In what was considered to be the big matchup of the day in the Atlantic 10 Xavier's Tu Holloway turned the momentum for good with the last play of the first half. His nifty inbounding of the basketball off of the backside of a Richmond player and subsequent shot as time expired put the Musketeers up 36-29 at the break, and the second half was a continuation of said momentum. Holloway was outstanding, finishing with 33 points, seven rebounds and five assists as Xavier (15-5, 7-0) whipped the Spiders 85-62 at the Robins Center. In the win Holloway became the 48th player in Xavier's history to score at least 1,000 career points. Kenny Frease added 19 points and Mark Lyons 14 while Jamel McLean grabbed 12 rebounds for the winners while Justin Harper led Richmond (16-6, 5-2) with 20 points and five rebounds.

The first half was close for much of the way with neither team leading by more than six points until the Holloway bucket at the horn. Richmond scored just one point in the final 4:06 as the Musketeers tallied six of the final seven points. The three-point shot kept the Spiders in close as they made six to Xavier's one in the first half. But while the kept firing away in the second half the Musketeers got to the foul line, making all 20 of their free throw attempts and finishing 29-for-30 for the game. Richmond pulled to within two points at 42-40 on a Harper three with 16:20 left in the game, but from that point it was essentially all Xavier.