10 days later and is averaging 4.0 points and 1.3 assists in 15.3 minutes per game in her three games this season. She spent her first four seasons at Appalachian State and Alston believes that she brings leadership, knowledge, energy and extra effort to the team. Roussell complimented Alston for jumping right in this season, being competitive and because no moment is too big for her.

While Alston was out, Ally Sweeney stepped up. She’s watched additional film with associate head coach Jeanine Radice and had additional discussions with Roussell about what he needed from her. “She’s been a strength of ours,” he said in a team-published video. “This has not just been a stopgap. This has not just been ‘Hey, just be okay because we have good players at the other [spots].’ She has excelled, and there’s no way that we would be where we are without her.” 

Alston tried to help Sweeney where she could and believes she’s done a great job with leadership and ball handling, stepping into a starting point guard role after averaging 5.8 minutes per game as a freshman last season. This season, Sweeney’s averaging 8.1 points, 2.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. “I’ve been trying to push myself, push my teammates and do whatever I can to continue this winning season we’re having,” Sweeney said in a team-published video.

On Dec. 21, Roussell said that the team needs a deep bench for not just the regular-season A-10 games, but for the three to five conference tournament games needed to win a championship. However, the team hasn’t had one consistently this season. “Some of that’s against some tough opponents. Some of that is our starters have played incredibly well. I don’t mean that in a knock against our bench, our starters have played incredibly well,” Roussell said. “But my job, [the] coaching staff’s job, individual players’ job, is to make sure we kind of add to our depth for these next couple months.”

Roussell wants to get the transfers coming off the bench more involved, including Alston as well as junior forward Sam Dewey and graduate students forward Anna Camden, guard Alyssa Jimenez and forward Steph Ouderkirk. Alston is looking forward to seeing who steps up in conference play. “I think everybody on this team, when they get on that court, they could definitely show out,” she said. “So it’s gonna be interesting. It’s gonna be fun to watch.”

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