The RMU Thread

[Woy]

Rider 79, Robert Morris 54

Absolutely brutal loss. Rather get these out of the way now instead of in March.

Just a terrible performance all-around. Only shot 25% from the floor in comparison to their 51%, and our ugly 3-point defense from last season came back as the Broncs shot 47% from there. I can't stress it enough, but that needs to change in order to do anything this season.

It would also help if guys like Russell Johnson and Keith Armstrong were healthy. David Appolon and Stephan Hawkins should not be seeing 10 minutes or more at this point of their collegiate careers.

Rider's a different animal than last year with the arrival of St. John's transfer Nurideen Lindsey. He led all scorers with 25 points, while RMU only had Karvel Anderson with 11 in double-digits.

Grade: F

Next Game: 11/12 vs. Lehigh @ Pitt [Pre-Season NIT] (9:00 PM)

[NAHSTE]

Sorry to hear about the Broncs steamrolling the Colonials last night. Guess they found that missing O.

[Rudi]

[Woy]

Sorry to hear about the Broncs steamrolling the Colonials last night. Guess they found that missing O.

10/10.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Rider 79, Robert Morris 54

Absolutely brutal loss. Rather get these out of the way now instead of in March.

Just a terrible performance all-around. Only shot 25% from the floor in comparison to their 51%, and our ugly 3-point defense from last season came back as the Broncs shot 47% from there. I can't stress it enough, but that needs to change in order to do anything this season.

It would also help if guys like Russell Johnson and Keith Armstrong were healthy. David Appolon and Stephan Hawkins should not be seeing 10 minutes or more at this point of their collegiate careers.

Rider's a different animal than last year with the arrival of St. John's transfer Nurideen Lindsey. He led all scorers with 25 points, while RMU only had Karvel Anderson with 11 in double-digits.

Grade: F

Next Game: 11/12 vs. Lehigh @ Pitt [Pre-Season NIT] (9:00 PM)

I don't understand how Lindsey is allowed to play right away. Rider is under 100 miles from St John's, so how did he get the family hardship exemption?

[Pitty]

[Woy]

Lehigh 89, Robert Morris 60

This team is an absolute fucking mess right now. There's zero movement on offense, forcing up bad shots, missing wide open threes, can't defend the three and can't rebound. Only bright spot at this point is JUCO transfer Vaughn Morgan, who has the athleticism to match up with anyone in the NEC and probably most of the mid-majors in general.

Things need to change in a hurry. It's an absolute embarrassment to get steamrolled by teams that aren't that much more talented than us.

Grade: F-----------------

Next Game: 11/13 vs. Fordham @ Pitt [Pre-Season NIT] (6:30 PM)

[Mogriffjr]

Lehigh 89, Robert Morris 60

This team is an absolute fucking mess right now. There's zero movement on offense, forcing up bad shots, missing wide open threes, can't defend the three and can't rebound. Only bright spot at this point is JUCO transfer Vaughn Morgan, who has the athleticism to match up with anyone in the NEC and probably most of the mid-majors in general.

Things need to change in a hurry. It's an absolute embarrassment to get steamrolled by teams that aren't that much more talented than us.

Grade: F-----------------

Next Game: 11/13 vs. Fordham @ Pitt [Pre-Season NIT] (6:30 PM)

Yeah I figured Lehigh would blow through them, especially since Lehigh got their big man back (didn't play against Baylor)...Lehigh can score, especially McCollum...but I see they was very balanced tonight...(also like McKnight, he's a good one too)

[Woy]

Robert Morris 74, Fordham 58

Fordham's pretty awful, but after the last two performances, I'll take anything I can get at this point. The Colonials put together a much better and well-rounded effort today.

Four RMU players were in double figures, led by Velton Jones who had 18. Karvel Anderson added 16 off the bench, while Lucky Jones had 15 and Coron Williams tallied 13. The only two bright spots of last night - Mike McFadden and Vaughn Morgan - both struggled with a combined five points and four rebounds.

The Colonials shot the ball better (37.7% FG, 28.6% 3PT) than their first two games, even if the percentages still weren't impressive. What was impressive was a 26-32 mark from the free-throw line, in comparison to Fordham's 11-20 number. The Rams also only shot 31% from three, which is something to build on after getting gashed from behind the arc over the past few days.

Improvements must be made to compete with Xavier on Saturday however. Russell Johnson might make his season debut in that game after dealing with a high ankle sprain for the first three contests.

Grade: C

Next Game: 11/17 @ Xavier (2:00 PM)

[Rudi]

Xavier gonna whoop dat ass boi #A10

[Woy]

Xavier 61, Robert Morris 59

Completely different team with a healthy Russell Johnson. A cheap foul call on Lucky Jones with :29 left essentially cost RMU a chance at the upset.

The Colonials received great efforts from Velton Jones and Karvel Anderson. Anderson led the team with 17, while Jones had 15 and hit some big threes in the second half to keep RMU around. Johnson had eight points, four boards and four assists in his season debut.

The differential in free throws between the two teams was staggering. The Colonials only found themselves at the charity stripe four times, hitting each attempt, while Xavier was 11-17 at the line.

Tough loss, but it was good to go blow for blow with a talented squad like Xavier. This can only help the team grow and better prepare themselves for NEC play.

Grade: B+

Next Game: 11/19 vs. Bowling Green [Pre-Season NIT Consolation Round] (7:30 PM)

[Woy]

Robert Morris 71, Bowling Green 60

It was a tale of two halves for the Colonials tonight. The first half consisted of sloppy ball-handling, no perimeter defense and missed shots in the paint and ended with RMU and Bowling Green knotted up at 29. The Colonials then cleaned up their act in all of those areas and never really looked back after the third media timeout.

Velton Jones led RMU with 16 and set the tone in the second half with a big steal early that led to a layup and a trifecta that gave the Colonials a two-possession lead midway through the second half. Coron Williams and Mike McFadden each added 12 points, while Anthony Myers-Pate was himself for the first time all season with 11 and five.

Russell Johnson briefly left with a tweak of his bad ankle in the first half, but returned before the half ended.

Alabama-Huntsville almost pulled the upset on Cleveland State in the earlier game today. I really enjoyed watching the Chargers squad, as they play smart and unselfish basketball. Lots of passing to get teammates open and no standing around on defense. They'd be competitive in quite a few leagues of D1 and I'm glad we don't have to face them tomorrow.

Grade: B

Next Game: 11/20 vs. Cleveland State [Pre-Season NIT Consolation Round] (7:30 PM)

[Rudi]

Good job, good effort against Xavier

[Woy]

Good job, good effort against Xavier

It wasn't a "good job, good effort" performance...they had the win stripped from them because of a ticky-tack foul late.

[Woy]

Robert Morris 71, Cleveland State 62

Not as close as the score indicated. Cleveland State hung around in the second half and even led at one point, but RMU was clearly the better team. Vikings PG Charlie Lee hit four highly-contested BS threes to keep them in it.

Velton Jones and Mike McFadden led the charge for the Colonials with 15 a piece. McFadden was very smooth tonight (usually he's either that or completely out-of-control) and battled against one of the better big men we'll face in Anton Grady. His free-throw shooting has also improved tremendously since last season as he's hitting at a 86% clip compared to 52%. V had his typical game; crash to the floor hard a few times, come up bleeding once and making the big shot/pass when Cleveland State would make a run. He's truly a treat to watch.

Don't really have anything to nitpick at tonight. The biggest weakness was avoided for the most part (minus Lee's 4 wtf threes) with solid perimeter defending. This is definitely a team getting better with each game played.

Grade: B+

Next Game: 11/26 @ Savannah State (7:00 PM)