Colonials Corner

It was inevitable. In fact, it started way back on December 3rd. But now a major news outlet is firing up the coaching carousel, and the speculation has begun.

The key word is speculation. Writers across the country, perhaps suffering a bit of basketball induced cabin fever, have begun ruminating on the fate of college coaches across the country. Who is in danger? Which programs need a facelift? Who deserves a new contract or a promotion? Which assistants are the fresh faces needed in this program or that?

And just like last year, Mike Rice’s name has come up.

Before we go much further, let’s make this clear: I don’t know what the future holds for Mike Rice or Robert Morris. No one does. At this point, Mike Rice probably doesn’t have the faintest clue.

He’s probably plopped in front of a TV or computer somewhere watching film of Devin Sweetney. His mind is probably racing, trying to figure out how the hell to handle back-to-back games against St. Francis (Pa.) this weekend. When his mind pauses long enough to allow other thoughts to muscle their way in, he’s likely hoping Karon Abraham doesn’t get the flu or Mezie Nwigwe doesn’t get the whooping cough or that the bus doesn’t break down on the trip back from Loretto late Thursday night and royally screw his team over because the NEC – in their absolutely infinite wisdom – thought it would be a good idea to schedule the first set of “home-and-home” basketball games in college basketball since the days of short-shorts and regular quintuple headers at the Palestra.

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Brian Nash used an interesting phrase to describe Robert Morris’ success against his team this season. It also applies well to the Colonials’ success in January.

You can read about Nash’s description of the “Robert Morris curse” in the game story we wrote for the Beaver County Times. The larger point though, is something worth exploring.

Robert Morris is now 26-2 in January under Mike Rice. They are 45-7 in the NEC in those three years, with 8 regular season (and potentially 3 tournament games) left to play. The 74-56 win over St. Francis by Robert Morris dovetailed with Quinnipiac’s loss to Mount St. Mary’s to give the Colonials sole possession of first place in the NEC.

So what gives? Why has Robert Morris been so successful? Talent has helped. A dangerous trio of A.J. Jackson, Jeremy Chappell, and Tony Lee helped Rice become familiar with the conference in his first year. Chappell and Rob Robinson, with an assist from Jimmy Langhurst and Bateko Francisco, made the Colonials really tough to play last year. And now Rice has something that’s rare in good teams, albeit a bit frustrating: Anyone can step up and be a star for a night. No one expected Karon Abraham to do what he’s done, but when Abraham has an off night, Rice still has Robinson, Velton Jones, Mezie Nwigwe, and Russell Johnson available to take control.

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The legend of Stefan Perunicic is dying. After a dynamic performance in his first game against Robert Morris, Perunicic hasn’t done much of anything against the Colonials in the last two games. Last time around in Brooklyn it was Rickey Cadell’s 29 points that kept St. Francis in the game.

It was also a lackadaisical approach by Robert Morris in the second half that allowed Cadell and the Terriers to even dream of a win. Robert Morris was up 41-20 at the break, but hit just five field goals in the second half and relied on free throws to pull off the 67-63 win.

Records: Robert Morris (13-8, 8-1 NEC); St. Francis NY (9-11, 6-3 NEC).

Tip off: 7pm

Television/Radio: WPIT 730 AM

Web: rmucolonials.com, WPIT’s online media player, and follow the stats via your favorite college hoops site

Projected RMU starters: F Rob Robinson (6′8, 215, Sr.), F Dallas Green (6′8, 190, Sr) G Mezie Nwgiwe (6′4, 195, Sr.), G Karon Abraham (5′9, 150, Fr.), G Velton Jones (6′0, 170, rFr)

RMU Leaders: Points – Karon Abraham 12.4/game, Rob Robinson 9.8/game; Rebounds – Rob Robinson 5.7/game, Russell Johnson 5.6/game; Assists – Mezie Nwigwe 2.8/game, Velton Jones 2.5/game; Steals – Jones 1.3/game, Johnson 1.2/game

Projected St. Francis NY starters: C Herman Wrice (6′7, 210, Sr.) , F Kayode Ayeni (6′5, 180, Sr.), F Stefan Perunicic (6′6, 195, So.), G Akeem Bennett (6′3, 180, Jr.), G Justin Newton (6′0, 190, So.)

St. Francis NY Leaders: Points – Ricky Cadell 16.7/game, Akeem Bennett 14.5/game; Rebounds – Bennett 5.6/game, Kayode Ayeni 5.4/game ; Assists – Bennett 4.0/game, Justin Newton 3.4/game; Steals – Bennett 2.3/game, Newton 2.1/game

You can read our game story for Robert Morris’ 66-58 win over Long Island in the Beaver County Times here.

Something has changed within the Northeast Conference the past few years. It hasn’t been a drastic change, but a gradual one that everyone recognizes, but no one can really identify why its occurring.

One thing is clear, though: It’s benefiting Robert Morris, Long Island, and Quinnipiac the most.

The NEC has become a physical, slasher league. It used to be a perimeter shooting league featuring a handful of dominant big men. Work inside and out on offense, play tight defense, and win with leadership, balance, and guts.

It’s how Mount St. Mary’s won two years ago, and it’s a major component of why Robert Morris won last year.

But Thursday night at the Sewall Center was a clinic in the new NEC. Big men controlling the paint and outside shots still belong, but if you really want to win, you need guards who are willing to drive into the lane and put their bodies on the line for a shot or a trip to the foul line. And then you need guards who can stop the other team’s guards on a regular basis.

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Thursday brings a fresh opportunity to Robert Morris. The notion of revenge hasn’t been a major idea in the Robert Morris camp other than when it pertains to Mount St. Mary’s. The Colonials effectively exorcised those demons last year by eliminating their chief rival on the NEC’s biggest stage. But when Long Island strolls into the Sewall Center Thursday night, the Blackbirds will carry with them something no other team in the NEC has been able to do this year: A win over Robert Morris.

Thus the Blackbirds come calling with Robert Morris looking to not only keep setting the pace alongside Quinnipiac at the top of the conference, but with the rare opportunity to exact some revenge for their only conference loss to date.

Last time around, the Colonials’ shutdown Jaytornah Wisseh only to have their frontcourt decimated by LIU freshmen Kenny Onyechi and Jamal Olasewere. The two bigmen combined for 27 points, 14 boards, and 4 blocks in 55 minutes. They forced an effective Rob Robinson (13 points, 9 rebounds) to foul out and eliminated any effectiveness from Russell Johnson or Dallas Green.

“I was shocked how we backed down from two freshmen,” Rice told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

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Perhaps the question of the week popped up courtesy of a friend. He posted an image on Facebook showing, quite clearly, a Robert Morris University football helmet in a promotional spot for an upcoming episode of Fox’s television show “House, M.D.”.

As an avid watcher of the show, I went back and took a closer look at the promo. It’s clearly a Robert Morris helmet, and it appears twice. Once very clearly in the first second of the clip where a runner gets tackled, and then again a few seconds later in a quick glimpse of the quarterback.

This isn’t the first time that the show has referenced Pittsburgh sports this season. First there was the Pittsburgh Penguins paraphernalia decorating the wall of a teenage patient in an episode titled “Instant Karma” in October, followed by – finally – the long awaited and inevitable Omar Epps-Mike Tomlin comparison in a November episode.

The RMU helmet episode airs Monday, January 28 at 8pm EST. I’ll record it like usual and see if any additional connections come up.

You can watch the YouTube clip below. Quickly hit pause at the 1 second mark to confirm the appearance.

One stat says it all about Saturday’s 66-53 win over Monmouth for Robert Morris. The Colonials scored three times as many points in the second half as they did in the first.

Those first twenty minutes were wiped away as Robert Morris overcame a 19-17 halftime deficit that set basketball back a few years. Mezie Nwigwe scored 12 of his game high 15 points in the second half while Karon Abraham scored all 13 of his – including a crucial set of back-to-back treys – in the later frame.

How bad was the first half? Robert Morris scored just 17 points, but actually shot better from the floor than Monmouth. The Colonials hit on 22% of their shots while Monmouth hit just 17%. RMU improved considerably in the second half while Monmouth continued to struggle, cranking up their percentage to an astonishing 62% – including 70%  from beyond the arc – while Monmouth only improved to 45% in the second half.

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I haven’t had the chance to say anything about this because of an incredibly busy week, but I wanted to share this with the readers of this site.

We’ve kept this site singularly focused on Robert Morris sports for multiple reasons, but as you can imagine, I do have interests that lie elsewhere. I shared some of them before on the old blog, and I’ll be starting up my own website in the very near future to coincide with some other positive developments that have occurred in the last few days and weeks (none negatively impact this site).

I’m a huge music fan, and I’m also a fan of non-profit works. With the devastation in Haiti, two of those interests have dovetailed.

Grammy winning rock band Linkin Park established a charity called Music For Relief several years ago as a way to use their resources and their music to raise funds for various causes. This week, they launched a program centered on relief for Haiti called “Download to Donate”. They have multiple songs from a wide variety of artists that you can listen to, and you can download all the songs for a fee.

The fee is whatever you want. 100% of the donations go to relief efforts in Haiti. I’ve included the widget from their site at the top of this post. Feel free to listen, to share, and to donate. Please visit the Music For Relief site to donate.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming…

One thing is certain if Robert Morris is going to sweep this New Jersey trip: Rob Robinson cannot go scoreless against the Monmouth Hawks. Travis Taylor had a solid ballgame last Saturday in Moon, but Robinson’s contributions in that game kept the Colonials in front.

They’ll need Robinson for round two. Taylor has been suspended for 7 games by Monmouth head coach Dave Calloway, so RMU will need Robinson to be effective down low, especially if the Colonials continue to struggle shooting the ball on the road. Russell Johnson and Gary Wallace had to provide 28 points off the bench for RMU to win Thursday night against Fairleigh Dickinson as Karon Abraham had just 9 point and Mezie Nwigwe was ice cold from the floor.

Monmouth will also be looking to keep pace with RMU and Quinnipiac, the co-leaders of the conference. Monmouth is tied for 2nd with a 5-2 record.

Records: Robert Morris (11-8, 6-1 NEC); Monmouth (9-10, 5-2 NEC).

Tip off: 4:00pm

Television/Radio: Fox College Sports Atlantic (Ch. 262 on Comcast, check your local listings), WPIT 730 AM; tape delayed at 6pm on FSN Pittsburgh.

Web: rmucolonials.com, WPIT’s online media player, and follow the stats via your favorite college hoops site

Projected RMU starters: F Rob Robinson (6′8, 215, Sr.), F Dallas Green (6′8, 210, Sr.) G Mezie Nwgiwe (6′4, 195, Sr.), G Karon Abraham (5′9, 150, Fr.), G Velton Jones (6′0, 170, rFr.)

Projected Monmouth Starters: F Ed Waite (6′5, 240, Fr.), F Travis Taylor (6′7, 200, So.), G Whitney Coleman (6′3, 190, Sr.), G James Hett (6′0, 175, Jr.), G Will Campbell (5′10, 170, So.)

RMU Leaders: Points – Karon Abraham 12.7/game, Rob Robinson 9.8/game; Rebounds – Rob Robinson 5.8/game, Russell Johnson 5.7/game; Assists – Mezie Nwigwe 2.8/game, Velton Jones 2.6/game; Steals – Jones 1.3/game, Nwigwe 1.2/game

Monmouth Leaders: Points – Travis Taylor 16.7/game, Will Campbell 11.9/game; Rebounds – Taylor 8.2/game, Ed Waite 4.5/game; Assists – James Hett 5.2/game, Whitney Coleman 1.8/game; Steals – Campbell 1.6/game, Hett and Coleman 1.3/game.

Exactly one week after each team shot over fifty percent from the floor, defense was front and center for Robert Morris and Fairleigh Dickinson. Robert Morris held FDU to 34% shooting, and the Knights’ offensive maladies spread to the free throw line, where they hit a meager 53% of their shots.

New Jersey native Gary Wallace had 13 points in his return to the Garden State, but it was redshirt freshman Russell Johnson who led the way for Robert Morris. Johnson scored 15 points in 20 minutes of action, and he led the Colonials with 11 rebounds. Johnson shot 70% from the floor, with two of his misses coming from beyond the arc.

FDU leading scorer Sean Baptiste was benched for the game, playing just 21 minutes in a reserve role. Baptiste’s only score came from the free throw line. Terence Grier and Mike Scott each scored 16 points for the Knights.

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