Colonials Corner

Dallas Green and Rob Robinson defend a shot by Kellen Brand shot. Courtesy of rmucolonials.com

For the duration of his time as Robert Morris head coach, Mike Rice never worried about his offense. He preached the idea that whatever happened offensively, defense was going to win his team games. Play well on defense, shut down the opposition, dictate the tempo, and your offense will come.

Every time, it worked. Until now.

Robert Morris shot just 26% from the field and Appalachian State rolled the Colonials 65-52 at the Sewall Center Saturday night.

“Once we started missing shots and started missing open shots, we started forcing things,” Rice said. “We really didn’t respond the right way.”

Appalachian State had something to do with the poor shooting night, forcing the Colonials to take outside shots because of the presence of some wide bodies in the paint. Andre Williamson (6’7, 225) and Isaac Butts (6’10, 285) each had two blocks and combined with 6’6, 245 Josh Hunter for 27 of the Mountaineers 39 rebounds.

“Every time we got the ball down low, we wouldn’t go up strong enough,” Rice explained. “It kind of effected the way we defended a little bit and our energy level. If you just do some of the small things before that that we preach, you have a chance.”

RMU also shot a paltry 8 of 14 from the foul line, with several misses occurring on the front end of 1 and 1 opportunities in the second half. That included a five minute stretch where the Colonials closed the gap to just one point, only to go cold again and allow Appalachian State to pull away.

“Besides the 5 minute stretch, I’d like to put that offensive performance in the garbage,” Rice said.

Rob Robinson had another poor showing, scoring just five points and pulling down four rebounds. Russell Johnson had 10 rebounds, including seven offensive ones, but he too struggled from the floor. Jimmy Langhurst fought through poor shooting to score 14 points, while freshman Karon Abraham again led the Colonials with 15 points.

“I like his pace. I like the urgency that he gives,” Rice said of Abraham. “I have confidence in him like the rest of the team does. But it can’t come from a freshman. I just reminded our seniors: Your freshmen are doing everything possible. The onus falls on (the seniors’) shoulders.”

Abraham sparked the five minute run in the second half and played 26 minutes, the third most on the team, all while coming off the bench.

“If I’m going to get a spark, some of that is going to come from the younger guys,” Rice said. “My seniors have to be more consistent. They have to be more consistent in practice. We’ll work through it.”

RMU will host Kent State in the final game before Christmas on December 22.

“We have to respond better and be ready to play a very competitive basketball game,” Rice said.