Men's Basketball 12/22/2014 5:42:00 AM By Paul Meyer

Meyer On Morris: Consistently Inconsistent

Moon Township, Pa. – There was some speculation after Robert Morris dominated Duquesne Dec. 13 that perhaps the Colonials had made a breakthrough.

However, the Toledo Rockets shot down that theory quite convincingly last Wednesday.

No doubt, the Colonials' 83-57 loss at Toledo was a step back.

"Absolutely,'' RMU coach Andrew Toole said a couple days later. "It was disappointing the way we played. Every time you think you have something a little bit figured out, you don't.''

Well, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. And again. And again.

The Colonials have yet another opportunity to try to get their collective act together tonight when Delaware visits the Charles L. Sewall Center.

Robert Morris slipped to 3-7 with the loss at Toledo. The Colonials have lost back-to-back games three times this season. They have not won back-to-back games.

"We're consistently inconsistent,'' Toole noted.

That's the only area where the Colonials have been consistent.

Their offense has been inconsistent. Their defense has been inconsistent.

Either of those more concerning than the other?

"There's a greater issue than either our offense or our defense,'' Toole said. "I think it's just the overall approach that we have to our games and to the day. A lot of our actions are inconsistent, and so our production's inconsistent. That's something we talk about as a team, whether it's trying to be consistent in your approach to practice, about being consistent in your approach to games or consistent in the way that you prepare. You can see it by the minutes we've played and the lineups we've played. We're not getting a lot of consistency from multiple people. Trying to find guys who are going to be reliable right now is a little bit difficult.

"Some of those things spill over from the consistency of your life. That's something we're talking about on a regular basis and trying to help guys understand. There is a mental aspect to the way you approach your day, the way you approach practice and the way you approach games that has to be consistent so that everyone knows what we're getting.''

This isn't to single out any player, but there are some illustrations to support Toole's point about RMU's inconsistency.

Sophomore point guard Kavon Stewart had 11 assists against Duquesne, then one at Toledo. Freshman forward Elijah Minnie had back-to-back 10-and-10 double-doubles against Buffalo and Duquesne, then scored one point and had one rebound at Toledo. Leading scorer Rodney Pryor scored 25 points against Duquesne, making 9-of-12 from the field, including 4-of-5 from deep, then scored four points at Toledo, making just 1-of-8 from the field, including 0-of-4 from beyond the arc.

Senior Lucky Jones, the Colonials' second-leading scorer, is averaging 12.2 points per game but has had to shoot a lot to manage that. He isn't shooting a great percentage. He's 34 for a team-high 103 from the field (33 percent) and 16 of a team-high 60 (26.7 percent) from three-point range.

"It's everybody,'' Toole said. "Those are things we look at as a coaching staff. I don't think it's a talent issue. I think it's just an issue of getting these guys to understand what it takes and who they are as players so they can all fit together. That's what we're working on and talking about. I think they want to do it. It's just a matter of doing it consistently.

"Everybody's got to bring what they're capable of on a regular basis. We haven't figured that out yet. That's a little bit of the frustrating part because there are certain things that you're really supposed to (just) do as a Division I player.''

The Colonials have another opportunity to begin doing those "certain things" and start to forge some consistency against Delaware, which has had its own issues this season.

The Blue Hens last season won the Colonial Athletic Association championship and went to the NCAA Tournament (where they lost to Michigan State, 93-78) and finished 25-10, including an 86-67 win against Robert Morris.

However, this season injuries coupled with heavy graduation losses resulted in the Blue Hens having to play a lot of freshmen and sophomores in their first seven games. And though a couple of veterans have returned recently, Delaware comes into the Sewall Center lugging an 0-9 record.

Through Saturday, when the Blue Hens lost at Northeast Conference member Fairleigh Dickinson, 76-74, Delaware was one of three winless Division I teams. Florida A&M is 0-10. Central Arkansas was 0-9 entering its game against Coastal Carolina Sunday.

Delaware was on the cusp of winning its first game Saturday, holding a 74-66 lead with three minutes left. However, FDU scored the final 10 points of the game.

Delaware coach Monte Ross welcomed back two injured starters, senior Kyle Anderson and junior Marvin King-Davis, in a game against Temple last Thursday, which ended an 11-day layoff for semester exams. Temple beat the Blue Hens, 82-62, for its 19th consecutive victory against Delaware. The Owls did so on the strength of shooting an uncharacteristic 48.5 percent from international waters (16-of-33) after entering the game making just 25.9 percent from distance.

"Our game plan was to guard the lane because they had been deficient from long range,'' Ross said.

Anderson, the Blue Hens' only returning starter from last season's team, scored 20 points in his season debut. He missed the first seven games because of a broken hand. Anderson had only three points in the first half but found his legs in the second half and added 17 points.

"I thought Kyle was really rusty in the first half,'' Ross told the Newark Post. "It looked like he hadn't played a game in six months. In the second half, he was Kyle Anderson. I thought he imposed his will on the game, and I thought he opened things up for us. He did -- and he does -- what we need him to do, and that's be the best player out there every time he steps on the court.''

"He's a really good player,'' Toole said. "He's a very good shooter. He changes their offense just by stepping on the floor.''

King-Davis, who hadn't played since Delaware's opener because of a hamstring injury, scored eight points against Temple. Sophomore Maurice Jeffers produced his first collegiate double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

It seems, then, that the Blue Hens will be a more formidable opponent for the Colonials than they would have been a couple of weeks ago. Just as Toledo proved to be last Wednesday.

The Colonials hung with the Rockets for a while. RMU trailed just 26-21 with five minutes left in the first half. However, from there and into the first couple minutes of the second half Toledo went on a 23-8 run to build a 49-29 lead, and that was that.

"Again, just the lack of overall effort and energy from the beginning of the game, and it was the defensive end,'' Toole said. "We were able to get points, especially early in the game. We were putting the ball in the basket. We were getting good opportunities. We missed three layups in the first half that (came from) good offense. Then we missed some shots, and all of a sudden they made a couple shots and instead of fighting the way you want everyone to fight we kind of folded up a little bit. It was definitely a disappointing follow-up to the performance against Duquesne, where I was really proud of the way the guys played.''

Toledo center Nathan Boothe, in an odd twist, had a game-high seven assists against the RMU zone defense.

"That says that we're slow to react,'' Toole said. "Because when the ball goes into the high post -- and we let it get in there too frequently -- we're supposed to be able to limit some of those options that he has. We were just slow-minded, and so that made us slow-footed and allowed him to make some really nice passes. We talked about him as a passer similar to Bobby Hain from Youngstown State, who's a good passer out of the high post. We had to be alert about making sure that we handled our business when the ball went in there. We didn't do that.''

Toledo coach Tod Kowalczyk's take on his team's performance?

"I thought from start to finish, just a very matter-of-fact, very mature approach to our game at both ends of the floor," he told the Toledo Blade.

Weird. That's just what Andrew Toole would like to be able to say about his team. You know, on a consistent basis.

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Players Mentioned

#22 Lucky Jones: G/F; 6' 6"; Senior; Sr.

#3 Kavon Stewart: G; 6' 0"; Sophomore; So.

#11 Rodney Pryor: G; 6' 5"; Junior; Jr.

#5 Elijah Minnie: F; 6' 8"; Freshman; Fr.

Players Mentioned

#22 Lucky Jones
: 6' 6"; Senior; Sr.
: G/F

#3 Kavon Stewart
: 6' 0"; Sophomore; So.
: G

#11 Rodney Pryor
: 6' 5"; Junior; Jr.
: G

#5 Elijah Minnie
: 6' 8"; Freshman; Fr.
: F