Step forward: Mike Walz shows game growth in Spiders' Red-Blue scrimmage (2025)

The Red-Blue intrasquad scrimmage Friday night at the Queally Athletics Center was only a possession or two old when those in attendance saw something new.

Mike Walz received a pass at the free throw line. His defender backed off a step. The 6-foot-11 Walz did not hesitate. He turned to the basket and shot. Swish.

The conversion wasn’t the big thing here for the University of Richmond as it prepares for its Nov. 6 opener versus Division II Mount Olive. The fact that Walz took the initiative to score and felt comfortable in UR’s offense that now gives him the green light for that attempt was noteworthy.

“That would be the main thing, aggressiveness,” Richmond coach Chris Mooney, in his 20th season with the Spiders, said of the difference in Walz this season. “That’s the main thing for a lot of players.”

In Friday’s scrimmage, Walz scored nine points on four-of-six shooting (missed two 3-pointers) in 18 minutes. The teams played a pair of abbreviated halves.

Next step

Last season, Walz as a sophomore backed up 7-footer Neal Quinn, averaging 11 minutes, 2.8 points, and 2.5 rebounds. Mooney on Friday recognized the reserve value the 255-pound Walz provided for the 2024 A-10 regular-season champions (15-3), who ended 23-10 after a first-round NIT loss at Virginia Tech.

“Now, he has a bigger role, a bigger responsibility,” Mooney said. “He’s an incredibly hard worker. For someone that size to give that much effort for a sustained period of time is not easy.”

Walz “is a great passer,” said Mooney, but “we’re trying to get him to look to score more. It doesn’t mean you’re going to automatically shoot. It might mean you throw the ball out at the end, but just look to score more.

“I think he presents a lot of positives for us.”

‘I knew … I’d be a project’

This gradual progression is what Walz was striving for when he committed in July 2021 to UR out of Berwyn, Pennsylvania, heading into his senior year at Conestoga High. Scholarship offers were also extended by Penn State, William & Mary, Bucknell, Drexel, Stony Brook, Delaware and Lehigh.

When he arrived at Richmond, Walz appreciated that he hadn’t faced anything approaching upper-level high school competition and was entering a new, much quicker, hoops world. Walz acknowledged that the transition to Division I basketball “was certainly difficult for me … I knew there would be a development arc, and I’d be a project.”

Other takeaways

Senior point guard DeLonnie Hunt, Richmond’s leading returning scorer (9.3 ppg), made five of eight shots (three 3-pointers) while scoring 18 points on drives, jumpers and on eight free-throw attempts. He drew six fouls, a reflection of his aggressiveness.

Jonathan Beagle, the 6-10 transfer from Albany, has some solid moves on the low block and may be the Spiders’ best passer. He had six assists but also three turnovers.

Sophomore guard Mikkel Tyne (five assists, zero turnovers) and 6-8 Dusan Neskovic (Dartmouth graduate) are very comfortable in their own skin on offense. But together, they went 10 for 25, with five baskets each.

Richmond’s going to miss the defensive impact of 6-5 Dji Bailey, a UR grad playing his final season of eligibility at LSU. Mooney saw last year’s Spiders as “an elite defensive team,” and the presence of the 7-0 Quinn and the versatile Bailey was a major factor.

UR will look to replace the scoring of guard Jordan King (18 ppg) not “with one person,” said Mooney.

Friday night’s scrimmage drew about 150 fans. The exhibition served as an NIL fundraiser. Guard B. Artis White (Western Michigan grad), 6-10 redshirt freshman Ryan Soulis and 6-5 senior Jason Roche sat out with injuries not expected to keep them idle for long.

The Spiders were picked seventh among 15 in the A-10 preseason poll released Monday morning. Voting were the 15 head coaches and 15 selected media members.