Coming off a national championship year for UConn, Quinnipiac men’s basketball forward Richie Springs has played an important role off the bench for head coach Tom Pecora and the Bobcats. The Brooklyn, New York, native spent four seasons in Storrs before arriving in Hamden for his redshirt senior season. 

Springs appeared in 19 games last season for UConn and has taken on a new role with Quinnipiac. His championship experience in-state made Hamden a perfect fit. 

“It’s close to home, and I’ve been in Connecticut already for a while being at UConn, it felt like the right place to be, Connecticut feels like home to me,” Springs said. “My mentors have a connection with (Pecora), there was that trust already built up, they told me about his history and I just felt like the trust was there, I just felt really comfortable.” 

Although he did not see much action throughout his time at UConn, Springs still learned from a winning organization and coaches who were his mentors, including longtime head coach Dan Hurley, who helped recruit him out of high school. 

“(Hurley) taught toughness, team chemistry, communication and just little things like that,” Springs said. “Those things are very important to be a good team.” 

Springs’ college basketball journey is unique, as he redshirted in 2019 and played three seasons for the Huskies. He also will have a final year of eligibility next year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“I saw Richie play when he was a sophomore at Loughlin High School,” Pecora said. “He was playing with great guards and didn’t really get the ball a lot, but now he’s grown as a player.” 

The redshirt senior has appeared in 25 games so far in his first year as a Bobcat, averaging 4.1 points and 3.0 rebounds. This season has been his career-best and has a chance to get better with the last month of conference play looming ahead. 

Many players go their entire collegiate career without a national championship. Springs knows how fortunate he is to be part of such a great accomplishment and bring that experience to Hamden. 

“There’s a lot of similar qualities that this team has with UConn, there’s really good leadership, good chemistry with the team and the toughness, being a defensive team first, those qualities were at UConn,” Springs said. 

Just one month after winning the national championship, Springs transferred to Quinnipiac on May 10. With the Bobcats, Springs is receiving the most playing time of his career, averaging 10.7 minutes per game. 

Quinnipiac is off to its best start in over 40 years — the Bobcats have a 19-6 record — and is in sole possession of first place in the conference with games in hand. With a month remaining in the regular season, the Bobcats look to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. That starts with winning their conference tournament for the first time in program history. 

“Richie’s seen it, he was a part of that last year. Our guys haven’t seen it, so when you have a guy that knows what it takes, he knows how to lead in his ways,” assistant head coach Bradley Jacks said. “He’s bought into the work ethic of what our guys do, he’s bought into the culture of what we’re about. He’s about all the right things, and that’s what this program is, guys being bought into the work.” 

Springs has helped the Bobcats on the court, but it’s clear his value off the court is immeasurable. As Pecora has said all year, “the work defines the man.” 

Not many collegiate players get to say they’ve experienced is playing against NBA prospects in practice. Springs can. Guards Jordan Hawkins and Andre Jackson Jr. — two of his former teammates — were drafted this past summer. 

“They challenged me a lot, we’re gonna battle each other the whole time (in practice), I felt like those guys got me better even though I didn’t play a lot on the court, but I feel like in practice I took that experience and got better from it,” Springs said. 

Coming to a new school, meshing with new teammates is never easy and takes some getting used to. Springs brings leadership with him now as one of the upperclassmen on the Bobcats. 

“I think I bring a good work ethic, (because) when I was younger I didn’t,” Springs said. “Being consistent is hard to do, I feel like if (the underclassmen) started out, by the time they’re in my situation, they’ll be really good. Work ethic is just something I think is really important to preach to them.” 

As the Bobcats continue to show their depth heading into the back half of the season, Springs will certainly see an uptick in minutes. And luckily for Quinnipiac, the former Husky knows what to expect. 

“This team … knows what it takes,” Springs said. “(We) just got to keep winning, doing the same thing every day and I think we’ll be fine.”