By Paul Meyer
www.rmucolonials.com
Feb. 18, 2010
Meyer on Morris Link
Moon Township, Pa. - This is what you play for.
It's what you coach for.
And, yes, it's what you write for.
The Robert Morris University Colonials have what could be a huge home weekend for them beginning with a game against Sacred Heart Thursday evening and continuing with a game against Quinnipiac Saturday evening.
"Very big,'' freshman guard Karon Abraham said. "This is probably the biggest weekend since the Mount (St. Mary's) game at the beginning (of the Northeast Conference schedule Dec 3). We have to win these two games.''
Wins in both games would give Robert Morris (18-9, 13-1 in the NEC) its third straight regular-season NEC championship and the top seed in the NEC tournament.
"It's an important week for Robert Morris basketball,'' coach Mike Rice said. "I told our guys that they've put themselves into where they're playing big games. It's not big (in the sense) you have to win just to stay in the NEC hunt or you have to win to get into the (NEC) tournament.''
The Colonials have clinched a spot in the NEC tournament and can finish no worse than second.
"This is for a regular-season championship,'' Rice said. "It's fun and it's exciting. That's why we do it.''
Sacred Heart (13-12, 6-8) is tied for ninth with Central Connecticut State in the NEC standings. Only the top eight teams qualify for the league tournament.
"It's a big game for (Sacred Heart) just so they can play in the NEC Tournament,'' Rice said. "It's different for our guys. Every game is very, very important to (Sacred Heart) - just like us. We're battling on two different fronts. Ours is for the NEC regular-season championship. Theirs is to get into the NEC tournament, and I don't know who has more pressure on them, to tell you the truth, because it's very important to get into (the NEC) tournament.''
Quinnipiac (18-7, 12-2) also has clinched a spot in the NEC Tournament. If form holds Thursday evening - Quinnipiac plays at Saint Francis (Pa.) - the Colonials will play Saturday evening knowing a win clinches having the home court for as long as they remain in the league tournament.
The Colonials play at Wagner and at Mount St. Mary's Feb. 25 and 27, respectively, but if they beat Quinnipiac in the teams' only regular-season meeting they will own the tie-breaker over the Bobcats should both teams finish 15-3 in the regular season.
That knowledge means it's a bit difficult for the Colonials to not look ahead to Saturday.
"As a human being, you do (look ahead),'' junior guard Gary Wallace said, "but Sacred Heart is next and it's the most important game. We definitely can't overlook Sacred Heart. Any time you look past your opponent, you can get picked off. Just like we've seen with Villanova and UConn, Georgetown and Rutgers, Cornell and Penn, Louisville and Syracuse - and, for us, almost Bryant. You have to take every game seriously.''
The Colonials struggled to a victory at winless Bryant last Saturday, almost joining Villanova, Georgetown, Cornell and Syracuse as recent upset victims.
Robert Morris turned back the Bulldogs (0-26) by finally getting its offense going just enough and playing almost airtight defense during the final 10 minutes. Bryant managed just one field goal - a three-pointer - in the final 10 minutes.
"I was proud that they didn't stop playing,'' Rice said. "It was very frustrating that no shots were going in. I'd say 90 percent of those shots were good shots. Rob Robinson brought them together. Our guys stayed tough and stayed strong, and Rob was the leader of that. I thought we took a step forward as far as staying together (and) becoming mentally tough. Because that's one thing you would never say about this team, that it is a mentally tough team and they persevere over some things. I thought they did (persevere at Bryant). They handled the adversity well.''
The Bryant game was the Colonials' fifth in a 10-day span, and nobody felt the effects of that more than Abraham, RMU's leading scorer. Abraham was just 1-of-9 from the field - including 0-of-6 from beyond the arc - and scored only seven points.
"(My shot) wasn't there,'' Abraham said. "My legs weren't into it. I had no lift on my shot. Everything was flat. I actually got a little mentally weak. I thought, 'I'm not going to shoot because it's not on' instead of being the shooter I am and continuing to shoot.''
Abraham took an ice bath Monday to freshen his legs.
"I feel a lot better,'' Abraham said before Tuesday's practice. "And we're back home. There's nothing better than playing at home.''
Sacred Heart, which plays three of its final four regular-season games on the road, will come out shooting Thursday evening. The Pioneers' offense is built around shooting the three-pointer at almost any time and from almost anywhere.
"They're unlike any team (in the NEC) in that they just keep shooting three's whether they make them or miss them,'' Rice said. "They're so aggressive in how they play offense - attacking you at the three-point line. They'll take, and make, bad shots and you just have to live with it. They're one of the best offensive teams in our league, if not THE best offensive team in our league, so that worries me.
"We're going to, hopefully, make it hard for them to get open shots. We switch on all the screens, so hopefully we'll be able to understand where they are and make it hard on them.''
"(As a shooter), once you see that first one go in and then a second one, then you feel like you can make every shot you put up, so defending that three-point line is going to be key,'' Wallace said. "They've showed that even with people in their face they just let it go. We're going to have to be there, and we're going to have to make them use their dribble more than anything.''
Sacred Heart puts up a three-point attempt on 36.2 percent of its shots in NEC play, averaging 22 shots from deep per game. It leads the NEC in three-point accuracy with a 40.9 percent mark. Robert Morris leads the league in defending the three, holding its NEC opponents to 29.5 percent accuracy.
Seniors Corey Hassan and Ryan Litke are the Pioneers' principal long-range shooters. Hassan leads the league in three-points made per game (3.4) - just ahead of Litke, who's second (3.1).
Hassan ranks second nationally in Division I with 86 made three-pointers. As a team, Sacred Heart ranks sixth nationally with an average of 9.2 made three-pointers per game overall. Sacred Heart has attempted fewer than 20 shots from deep in only five of its 25 games.
Litke has fared better than Hassan in the two games the two have played at Robert Morris in their careers.
Litke is a combined 14-of-22 from the field, including 9-of-16 from deep, and has scored 41 points. Hassan is 5-of-16 (2-of-10) and has scored 15 points.
One other stat to keep in mind Thursday evening. Sacred Heart has shot only 57.9 percent from the free throw line in NEC games. That's 11th in the league, ahead of only Wagner (57.3).
