Meyer on Morris Link
Moon Township, Pa. – Nov. 12, 2013 – It's no doubt true that home is where the heart is.
It's also equally true -- in RMU's case -- that home is not where the games are.
So beating Savannah State, 86-66, in their season opener at the warm and fuzzy Charles L. Sewall Center last Saturday evening was something of a "must win'' for the Colonials.
Beginning with their game at Lafayette this evening, the Colonials will play 13 of their next 16 games, and seven of their next eight, away from where their hearts are.
Not exactly the ideal way to get through November, December and early January.
"The beginning of the season's always hectic in terms of how you can schedule,'' RMU coach
Andrew Toole said. "We never get into a routine until conference play, so you just have to try to make the best of each day and try to make it as productive as possible. That's just what college basketball is, and everybody faces that same difficulty.''
Well, not everybody is playing at Lafayette Tuesday, at Eastern Michigan Thursday and at Kentucky Sunday this week.
"I think it will be a great test for us to go on the road and see how we can do in another team's building,'' Toole said rather diplomatically.
The Colonials certainly did well in their own building Saturday against Savannah State.
They shook off some first half getting-to-know-you stuff and poor free throw shooting and produced 52 second-half points to win fairly easily.
"I thought it was a very good performance by all of our guys,'' Toole said. "I thought everybody who played contributed. I thought we were very unselfish offensively as well as defensively. I'm excited that we were able to get a win and that a lot of guys got some great opportunities to become more comfortable in a Division I setting.''
As true as all that was, one Colonial stood out.
Senior guard
Karvel Anderson, still recovering a bit from offseason surgery on his right (shooting) wrist, scored 18 of his game-high 21 points in the second half. He had another of what's become his trademark -- scoring points in bursts -- midway through the second half. In a span of 1:37, Anderson zipped in 10 points, taking the Colonials from a 50-45 lead to a 60-51 edge.
In short, Anderson did what shooters do.
"Sometimes we get into those zones where the rim feels like an ocean, and you feel like you can't
miss,'' Anderson said. "Fortunately, I got into one of those zones, and my team kept finding me.''
Anderson made a three-pointer just 56 seconds into the game, but then disappeared from the offense the rest of the half.
"I was a little tentative. I'm not sure why,'' Anderson said. "My second shot, I air-balled it. That kind of hurt my feelings a little bit.''
"All of a sudden, he started to hesitate a little bit,'' Toole said. "He hasn't been shooting the three as well (as he usually does) in practice -- and that's a relative term. He's been shooting a lot of mid-range jumpers. His range is probably the last thing to come back (following the wrist surgery). Karvel's one of those kids who cares so much about the team that if he doesn't feel 100 percent that what he's shooting is the right shot sometimes he'll hesitate. Sometimes that's to his detriment and to our team's detriment because he's the guy who has to score the ball for us to be a good team.''
That's why after Anderson's non-productive start -- he was just one of four from the field in the first half -- Toole and Anderson's teammates encouraged him to continue to shoot.
"I said, 'Shoot the ball. Be aggressive,''' Toole said. "That's what he brings to our team. Everyone's got to buy into their role. They have to embrace their role. And his role is making shots. If he's not aggressively hunting shots, we're not going to be as effective offensively. He became a little more aggressive and saw the ball go in the basket a couple times. Once he sees it go in a couple times he can get hot in a hurry, and that's exactly what he did.
"He has a great gift of being able to make shots. We just have to keep encouraging him and telling him we'll live and die with that shot whether it goes in or not. A lot of time a good shot's determined by when it leaves your hand, not whether it goes in the basket or not.''
"My teammates just kept telling me, 'Keep looking for your shot,''' Anderson said. "My coaches kept telling me to look for my shot. So with the confidence they have in me and the confidence I already have in myself, that helps. I made a few in the second half, and it got me rolling.''
Anderson concedes, though, that he isn't quite over the recovery from his surgery.
"Sometimes it's mental for me when it comes to my wrist,'' he said. "It's in my head sometimes.''
His second half performance Saturday should help clear his head a bit.
What helped in the first half was the play of junior transfer
Charles Oliver, a shooting guard brought in from Lakeland Community College to provide support from beyond the arc.
Oliver made two casts from international waters and scored nine points of his 12 points in the first 20 minutes.
"Coach just wanted me to come in the game and bring energy,'' Oliver said. "He's always preaching, 'Be shot-ready, and when the opportunity presents itself to get a look, knock it down.' I've come off the bench before. It's something I'm used to. I'm just going to embrace my role on this team whatever that is.''
"He has the ability to make a three, and we want to encourage all our guys to be able to do that,'' Toole said. "He's working on the defensive end of the game and becoming more urgent in some of those situations. The more experiences he has like (Saturday night's) hopefully the more he'll continue to improve and be comfortable.''
Oliver acknowledged that his effort in the Colonials' 64-58 exhibition win over Division II California (Pa.) a couple weeks ago wasn't the best. He played only five minutes and didn't score.
"In the exhibition game, I wasn't really there mentally,'' he said. "That's something coach has been preaching to me, which is learning the details. He's been very hard on me about it. So I've paying attention to details. That's going to open up things for me, and they'll have more trust in me.''
Senior
Mike McFadden noticed a big change in RMU's performance as a whole against Savannah State compared to their approach against California (Pa.).
"It was an amazing difference,'' he said. "It wasn't (only) the newcomers who were making mistakes in the exhibition, it was everybody. I'm assuming in the exhibition game the new guys weren't understanding the D-I atmosphere, and the returners felt it was going to be easier than what it usually is because it was a D-II team so we took it lightly. (The Vulcans) came prepared just like a D-I team. We made progress in the Kent State scrimmage, and (Saturday night) we made even more progress.''
Senior point guard
Anthony Myers-Pate brought up another reason why the Colonials' performance was sharper against Savannah State.
"Fear,'' he said. "In a positive way. We know that it goes on our record now. You can't get this one back. In the shootaround, the whole team was locked in, focused. Going over their plays, we knew it. Everybody was calling it out. I think it was a sense of fear. You're scared to go out there and get embarrassed in front of your home crowd.''
Whatever the reason, the Colonials turned in a pretty dandy season opener performance.
"Better than I anticipated,'' Toole said. "The first half, when each possession seemed like forever, was more what I expected the entire game just because it's so new. It's so new to everybody. Each situation is going to be different than they've seen before. Not only as Division I players for the first time but also as Robert Morris players for the first time. That includes the returning guys, whether it's Lucky or Karvel or Mike. There might be some different situations they're in this year because of the changes in our roster. But I was excited about the way a lot of guys played, and I think it was better than I anticipated.''
Toole also was pleased that the new-look Colonials had only nine turnovers.
"Pretty satisfied,'' he said. "With a lot of new guys against a team that presses, that changes defenses, that can make the game chaotic at times. Only nine turnovers to 15 assists is something we'll take all day. Obviously 15 assists on 23 field goals just shows we were moving the ball and we were playing unselfishly.''
Myers-Pate had a solid first game as the primary point guard. He had six assists and two turnovers in his 26 minutes controlling the offensive flow.
"Coach thinks we're a better team when I push the ball,'' Myers-Pate said. "They weren't getting back (on defense), and I was able to find my teammates.''
McFadden had a good season debut with 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
"Really solid, really active,'' Toole said. "He got on the floor a couple times. Made some great passes. Made some great drives. We're trying to put Mike in a space where he can use his quickness a little more and maybe take advantage of who's guarding him who might not be as comfortable guarding on the perimeter. If he continues to make good decisions, we'll do it more.''
Desjuan Newton contributed eight points and three rebounds in his 11 minutes in the season opener, and
David Appolon provided a bunch of energy, six points, five rebounds, an assist and a steal in his 14 minutes.
Now about those free throws.
The Colonials were just 7-of-16 from the line in the first half but finished 29-for-45, making 22-of-27 over a long stretch in the second half.
"It's just repetition,'' Toole said. "It's making sure that when they get there they're taking advantage of their opportunity. Sometimes free throw shooting can be mental, and when you see that first one not go in all of a sudden you start to think about it a little more instead of just relaxing and stepping up and shooting the ball. Some of the guys who missed have made hundreds and hundreds and thousands of free throws in their career, and it's just a matter of getting that repetition back.
"At halftime we tried to be encouraging about guys when they get the opportunity knocking them down. In the first half we probably could have built a little more of a lead, but we wasted possessions on missed free throws. We talked at halftime about not letting that happen again, and our guys did a nice job of making free throws in the second half.''
Speaking of free throws, Lafayette didn't fare well at the line in its season-opening, 75-59 loss at Villanova last Friday night. The Leopards finished 8-of-15.
Lafayette, picked to finish second in the Patriot League this season, led Villanova, 38-32, four minutes into the second half but couldn't sustain its momentum.
Seth Henrichs scored 15 points to lead Lafayette, which did make 11-of-24 three-point attempts. Freshman point guard Nick Linder had eight points and seven assists in his collegiate debut.
