When: Saturday, January 18th, 2pm
Where: Knott Arena, Emmitsburg, Maryland
KenPom: RMU 172, Mount 220
Storyline: It's a quick turnaround for both RMU and Mount as both are coming off big win's Thursday night, but have an even bigger game Saturday with first place on the line.
Link: NEC Front Row
Storyline (continued): The story line section in our lead in is not near big enough to get the who picture painted. RMU will head to Maryland flying high, but last time RMU was flying high, and Mount was in their path, the Mountaineers sent the Colonials packing in the NEC semifinals.
I won't spend too much time on that game last March, mainly because I'll start crying, but it certainly will be in the back of Karvel Anderson, Mike McFadden, Ant Myers Pate, and Lucky Jones (along with the other Colonial Vets) head on Saturday.
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| Norfleet does it all for the Mount (p/c MSM). |
A loss, and RMU will slip back with the rest of the pack, including Mount, at 3-1.
Getting to Know the Mount: I really cant wait to watch Karvel battle Mount's star guard Julian Norfleet.
He's a stud.
For the season, he's averaging 20.7 points-per-game, 5.6 assists-per-game and he just carved up Wagner's defense like it was nothing. Him and Anderson look like the front runners to battle it out for NEC player of the year.
This will be the NEC equivalent to Lebron vs KD. It should be a fun matchup.
As a team, Mount is a highly entertaining group to watch. They score a ton, but don't really stop anyone.
A lot of that is due to their injuries, which have killed their depth and took a lot of the bite out of their "havoc" system.
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| Mont is great on offense, but not so good on D. (KenPom) |
Offensively though, they're as potent as anyone in the league. They score 109.8 points-per-100 possessions, that's the best adjusted offense in the league (RMU is second at just over 107).
Not only is Norfleet a big time weapon, but Rashad Whack -a George Mason transfer who killed RMU in the NEC tournament- is averaging 16.5 points-per-game and Sam Prescott is starting to find his stroke, making Mount that much more dangerous.
All-in-all, both RMU and Mount are REALLY good on offense, but have their struggles on the defensive side.
Colonial Keys: For RMU, it's pretty simple. Attack, attack, attack on offense. Do just enough on defense. If RMU can hold Mount under 80 points, they have a good shot at winning. If not, it will be difficult to out-gun the Mount in their home building.
On offense, RMU must handle the Mount's pressure. They aren't as potent on D this year because of those injuries, but they still get after you. RMU really struggled with the pressure in the NEC tournament last year. If the Colonials break it, they will get a lot of open looks.
This is a huge game for Kavon Stewart and Jeremiah Worthem, as both will get their first look at havoc.
Worthem triggers the ball in, and Stewart is the point guard, so he will obviously have a lot of responsibility in breaking the press. This will be a great test for the two freshman.
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| How will Kavon Stewart handle his first look at "HAVOC?" (p/c RMU). |
This years RMU team is better equipped to handle some of that, and the new zone wrinkle is something Mount hasn't seen from RMU is years past, but there is no doubt this will be a difficult game.
The Colonials also got ahead of the eight ball by winning at Bryant, so winning this game would be gravy. They have four straight home games coming up, and if they get through this whole stretch 7-1, even 6-2, they will be set up nicely for a second half run.
--@Kunkel5
--Lee Kunkel
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