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Robert Morris University Athletics

Jafar Kinsey

Men's Basketball By Paul Meyer

Meyer On Morris: Chattanooga Choo Choo

Moon Township, Pa. – So if you have to pick a city in which to spend Thanksgiving -- other than your hometown, of course -- what's not to like about Chattanooga?
 
After all, the city does claim to have the fastest internet service in the Western Hemisphere, so there's that. However, that's not why the Robert Morris Colonials chose Chattanooga in which to spend their Thanksgiving.
 
They're in the Battle 4 Atlantis, and that event concludes, for them, in Chattanooga, so that's why they're there.
 
Not all bad.
 
RMU coach Andrew Toole played on Thanksgiving Day as a junior at Penn in a tournament in Las Vegas.
 
"It was fine,'' Toole said. "It became just another game day instead of a holiday. Hopefully, our guys will feel that way. If you're excited about basketball and excited about our team and excited about your season, it's another opportunity to get on the floor. You're still with people who care about you and support you and you're doing something you love. What's better than that?''
 
Did we mention that zippy internet service in Chattanooga?
 
Plus, the Colonials will have a team Thanksgiving dinner in Chattanooga Thursday evening.
 
They also have a chance to win a game. Maybe two.
 
Robert Morris plays the host team, Chattanooga, Wednesday at noon. Depending on the outcome of that game, the Colonials will play Coastal Carolina (3-1) or Louisiana-Monroe (2-1) Thursday afternoon. Coastal Carolina's loss was an 84-71 decision at UCLA. Louisiana-Monroe's loss was a 61-56 overtime defeat at Florida.
 
"I think all four teams have high aspirations for what they want to do in conference play, so I think it will be a very good way to gauge how much we've improved even through our first four games. Obviously the way we played against Lafayette isn't a very good gauge of that. I think we played better at North Carolina. I think we played better at Bradley. I think we played better at Georgetown, and now hopefully we'll be able to see some of the fruits of that labor.''
 
Tennessee-Chattanooga is 1-3 after losing at Tennessee Tech, 69-67, last Saturday, a game in which the Mocs had a 43-26 halftime lead.
 
"We got a little too excited and got away from the (scouting report) a little bit,'' said Chattanooga coach Will Wade, in his second season with the Mocs after spending four seasons as an assistant at Virginia Commonwealth. "We weren't as tough with the ball in the last six minutes. We did some things pretty well for 34 minutes, but it is a 40-minute game.  We have to do it possession-by-possession for 40 minutes.  They don't turn the clock off after 34 minutes.''
 
Chattanooga was 18-15 last season, including 12-6 in the Southern Conference. The Mocs' leading scorer at 11.5 points per game is aptly-named junior guard Casey Jones. Get it? Famous train engineer. "Chattanooga Choo Choo.''
 
OK, moving on down the track.
 
The Chattanooga portion of the Battle 4 Atlantis should give the Colonials a bit of a respite following their losses at North Carolina and Georgetown.
 
"We had a couple tough opponents in North Carolina and Georgetown,'' Toole said. "What we've been talking about is that we're trying to get better at what we're doing. This is an opportunity for us not to maybe play against a high major program. This is a game that if we go and play with the appropriate amount of effort and energy and attention to detail that we're going to have a very good chance of competing.
 
"There are times that you go into a game against Carolina or Georgetown that those same things are true, but they're a little bit harder to believe. As we go through the scouting report and personnel, guys start to understand they have to get excited about an opportunity to win a game. And I think that's the first way we can sell (this trip).''
 
At Georgetown last Saturday, the Colonials trailed, 36-24, at halftime, but the Hoyas came out of the intermission on a 19-5 run and led, 55-29, just six and-a-half minutes into the second half. Robert Morris regrouped a bit late in the game and cut its final margin to 14 points, 80-66.
 
"I was happy with the way the guys played at the end of the game because I've always been a believer that you play the game the way you're supposed to play the game regardless of the score,'' Toole said. "If you're up big or you're down big, you do things the right way. If you have the opportunity and privilege to step on the floor, you're supposed to play hard and with proper detail as a team. Our guys did a good of that when a lot of players and teams wouldn't have.
 
"That's something I'd like to take away from that game. From a defensive standpoint, obviously their physicality hurt us at times. We were closer to making the right plays than the wrong plays, and that's what we're trying to talk to our guys about. If we can just add a little more urgency and a little more detail, we'll be able to (improve). There were four or five loose balls early in the second half at Georgetown that they ended up getting and turned into layups that if we get the game changes.
 
"Especially with a young team like we have, you have to be able to show them how close they are to doing the right thing and getting the job done versus maybe if you had a veteran team you could get on them a little bit harder about not being urgent or not handling things they know. We have some guys who are learning on the fly. We have to balance informing them about what they're doing wrong with informing them about how they're progressing and getting better.''
 
Junior college transfer Rodney Pryor, who led the Colonials with 16 points against the Hoyas, seems to understand how to approach games against teams like North Carolina and Georgetown.
 
"It's a chance to see where we stand, playing against the major teams in college basketball,'' he said. "These are guys who are potential pros, so these games are great experiences. With the blowouts, we need to be able to take out what we did well as a team and what we did poorly as a team and learn from it.''
 
Pryor scored 26 points in the Colonials' victory at Bradley last week and was named Northeast Conference Player of the Week.
 
"He's done a very nice job,'' Toole said. "He's going to have to continue to work on hunting and finding shots because other teams are going to try to take him away and not let him get as many looks. It's something we'll deal with as we move forward as defenses change and try to prepare him for that, but he's done a really good job. He's really engaged in what we've been doing both offensively and defensively. He's done a really nice job in practice, and we're seeing the results on the court.''
 
Stephan Bennett, on the other hand, isn't seeing the results on the court he and the Colonials anticipated after he closed his sophomore season promisingly. The 6'9'' junior in four games has only two points on 1-for-15 shooting, including two errant casts from international waters, and he's also missed all four of his free throw attempts. This from a guy who averaged 6.9 points a game and shot 53.6 percent from the field in his final 16 games last season.
 
"He's taken some tough shots,'' Toole said. "There have also been some times when he's been open and hasn't taken those shots. Finally, there have been times when he's felt like he needs to get a shot and then takes a tough one, it doesn't go in and then he feels poorly. He has to do a better job of diversifying his offense and get some shots close to the rim. It's something we've talked to him about. As a group, we have to do a better job of attacking the rim and getting the ball into the paint. He's got to be a guy who can lead that. He's does it more in practice than he ever tries to do in a game. That's something he has to realize and start to change.''
 
Georgetown Gleanings: Georgetown coach John Thompson III seemed impressed with the Colonial offense last Saturday.
 
"(Robert Morris) has multiple guys on the court that can score baskets, that can attack you, put pressure on you defensively,'' Thompson said. "Their offense is perpetual motion, so if you are a lazy defender, you aren't in help position because your man is always chasing and running. It's a hard offense to guard.''
 
Thompson also praised freshman guard Marcquise Reed, who's from Landover, Md. Reed scored nine points off the bench against the Hoyas.
 
"He was coming home,'' Thompson said. "He's a big-time scorer. He is one of these guys that is going to get six points just by being on the court. We just wanted to be attentive to him. He's had some pretty good games so far already in his young career. It looks like he is going to keep doing what he did in high school, which was put the ball in the basket.''
 
Chuck Oliver Update: The RMU senior guard did not play at Bradley or Georgetown. "As of right now, he's decided to leave the program,'' Toole said. Oliver last season averaged 6.3 points per game and shot 33 percent from beyond the arc.
 
In his two games this season, Oliver played a total of 19 minutes and scored eight points, going 8-of-10 from the free throw line. He missed all seven of his field goal attempts, including four from three-point range.


 
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Players Mentioned

Stephan Bennett

#45 Stephan Bennett

F
6' 9"
Junior
Jr.
Marcquise Reed

#2 Marcquise Reed

G
6' 3"
Freshman
Fr.
Rodney Pryor

#11 Rodney Pryor

G
6' 5"
Junior
Jr.

Players Mentioned

Stephan Bennett

#45 Stephan Bennett

6' 9"
Junior
Jr.
F
Marcquise Reed

#2 Marcquise Reed

6' 3"
Freshman
Fr.
G
Rodney Pryor

#11 Rodney Pryor

6' 5"
Junior
Jr.
G