By Paul Meyer
RMUColonials.com
Jan. 31, 2013
Meyer on Morris Link
Moon Township, Pa. - Perhaps in the past few weeks you've heard or read about Robert Morris University's day-to-day contracts and how they're approaching things day-by-day and taking it one game at a time.
"That's all we try to do,'' senior guard Velton Jones said. "It's helping us not worry about what's going on around the league. Just worry about ourselves and control what we can control.''
That limited focus emphasis has paid off for the Colonials. They've built a six-game winning streak that has them in a three-way tie with Bryant and Sacred Heart atop the Northeast Conference.
However, it will be difficult for the Colonials to stick to that philosophy this weekend when they make the trip to Brooklyn, N.Y., for games against St. Francis Brooklyn Thursday and LIU Brooklyn Saturday.
For one thing, the Colonials don't have to change hotels between games. For another, their two opponents are separated by only a few blocks. And for a third thing, both games will be significant tests for Robert Morris, which still might have something to prove to the league.
Yes, the Colonials did beat Sacred Heart two weeks ago, 66-62, on a night they didn't have Jones or Karvel Anderson available because of injuries. But their other five NEC wins are against teams that are a combined 12-28 in league play.
Stuff gets tougher now, beginning this weekend.
"It's going to be a huge trip,'' RMU coach Andrew Toole said. "We play two of the best teams in our league, the two-time defending champion (LIU Brooklyn) and a team that last year came in fourth place and has almost everybody back (St. Francis Brooklyn). They're two very difficult places to play, two places where you have to be extremely detailed and extremely together in order to come out with victories.''
There's this, too. These are the only meetings this season between these teams, so the results almost certainly will impact seedings for the NEC Tournament in March.
"Definitely the tie-breaker comes into play,'' Toole said.
"It's definitely a difficult trip,'' Jones said. "It's probably going to be one of our hardest trips of the year because they're two very talented and really good teams. It's always difficult to play at St. Francis Brooklyn in their gym and their environment. It's always tough to play there. Then LIU, it's definitely tough to play there. But we can't look (ahead) to LIU. We've just got to worry about St. Francis Brooklyn right now.''
Does Jones have any advice for his younger teammates about how to approach this weekend?
"You have to be focused,'' he said. "You have to be locked in for 40 minutes. And whatever happens, you can't let it affect the game. You just have to play 40 minutes, and no matter what happens during the game you can't let it distract you from getting the victory.''
Anderson is one of those younger teammates. The junior college transfer who went to high school in Elkhart, Ind., has heard plenty about LIU Brooklyn.
"When I was being recruited (by Robert Morris), that's all they talked about, how we lost to them the past two years in the NEC championship game, so LIU has always been in my mind,'' Anderson said. "I've been very anxious to play them. Honestly I just can't wait to go to New York. I've never been to New York before.''
Anderson will be a focal point on both opponents' scouting reports this weekend.
He's coming off back-to-back 22-point games, including that spectacular run at St. Francis University in Loretto, Pa., last Thursday. You'll recall Anderson scored 19 consecutive RMU points in just over five minutes.
"It's nice to have someone on your side who can do something like that,'' Toole said. "It's extremely impressive. We've seen it once in a while in practice. We saw it on a tape of one of his junior college games last year. But you don't see a lot of guys with his ability, not only to make three's, (but also) shoot the ball off the bounce like he does. When he gets it going, I'm yelling at him from the sidelines (to shoot) and he's not even thinking shot yet. So it's something that's pretty impressive when he does get it rolling.''
For his part, Anderson isn't impressed by his recent performances.
"I'm just playing basketball,'' he said. "I've been playing basketball my whole life. I've always felt I could contribute somehow at this level. The past two games, I've just been in a groove. I'm finally getting a little healthy with my hand and my foot, so that always gives me a little confidence. And I know Coron (Williams) has been bothered with some foot injuries. I've just been trying to be a little more aggressive. I've been getting a lot of shots up, getting a lot of work in, and things have been going good for me. I'm very appreciative of how I'm playing. I wouldn't say I'm impressed yet. I'll be impressed if we win a championship.''
Jones, too, has been "appreciative'' of how Anderson's played.
"It's just a big weight off me with him being able to score the way he can and being able to do what he can do,'' Jones said. "It's just a big weight off me and Coron and Russell (Johnson). When he gets going, he can just keep scoring and scoring and scoring. It takes pressure off us, and that helps us. I'm pretty impressed by the way he's been able to play this whole year, really.''
One of the intriguing aspects of Thursday night's game will be how Anderson fares against the defense of the Terriers - and vice versa. Anderson in those games last weekend was 9-of-14 from beyond the arc and ranks fourth in the NEC with a 43.4 percentage from deep overall. The Terriers are limiting league foes to just 28.7 percent shooting from international waters, the best mark in the NEC.
It will help Anderson and the Colonials if Williams can continue his strong play on the road this season. He's shot 50 percent (34-of-68) from beyond the arc away from the Charles L. Sewall Center.
And it will also help if Johnson can continue to be a force. Over his past six games, the senior has averaged 15 points per game.
"It's not even about the points with him,'' Toole said. "Obviously the points always help, but (there's also) his knowledge, his energy, his rebounding, his poise at times. It's no coincidence that (when) he started to play better, our team started to play better.''
It's probably no coincidence, either, that the Colonials began playing better when they adopted that tunnel vision mindset.
"We can't worry about anybody else,'' Toole said. "We have to stay on our focus of day-to-day contracts. I got upset with the guys (last Saturday afternoon) because they were checking some (NEC) scores before the game. I said, 'Guys, that's not going to help us win tonight. However those teams do has no bearing on how we perform tonight. The only thing we have to worry about is how we prepare ourselves each day, how we focus each day and then how we play in our games.'''
Is it difficult for Toole to keep his players on the very straight and really narrow?
"It's difficult to keep them focused 365 days a year,'' he said. "It doesn't matter if it's January, February or June or July. It's a battle every day to keep them engaged. When we are engaged, we have a chance to be really good. And when we're not we can be pretty poor.''
NOTES: Jones enters Thursday's game with 1,499 career points and 502 career assists. When he scores his next point, he'll become only the ninth player in NEC history to have at least 1,500 career points and at least 500 career assists ... Jones last Saturday passed Forest Grant (1,494 career points) and moved into sixth place on RMU's career point list. Next up is Maurice Carter (2001-05), who scored 1,506 points for the Colonials ... The Terriers have held a lead in the second half of each of their NEC games this season ... Jalen Cannon, a 6'6", 230-pound sophomore from Allentown, Pa., leads the Terriers with averages of 16.4 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. He has three consecutive double-double performances and nine on the season ... The Colonials rank second in the NEC with a three-point shooting percentage of 41.3 against league teams, lead the league with 74 three-pointers and are second in three-point attempts with 179.
