By Paul Meyer
www.rmucolonials.com
Nov. 19, 2009
Meyer on Morris Link
Moon Township, Pa. - The Robert Morris University Colonials made some money in their first two games.
Now it's time for them to make some hay, especially with winter - not to mention Mount St. Mary's - drawing nigh.
In their two "buy game'' losses at Syracuse and Penn State, the Colonials were outscored by a total of 59 points and quickly slipped out of the gate 0-2.
This weekend, in the continuation of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic in Albany, N.Y., they'll play three teams more their size, and they'd be well advised to pick up a win or two before playing preseason Northeast Conference favorite Mount St. Mary's in their home opener Dec. 3.
"We have to get on a winning streak so we can get ready for the conference,'' said redshirt freshman guard Velton Jones, RMU's top scorer at 12.5 points per game. "The conference will be here soon. If we get a couple wins (in Albany), we should be good.''
"We have to (win),'' senior guard Jimmy Langhurst said. "There's no if's, and's, but's about it. You can say we need (to win), but, no, we HAVE to have these three wins going into the break. We need to start with one, though, first.''
Friday evening, the Colonials are matched against Detroit Mercy (1-1). Games against Alcorn State (0-3) and Albany (1-2) follow on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
"We'd better win some games,'' Colonial coach Mike Rice said. "I would think it's very important -- especially with a young, inexperienced team. And winning games is what I'm supposed to do in my job. That's the No. 1 thing in my job description.''
And the No. 1 thing Rice emphasizes is defense - which is a point of concern after his team allowed 100 points at Syracuse and 80 more at Penn State.
Yes, Syracuse is Syracuse. Penn State is Penn State. But 180 points allowed in two games is, well, a lot. Last season's Colonials allowed only 65.4 points per game.
"We've been very inconsistent with our defensive effort and making mistakes and (having) breakdowns,'' Rice said. "We've had way too many breakdowns.''
Some of that centers on the Colonials' relative inexperience. Six newcomers comprise about half the team. And then there was the talent level of the first two opponents.
"It's probably a little bit of both,'' Rice conceded. "I think some of it has to do with the (talent) level and some of it has to do with us. But we certainly have to do a better job of doing things that we can control and we're not doing that as well as we did last year.
"I talked to my seniors about it -- talked about (how) Jeremy (Chappell) and Bateko (Francisco) always were in the right position, always were intense. These guys are not, so they have to raise their games.
"They can control how they respond, and they're not responding the right way. They're not responding instinctively to make simple, small winning plays on defense. It starts with that. We're not communicating. We're not positioning right. We're not doing the little things to help make us successful.''
The Colonials also didn't shoot well in the first two games - just 36.3 percent from the field, including 25.6 percent from beyond the arc.
Some of that can be attributed to Langhurst's slow start. And that slow start can be attributed to Langhurst playing with a smashed middle finger on his shooting hand. Langhurst, who shot 45.3 percent from the field last season, including 42.3 percent from 3-point range, was 2 of 12 (1 of 10) in the first two games.
"Some of it's Jimmy,'' Rice said. "Certainly at Penn State he had four wide open looks that I know a healthy Jimmy at least makes two of those. The rest of it is we're taking bad shots. We're not being as patient as we should be. And some of it is guys learning their roles - when to shoot and when not to shoot -- and learning our offense.''
Langhurst played only six minutes in the opener at Syracuse, his first real action since he injured his finger in a weightlifting accident in late October.
"I didn't rush him back,'' Rice said. "The doctors said I could play him.''
"Coach just wanted me to get in at the Syracuse game,'' Langhurst said. "I knew it was only going to be for a couple minutes. He just wanted me to get comfortable again playing with the team and playing with the bandage on.''
Langhurst played a more usual 23 minutes at Penn State.
"It's important that he played (more) at Penn State,'' Rice said. "He's such a big part of what I want to do this year. His finger's a little mashed up (but) it's not bad anymore. It's healed. And now he's got to start acting like a senior leader that he is.''
Being able to practice between the Syracuse and Penn State games helped Langhurst.
"I started getting comfortable with the ball -- shooting it and handling it -- and it showed in the Penn State game,'' he said. "I was comfortable out there. I thought my stroke felt fine, but obviously it wasn't the same.
"Shooting's like riding a bike. Everybody always says that. I think it's more mental than anything.''
Detroit Mercy lost its opener at California 95-61 in the first round of the Coaches vs. Cancer event. The Titans beat Western Michigan, 86-80, in their home opener Nov. 15.
Chase Simon, a 6-6 sophomore, is averaging 19.5 points per game after sitting out last season following his transfer from Central Michigan. The Colonials will be somewhat familiar with Simon. Two seasons ago, he scored 12 points - in only eight minutes - in Central Michigan's 83-72 win at RMU.
The Titans, a pressing, uptempo team, have two transfers from Indiana University, where coach Ray McCallum was an assistant coach before going to Detroit. Eli Holman, a 6-10 sophomore, is averaging 15.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. Xavier Keeling, a 6-7 junior, has averages of 8.0 and 4.5. The Titans, from the Horizon League, probably have a higher talent level than the Colonials.
"Every team is not equal,'' said RMU sophomore Russell Johnson, who had 11 points and five rebounds in 19 minutes at Penn State. "It's about coming to play. A team might be better than us, but if they don't come to play and we do we should be able to pull it off.''
*******
The Colonials arrived back on campus from their trip to Penn State about 1 a.m. Tuesday, meaning most of them had barely fallen asleep when the Monmouth Hawks awoke in New Jersey to begin their 45-minute bus ride to St. Peter's for their 6:00 a.m. game against Saint Peter's as part of ESPN's college basketball marathon.
The game was Monmouth's third in five days - maybe third in 4 ½ days - and was pretty much a sleepwalk for the Hawks.
They lost 58-34 and had more turnovers (18) than field goals (10) - almost always not a good thing.
They shot 21.3 percent from the field (10-of-47), 15.4 percent from beyond the arc (2-of-13) and 57.1 percent at the foul line (12-of-21). Saint Peter's had 17 turnovers, shot 44.9 percent from the field (22-of-49), 28.6 percent from downtown (6-of-21) and 80 percent at the foul line (8-of-10).
The announced crowd figure was 1,246.
Would Monmouth coach Dave Calloway do this 6 a.m. thing again next season?
"For us to be on a national stage is good for our program,'' Calloway told the Asbury Park Press. "I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I think we'll gain more from the experience - the whole experience - than we will lose, even by the outcome. Our guys will learn from this.''
*******
NOTES: Rice indicated before the team left for Albany that he probably will not redshirt anybody this season. There had been speculation that perhaps freshman guard Coron Williams and freshman forward Lijah Thompson would be redshirted ... The Coaches vs. Cancer tournament since 1996 has raised more than $4.5 million for the American Cancer Society.
