Game 3 recap: "I think Bucknell just got another basket in transition"

Robert Morris played a basketball game tonight and, well, it didn’t go so great. RMU once again helped dig their proverbial 14 foot grave with awful, awful turnovers and just the worst transition defense anyone has ever seen.

Contrarily, they were able to go on mini-spurts of runs by just not being so dumb. It’s amazing the good that comes when guys remember how to play normal basketball. Little things, like not dribbling into three defenders, plays a large role into that. Communication on defense was also a huge problem.

RMU was able to cut the lead to three with under two minutes left. Hell, with :45 seconds left Kavon Stewart was flying to the basket with a chance to cut it to one. Alas, it did not go and things were not meant to be. It's hard to win basketball games when you don't play a full of 40.

RMU is 0-3 for the first time since 2010 after Wednesday’s 81-76 loss. Some additional thoughts:

-Kavon Stewart was pretty good tonight. Yinz know #3 is my guy right? I never panicked after two bad games to start the year. Nope. No panic. No second thoughts.

He had 14 points on 4-9 shooting (6-9 from the free throw line!), six assists, three rebounds, two steals and two turnovers. An all around really good game for the junior, especially in the early going. He was always there to steady the ship when things were getting wobbly.

Stewart's free throw rate is starting to become a thing I think sticks. He still has no right hand around the rim, but when he does go right he's able to contort his body into a pretzel, still finish with the left, and draw a foul because of the misconfiguration.

Do I wish he wouldn’t have tried to draw so much contact with :45 seconds in the game? Yes, but there’s much, much more that led to this loss. Such as…

-Transition defense! I’m not sure if guys are out of shape or don’t give a single shit about running back on defense, but I hope that all changes really, really soon. It’s embarrassing to watch. Inexperience is not an excuse for simply running back on defense. Make a basket? Get back on defense. Miss a basket? Get back on defense. Turn the ball over? Guess what… get back on defense.

-There was also a tonnnnn of sloppy nonsense on the defensive end. Giving up free points is bad, but this is bad in its own way. A few times in the second half, RMU left one of the best three point shooting teams in the country WIDE open for looks. Bucknell had a bald guy banging three's everywhere. I thought I was watching a YMCA game. 

I think a lot of this will be solved with more communication, which will come with more court time. I’d have to watch the film for more specifics, but I can think of several examples where RMU deployed random double teams on ball handlers and low post entries, which led to some killer baskets. I have faith that gets figured out.

-One thing I’m losing faith in: Andre Frederick. I hate to harp on one guy, but he is having an undesirable start to the season. When he’s in iso situations, offensively and defensively, bad things are happening. A revolving door could turn the corner on him in the low post right now.

You would think that with someone that big, he could block a shot by accident, but that hasn’t been the case. Even his one shining moment, a wide open YAM off a beautiful feed from Rodney Pryor, was disappointing after he got T’d up for hanging on the rim.

I’ll give Dre some credit: he battled through an awful start to make some big plays. He finished with 10 points on 5-7 shooting, but still has to make an impact on the boards and defensively. Tonight was a baby step in the right direction, but in the right direction indeed.

-Some weird Lester-Whitley-Still-Giles lineups out there. Kinda funny to see a whole crop of new players out there looking like chickens with their heads caught off. Actually, that’s probably a bad analogy because that would require running. RMU doesn’t run much.

-Aaron Tate appeared to reaggravate his left leg injury. He didn’t play in the second half. Obviously, Tate opposed to Giles (who I actually like) or Frederick is a huge difference. He’s never out of position. Those other guys always are.

-This is what life without Marcquise Reed and Lucky Jones is like when Rodney Pryor has an off night. He had a corner three go off the side of the backboard. There were times where RMU couldn’t buy a bucket, and a large part of that was because Pryor was off and no one had a damn clue what to do. A lot of his teammates have never played with him during an off night.

RMU really settled down when they killed Bucknell with Stewart-Minnie pick and pop. That helped lead to some penetration and impressive ball movement. Isaiah Still (13 points, 4-8 shooting, 3-6 from three) was the main beneficiary of that. In a way, Pryor was too. Guys playing competent around him took the pressure off.

-Elijah Minnie: still really good. Isn’t it funny that the top of the scouting report isn’t “DON’T LEAVE ALONE AT THE THREE POINT LINE IN PICK AND ROLL!!!!”? He did a good job of dominating the glass, hitting from three and getting his teammates involved. He still does like three stupid things a game but god damn I am excited for Elijah Minnie.

RMU is off again until Sunday. They’ll play a good Air Force team. Lots to work on.

--Chris Cappella

--@C_Cappella

Preview: Bucknell enters for RMU home opener

Robert Morris (0-2) vs. Bucknell (1-1)

When: Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m.

Where: Charles L. Sewall Center

KenPom: RMU 200, Bucknell 169

KenPom Line: Robert Morris -3

Link: NECfrontrow.com, ESPN 970 AM

Storyline: Robert Morris gets back to familiar confines when they take on Bucknell. RMU will look to overcome the loss of Matty McConnell and get win #1 this year against a very good Patriot League team that will stretch the defense.

Getting to know the Bison: Bucknell is looking to build off a strong 2014-15 campaign where they finished 19-15 and lost to Temple in the NIT. They should be able to do so with a very good offense and improved defense.

Bucknell plays like every IM team wishes they could. Their guards have good size and everyone on the team can snipe from three. No one does that better than small forward Chris Hass. The senior made 77 three’s last season while shooting an outstanding 38.5 percent. A lot of RMU’s defensive effort will concern where Hass is at all times on the floor.

Hass doesn’t do it by himself. Four other players are averaging double figure scoring numbers. 6-foot-9 sophomore center Nana Foulland shot 54.7 percent from the field and was arguably one of the three best big men in the Patriot League as a freshman last season. When the Bison do miss from downtown, Foulland cleans things up.

Foulland’s Achilles heel, like many big men, is free throw shooting. RMU will have to be careful to not get in foul trouble early, but committing a few smart fouls throughout the game to send him to the line isn’t the worst outcome. He shot just just 56.8 percent from the charity stripe last year. This could be crucial in a late game situation. RMU has to know who to foul (Foulland, point guard Stephen Brown) and who not to (everyone else).

First year coach Nathan Davis knows he has an incredibly talented offensive team, but he’s going to look to improve things on the defensive end. Bucknell doesn’t have an awful defensive team; they gave up 1.06 points-per-possession last season, which is just moderately bad. The growth of Foulland developing into a shot blocker is naturally going to help that. Still, the Bison did give up 90 points to Wake Forest on Sunday. There are points to be had.

Some other names to know: point guards Kimbal Mackenzie and Stephen Brown are averaging about 20 minutes per game in the early season and can dishing it, both averaging five assists a contest. Mackenzie is more likely to play off the ball in two point guard sets.

Shooting guard Ryan Frazier is averaging 11.0 ppg in the early going. he shot 37 percent from three last year. Zach Thomas is a stretch four who averages about 2-3 three point attempts per game.

Outlook: This seems like a nightmare matchup for the Colonials. Bucknell is the exact type of team to take advantage of every miscommunication the Colonials have in their 2-3 zone. Foulland is a monster on the boards who could get the bigs in foul trouble. RMU already isn’t getting a lot from their bench right now, which is also going to have to change. If anyone gets in foul trouble, Jordan Lester, Steven Whitley, Isaiah Still, Andre Frederick and Billy Giles will have to do more than just be bodies out there. Only Still has shown he can be a contributor in the early going.

With no McConnell, I’m especially interested in what Whitley can bring to the table. He played 14 pretty unproductive minutes against Cincinnati on Sunday. He’s going to have to play a bigger role now. Will he respond? Will the big men be able to handle Foulland when Tate needs a breather?

This will be a tough one. Bucknell is no Cincinnati, but they’re one of the four best teams in a good conference.

Prediction: Bucknell 80, Robert Morris 64

Matty McConnell could miss some time

RMU guard Matty McConnell could miss 2-4 weeks with a left shoulder injury.

The freshman injured his shoulder early in the first half of the Cincinnati game Sunday. He had a shot blocked and appeared to injure the shoulder when he collided with a defender reaching for the ball.

McConnell was seen on the bench with his arm in a sling and an ice pack on the shoulder. As Lauren Kirschman tweeted today, McConnell was undergoing “further evaluation” to get a definite timetable. I’ve heard there’s a chance he could be back around the end of Thanksgiving, so let’s re-start the McConnell watch around Nov. 28 vs. Mississippi Valley State as the earliest date possible.

In his presence, expect freshman Isaiah Still to see even more floor time. Still played a really solid 31 minutes Sunday against Cincinnati, shooting 4-8 overall. Freshman Steven Whitley also played 14 minutes on Sunday but has struggled a little more. Maybe the chance of extended playing time helps that out a little more.

Don’t discount other ways around the lack of a “true” shooting guard. Maybe RMU goes with more Stewart-Lester-Pryor sets. Maybe this means more Frederick-Tate-Minnie frontcourt combinations. Either way, I bet this means more miles on Rodney Pryor’s legs.

McConnell is probably the second best pure shooter the team has. For however long he’s out, it’ll mean RMU will have to find other ways to get buckets. Although it was an extremely small sample size, McConnell had the highest offensive rating on the team through two games.

--Chris Cappella

--@C_Cappella

Weekend takeaways: RMU goes 0-2

It was a tough weekend for Robert Morris. The season opened with a one point loss at Penn on Friday and a 62 point beatdown in Cincinnati a few days later.

The first two games had its ups and downs. Obviously, there was much more positive that came from Friday’s opener. Robert Morris shot the ball really well, defended well at times and showed toughness being able to dig out of a 17-point deficit.

There wasn’t a whole lot to hang your hat on after Sunday’s loss. RMU played well for about nine minutes before that game got ugly. Cincinnati was a learning experience in different ways.

To start off, Cinncy put on a defensive clinic. They were one of the country’s best defenses last year, and showed why. The Bearcats installed a full court press for most of the game and didn’t let up. RMU had there fair share of turnovers because they couldn’t pass halfcourt or turned the ball over in the face of pressure.

Let’s also face it: losing by 62 points is embarrassing. Cincinnati is really good, but 62 points better? No way. Head coach Andy Toole hinted that he hopes an attitude adjustment comes from the beatdown.

“Our struggles on offense led to our struggles on defense. Honestly, I don't care if we lose by 62, 72 or 82, but there's a certain way you need to do it. We need guys to step up and get frustrated and get angry and change it. As a coaching staff we'll work to do that,” Toole said.

This group genuinely does have the feel of a team that is much more ego-free from last year. I hope that they’ll turn that attitude up even more and get mean and nasty. If not, they’ll have a few more beatdowns like that.

Some positives: Rodney Pryor is just so, so good. He dropped 28 on Penn and 17 at Cincinnati Sunday. Pryor is the centerpiece, now a few more pieces need to fall in place around him. I think they will.

One of those guys could be freshman Isaiah Still. Still scored 11 on 4-8 shooting Sunday after a shaky opener. Still is going to be asked to do a lot, especially defensively and rebounding. If he can score a little to go with that, he’ll already be a more improved version of David Appolon.

One guy that did not have the best weekend was Kavon Stewart. He shot 1-5 from the field, 1-2 from three and 8-15 from the line. 15 free throws attempted is a GREAT number, but he can’t be a 53 percent free throw shooter all season. Also, there are going to be times where he won’t be taking a lot of free throw attempts every game. How does he respond? Because right now, he looks lost driving to the basket.

Matty McConnell showed he could be a pretty good ball handling option for the Colonials, but he left in the first half of the Cincinnati game with what appeared to be a left shoulder dislocation. He could miss a few weeks, so that means more court time for Jordan Lester and Steven Whitley. While the McConnell injury itself is unfortunate, getting Whitley and Lester more court time could be beneficial down the road.

To be frank, the concerns I had at the before the season are still there, but a weekend of basketball wasn’t going to change that anyway. I still think this is going to be a really good team. When they played Penn, a team much more similar in size and skill level, they competed well. Time will show how good Cincinnati is (really good). Was it demoralizing to lose in such ugly fashion? Yes, but the end goal is to peak in February and March, not November.

--Chris Cappella
--@C_Cappella

Preview: measuring stick game

Robert Morris (0-1) at Cincinnati (1-0)

Where: Fifth Third Arena, Cincinnati, Ohio

When: Sunday, Nov. 15 at 2 p.m.

KenPom: Robert Morris 198, Cincinnati 12

KenPom Line: Cincinnati -17

Link: ESPN3.com, Watch ESPN app, ESPN Radio 970 (local)

Storyline: Robert Morris looks to bounce back from a tough loss Friday, but standing in their way is the University of Cincinnati. The Bearcats are one of the top teams in the country, just a year removed from winning a game in the NCAA tournament.

Getting to know the Bearcats: Last season, Cincinnati beat Purdue in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Their reward? A date with Kentucky in the round of 32. They lost that game by 13 but enter this season looking to set the bar even higher. Cinncy was picked to finish third in the AAC preseason coaches poll, just behind UCONN and SMU.

Many believe Mark Cronin’s squad has the talent to make a run. Cincinnati is bringing back a ton of minutes from last season’s team, led by center Octavius Ellis. Ellis is a complete beast, regarded as one of the best shot blockers (2.0 bpg last season) and rebounders in the country. His 6-foot-10 frame helped him lead the team in scoring at 9.9 ppg.

The forward next to Ellis is a battering ram too. Sophomore Gary Clark averaged 7.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game last season. If that duo can mature offensively the way many think they will, look out.

The backcourt isn’t full of a bunch of slackers either. Point guard Troy Caupain does a little bit of everything. He averaged 3.6 apg last year while shooting 40.8 percent from downtown. He’s joined by Farad Cobb and Kevin Johnson, who are decent shooting guards from three.

Jacobs Evans III is the freshman of Cinncy’s recruiting class. At 6-foot-6, he can play four different positions. He can act as a stretch four in small lineups but was a point guard in high school before hitting a growth spurt. Evans III is regarded as a really, really good shooter. He played 22 minutes  and scored seven points in their 97-72 opening win against Western Carolina.

Those 97 points would be welcoming to a program that needs just a little more to make the jump. Cincinnati is defined by their defense, and for good reason: they were 14th in points per possession allowed last season.

It’s not that UC has a bad offense, it just isn’t in that top-tier. They didn’t have one player average double figures in scoring. They ranked 230 in team three point shooting percentage. They ranked 300 in offensive turnover percentage. They just need to find that one go-to guy.

To say this will be a tough game for RMU would be an understatement. UC is a big, physically intimidating team.

Stringing together stops: RMU’s defense left a lot to be desired against Penn Friday. There were moments where the Colonials surrounded the ball and made things a living hell for Penn. Then there were times the Quakers moved the ball with crisp passes and caught RMU napping in their 2-3 zone defense.

A big factor in the game, literally and figuratively, was Elijah Minnie. Minnie was off the court with foul trouble when Penn used a 29-13 run to open up a huge lead. He was on the court when RMU used a 20-4 run to make a second half comeback.

Minnie is going to be the guy teams will have to try and find an answer for. Can he pull Clark away from the basket? If he does, can RMU attack Ellis and maybe get him into foul trouble? Can Minnie and the other bigs stay out of foul trouble? Winning that battle is one of the only ways RMU will stand even a slight chance at victory.

Sizzling: RMU guard Rodney Pryor was spectacular Friday. He had a game-high 28 points on 12-18 shooting. there’s no doubt in my mind Pryor will be every bit as good as anyone else on the floor Sunday. We talk about how RMU has to have an answer for this and that, but teams will have to find a way to stop Pryor.

UC will likely pay a lot of attention to Pryor. How will others respond? Can Matty McConnell hit some shots from deep? Can Kavon Stewart bounce back from rough game one?

Squad deep: RMU’s depth will certainly be tested, which is a good thing this early into the season. However, the bench will have to give more than what it did game one. As Chris Mueller pointed out in his observation piece, Isaiah Still, Steven Whitley and Billy Giles contributed a total of three points and five rebounds.

They’ll grow up quick Sunday.

Outlook: Mostly cloudy with a chance of thunderstorms. Cincinnati is a really, really good team. They’re size is going to be a problem. Their defense is as good as it gets. It would surprise a lot of people if RMU could even keep this to single digits.

--Chris Cappella

--@C_Cappella

Colonial rewind: final two minutes

It might be worth going through the final two minutes of last night's loss to Penn. It was a wild back-and-forth affair, but overall, the team that played better last night won. That doesn't mean RMU didn't have their chances. 

Let's fast forward to 1:39 left in the game. RMU is up one, Penn has the ball, and RMU comes out in their base 2-3 defense:

The Colonials implemented their "three pass and man up" defense. They flash their base defense, make the offense pass three times, then pick up a man to guard. The second image is the defense getting set after the third pass. You can see Kavon pick up the ball handler, but there's a bit of a cluster in the middle. Aaron Tate and Rodney Pryor both *might* have the forward on the elbow:

Things get bad a second later. The forward flashes to the corner,where both Pryor and Tate momentarily follow him. Matty McConnell is glued to the corner shooter. This leaves Antonio Woods wide open for a go-ahead three. It's just too much room for Pryor to make up. I watch the Knicks do this about three times a night.

RMU responded with my favorite set of the game. I (incorrectly) wrote about this last night, thinking Tate was the screener for Pryor in the corner. Wrong. It was Stewart, which I thought was a nice wrinkle in the normal dribble handoff motion offense. Putting two bodies between Pryor and his defender forces an awkward Penn switch. Pryor uses a quick hesitation and then explodes to the basket:

Credit to Elijah Minnie on the drive for just planting his ass in the corner. If his defender collapsed on Pryor, he's getting a good look from three:

I had a real Dick Vital moment watching that. I went BANANAS. B-e-a-utiful. 

The following possession is pretty much the ballgame. Penn has the ball, down one, and a miss means RMU is some free throws away from icing the game. Not to mention, Penn couldn't hit anything in the second half. That would be a welcoming change from last year's defensive trend, by the way.

After re-watching this, it's pretty clear RMU puts together a pretty damn good defensive possession. They again go to their "three passes and man" defense, but the communication is much more clear. They switch on some screens and fly through the passing lanes. Just before the bucket, Pryor missed getting a steal by half a fingernail. 

Here's a few screen grabs from the game-winning bucket, then we'll walk it back.

Woods drives to the elbow, picks up his dribble, and gets into trouble. Darnell Foreman might appear open on the wing from three, but Elijah Minnie's octopus arms makes that pass near impossible. What does happen is Darien Nelson-Henry flashes open at the only passing lane available. Kavon Stewart slacked off just enough, and Tate lost Nelson-Henry for a second so he could be open.

Even in that last frame, Tate isn't in bad position by any means, there's just a huge size disadvantage. Nelson-Henry not only gets the shot off quick, but he can get it over Tate without much problem. When you're an undersized forward with that task, you just can't lose your guy, even for a split second. That's what happened. 

RMU didn't play awful defensive possessions to end the game. They had one possession of miscommunication that resulted in the three. They had one second of a guy losing his man that resulted in another bucket. It's unfortunate, but not the end of the world. 

RMU still had a chance to win. The only real gripe I had with how the end of the game was handled was not going two-for-one here. There's 30 seconds left, so try and go at the 15 second mark. If there's a miss, then RMU could still foul and get the ball back needing a three to tie, worst case scenario. Maybe Donahue fouls RMU, maybe he doesn't, but at least the pressure is on.

If you re-watch the game, I think RMU actually did want to get something going early. Kavon Stewart is trying to direct traffic, but there's a whole lot of standing around going on. Toole takes a timeout to draw up a play. 

The day he did draw up was really nice. The whole arena knew Pryor was getting the basketball, but the offense did a good job spacing the floor, setting good screens and using the whole floor to keep the eyes off of Pryor. 

Frame one: Kavon hands the ball off to Minnie, and is now coming back around to take the ball again. This, at the very least, gives Kavon a little room to breathe and forces a switch to a defender who wants no part of getting up to defend a shot (nor should he). Pryor is on the baseline. You can see McConnell and Tate already setting screens for him.

McConnell sets his screen, then rubs the defender chasing Pryor. Vet move, Matty. Stewart has a nice passing lane:

Pryor gets the ball and rises for the shot. You wouldn't live with this? As Toole said after the game, if Pryor is taking that shot 31 times this season to win a game, they'll finish above .500.

Good play, good execution, just a little long.

It happens.

--Chris Cappella

--@C_Cappella

Four observations: Robert Morris shows its resiliency, but there’s work to be done

Photo courtesy RMU Athletics

Robert Morris erased a 16-point halftime deficit to nearly knock off Penn at the storied Palestra in Philadelphia, but a missed shot by Rodney Pryor with 3.2 seconds remaining gave the Quakers a 76-75 win. Here are four observations from the game:

ROTATIONS, ROTATIONS, ROTATIONS

Robert Morris’ 2-3 zone was exposed defensively in the first half by a sound passing team in Penn. The Quakers shot 50 percent from the floor, in large part because the majority of their attempts came on wide open looks. 

"They had one late where we have to switch out on high hands, we talked about that for a week leading up to this game," coach Andy Toole said. "We have to go out and execute that to make the difference. The difference is in the detail and Penn was obviously more detailed for longer than we were tonight."

Penn coach Steve Donahue executed a solid gameplan in attacking the high post, drawing two defenders and kicking it out to a wide open shooter on the wing. Forward Sam Jones finished 5-of-12 from three to lead Penn with 21 points. 

“We had some breakdowns,” Toole said. “Elijah spent the last 12 minutes of the first half on the bench. He’s a big piece to us being effective on the floor. We had some odd lineups out there, and some guys that are hoping that people miss. At this level, you can’t hope that they miss, you have to make people miss.”

MINNIE IMPRESSIVE

It’s almost scary how good Elijah Minnie has the potential to be, and how vital he is to this Robert Morris team.

Things were relatively even midway through the first half until Minnie, after slamming home a monster alley-oop from Kavon Stewart, said something he shouldn’t have to a Penn player and was issued a technical. 

The foul forced Minnie to the bench for the final 12 minutes of the half, sparking a 29-13 Penn run that created the 16-point first half deficit. 

I was on the other end of the court and didn’t catch the exchange of words, and honestly thought it was from him hanging on the rim. Minnie’s one mental lapse proved costly for Robert Morris.

“That technical foul really put me in a bad place,” Minnie said. “From then on, if you look at everything that happened, they went on runs when I wasn’t in there. I take blame partly for that for what I got the technical foul for.

“I said some stuff to the player and the ref heard it. I blame myself for that because I should’ve been smarter. They went on runs when I wasn’t in there, and they could’ve really used me on the defensive end.” 

You can’t help but notice the accountability in Minnie’s answer. 

Minnie, along with Pryor and Stewart, fueled a 20-4 second half run that pushed Robert Morris to take the lead in the final minutes. He also relayed a message in the locker room to his teammates that helped spark the second-half run. 

“Right before we went out, I told everyone to just breathe,” Minnie said. “All the nerves that we had in the first half, they were gone. I told them, ‘Let’s go out there and just play Robert Morris basketball.’ We went out there and did our best.”

STILL/WHITLEY/GILES/ FREDERICK UNDERPERFORM

Isaiah Still, Steven Whitley and Billy Giles didn’t necessarily start their first seasons at Robert Morris the way they wanted to. The trio didn’t make much of an impact, combining for three points and five rebounds collectively. 

Whitley saw his minutes lessened, partially because Still was in the lineup after returning from injury. Giles was among the first players off the bench for the Colonials, but played hesitant after driving on one of his first touches.

Andre Frederick, starting in place of Aaron Tate, didn’t score. He ended with three boards and an assist on the stat line. He only saw two minutes of action in the second half. 

“One of the things we talk about all the time is how hard it is to win a Division I game, how hard it is to compete in a Division I game,” Toole said. “I think we had a couple guys out there, at that point in time, that were feeling sad, or sorry for themselves, or didn’t understand the intensity that was necessary.”

TATE SOLID

If there were any questions about Aaron Tate’s productivity after undergoing surgery a few weeks ago for a lower body injury, they were answered Friday night. 

After gradually returning to practice, Tate came off the bench to contribute eight points and five rebounds in 25 minutes. He was the typical force inside the paint the Colonials were used to, and played his part in attempting to slow down 6’11 Penn center Darien Nelson-Henry.

Tate isn’t in complete game shape yet and had issues running in transition, but overall, his progress made is a positive sign. The team expects him to get healthier as the season goes on.

“There telling us it’s going to improve. He thinks its improving, he feels better and better everyday. This was probably the most intense workload that he’s put on his lower body. His recovery has been good. He still gets sore, but he’s going to be feeling better when he’s getting in better condition.” 

--Chris Mueller

--@cmuellerRMU