Road Warriors?

When you ask any Robert Morris basketball player what their thoughts are on having so many tough road stands, especially early in the year, they will almost always tell you they pride themselves on being “road warriors”. They also understand that no big program is going to come in to the Sewall Center. Why would they after the past four years of beating upon Ohio and the infamous Kentucky game? The risk is high and the reward is minimal.

RMU has played four games on the road this season. They’re 1-3, with two of those losses coming to Eastern Michigan and Cleveland State. Those are two good teams but one’s RMU really could and should have had. So, what’s going on?

RMU’s defense has not been very good this year but at least it’s been consistently mediocre. The offense has been a different story. At home, RMU is averaging 87 points per game. On the road, that number is at 69. When this team is on, they are on. It can be scary. But outside of a contest at Lafayette, that hasn’t been the case.

One thing to keep in mind is that it’s pretty normal for teams to score more at home than on the road. These guys practice nearly year-round on the same court and will play a good amount of games there. The familiarity is something you cannot duplicate. Add in screaming lunatics that pump up another team’s defense and students behind the backboard to distract during free throws and you get what we see.

Also, maybe this team just isn’t so great on the road?  Last years more experienced squad went 10-7 but started off with similar pains, going 0-4 to start the year. Maybe this is what we should have expected with a younger team? In the NFL, the Saints are unstoppable at home but can lose to the Jets on the road. There are lots of cases around college basketball of the same thing. Maybe that’s the nature of RMU?

What’s most frustrating is not that they’re losing but it’s how the losses are coming, Kentucky aside. The Eastern Michigan and Cleveland State losses both had the same trajectory; quick starts, ice cold shooting in the middle, and a failed comeback in the end. We’ve also seen Karvel Anderson struggle for a good part of the game in those two losses, which is more of a microcosm of everything. Karvel, like a lot of the guys, seems to be struggling to adjust to a different arena.

RMU plays in seven more road non-conference games. I’m sure this article was just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo but I am interested to see if they can overcome some tough environments and adjust to different arenas. To me, the mark of a really good team is winning road games, especially the one’s people don’t think you will.

Let’s see what happens at Buffalo.