Men's Basketball 1/28/2015 6:00:00 PM By Paul Meyer

Meyer On Morris: One Game At A Time

Moon Township, Pa. – We're going to mention Andy Toole and Mike Krzyzewski in the same sentence here because last weekend each man reached a career coaching milestone in New York.

"Obviously (mine) pales in comparison to other accomplishments that were accumulated over the weekend,'' Robert Morris coach Andrew Toole said.

But not by much.

"One zero,'' Toole said, smiling.

Well, OK, if one wants to pick nits.

Toole reached 100 career wins at Robert Morris when his Colonials won at St. Francis Brooklyn, 67-65, last Saturday. A day later, at Madison Square Garden, Krzyzewski reached 1,000 career victories when his Duke Blue Devils rallied and beat St. John's.

Toole said he can't really get his mind around 1,000 career wins.

"The thing about it is, when you start thinking about those kinds of things -- 400, 500, 700, 900, 1,000, whatever -- you're going to miss the point,'' he said. "You're going to miss what it's about. It's about each individual game. If you prepare your teams and you do all the things you're supposed to do on a daily basis as a staff and as a program, then you'll have a chance to achieve some high numbers. But I can't even … that's 40 years, 25 wins a year.''

Or, a listener suggested, 25 years, 40 wins a year.

Toole laughed.

"It's something that's beyond my comprehension at this point in time,'' he said.

But 100 wins? Toole can speak to that.

"It's a nice thing, I guess,'' he said. "To be able to do it in (less than) five years means you've been fortunate to have good players and good coaches and be at a place where you have good support so you can win. I mean, there's so much more that goes into it than just decisions I make or things that I say. I think you reflect back on all those kinds of things -- the support you get from your administration, the players who you've been fortunate to have in your program who have let you coach them, the assistants
that you have, all those things. It's certainly not an individual achievement. It's a team achievement.''

Toole, whose career record with the Colonials is 100-60 (.625), is just the second RMU coach to reach 100 victories at Robert Morris. Jarrett Durham coached the Colonials to 157 wins during his 12-season stint (1984-96).

The Colonials got Toole his 100th victory in typical fashion. They played tough defense against the Terriers, who entered last Saturday's game tied with Bryant for first place in the Northeast Conference.

A defensive stand made by junior Aaron Tate might have been the play of the game.

With 24 seconds remaining and the Terriers up, 65-63, RMU's Rodney Pryor missed a jump shot. David Appolon snared the rebound and found Lucky Jones. The senior drained a three-pointer, giving the Colonials the lead.

However, on the shot, Jones landed awkwardly on the foot of Lowell Ullmer of the Terriers, and Jones went down in pain. Play continued, though, and St. Francis Brooklyn wound up with a 5-on-4 break. Just as Amdy Fall went in for a layup, Tate stood his ground, put up his hands and altered Fall's shot just enough that he missed it. Tate got the rebound, was fouled and made one of his two free throws to account for the final score.

The 65 points the Colonials allowed were just above their defensive average against NEC opposition -- 62.6 points per game, good for third in the league. That 62.6 mark is way better than what RMU allowed non-conference opponents (73.8).

It would seem, then, that the Colonials' zone defense has become much better.

"It has. It definitely has,'' Toole said. "I think it's a couple things. One, I think our defensive urgency has improved. Thursday (in a 63-59 win at Mount St. Mary's in overtime) and Saturday, our defensive urgency was the best it's been. Late in the game Thursday, we had some really strong defensive possessions where guys were giving really good effort, making second and third efforts to get stops. In the game Saturday, we obviously gave up too many offensive rebounds (20), but we made them miss a lot of shots. They took 13 more shots than we did and shot 36 percent, so we were making them miss and we were detailed defensively. We just needed to finish some of those possessions with rebounds.

"Second, I also think we have (new) guys who have played enough minutes by this point in time -- Marcquise (Reed) is over 500 minutes, Rodney's over 500 minutes, Elijah Minnie's coming up on 400 minutes -- where those guys are starting to understand how you have to play and how tough you have to be to be successful. I think that's part of it, as well.''

Sophomore Kavon Stewart provided a lift last Saturday with 13 points, his first double-figure performance since Dec. 13 against Duquesne. And Stewart also had his first multi-trey game of the season. Having made only 5-of-22 from beyond the arc entering the game, Stewart made both of his casts from international waters against the Terriers.

A welcome lift, indeed.

"It was,'' Toole said, "and especially in a game against a team like them that is so hard to score against. They're a really good defensive team. To find some extra buckets from someone who doesn't necessarily contribute (scoring-wise), and especially three-pointers, is huge. The two threes he hit early in the game really helped him later in the game (because) he was able to get some penetration and was able to get to the free-throw line. Early in the game, they were really playing off of him and kind of giving him space. When he shoots them, they don't look bad. I think it's just a matter of him being confident in it. It's important for him to shoot it the same all the time. Sometimes he has some different mechanics that effect his ability to be consistent with (his shot). When he's in (the gym) and focusing on shooting, he can make shots.''

Stewart is averaging just 5.9 points per game. Someone wondered if perhaps Stewart, in his first season as the Colonials' starting point guard, has focused more on running the offense than scoring himself.

"That's definitely part of it,'' Toole said. "That's how he's always played. He's always played to try to help other people score points. That's his game, and I think that's where he brings the most value. But college, obviously, is different than high school. Here, people start to take away what you do best and so you have to prove to them that you can do something else. He's had some opportunities to score. He needs to finish a little bit better. If he can make those shots and keep (the defense) honest, it's really hard to keep him in front of you and it's really hard to keep him out of the lane. It makes him more difficult to guard the more he can show on a consistent basis that, 'Hey, I am looking to get my team organized. I am looking to get guys shots, but you also have to be sure you're keeping tabs on what I'm doing.' That will really make it difficult for the defense.''

With their two road wins last weekend, the Colonials moved into a three-way with St. Francis Brooklyn and Bryant for the NEC lead. All three teams are 6-2 in the league.

The Colonials' 4-0 road record in the NEC is quite impressive.

"Any time you can get a road win in your league it's a huge accomplishment,'' Toole said. "So to have four right now is great. You just have to understand how you were able to do that (and) make sure that you don't let things slip at home and you continue to prepare yourself in the right manner. The biggest thing for me is trying to make sure that we always understand how we accomplished something and try and follow that same pattern and understand that there are still 10 games to go in the regular season and each and every one of those is just as important as each of the ones we've been fortunate enough to win already.''

The Colonials will try to get their seventh NEC win this season, and Toole's 101st career victory, Thursday against Fairleigh Dickinson in the Charles L. Sewall Center.

FDU has lost six straight games after beginning the NEC schedule with two wins.

"They're a team that's playing fast,'' Toole said. "They're aggressive offensively and defensively. We're going to see a number of different defenses during the course of the game -- full-court pressure, half-court pressure, man, zone. We have to be focused on how we're executing, how we're communicating and organizing. They're a team that can create a lot of issues for us if we're not urgent and playing as hard as we played this previous weekend.''

NEC NUGGETS: Fairleigh Dickinson is coming off a foul-plagued 80-76 loss to visiting LIU-Brooklyn last Saturday. Combined, the teams were whistled for 59 personal fouls, including 35 called on FDU. Two Knights fouled out, and five others had four fouls. The teams combined to go 47-for-70 from the free throw line. LIU Brooklyn was 29-of-45 … Bryant, which visits Robert Morris Saturday, lost to visiting Sacred Heart, 83-66. That's the most points Bryant has allowed in a game this season. The Bulldogs lost despite committing just one turnover. Playing its third game in five days, Bryant shot only 38 percent from the field while permitting the Pioneers to make 56 percent of their shots. . .St. Francis University lost its third straight, falling at Mount St. Mary's, 52-40. The Red Flash was 2-for-20 from beyond the arc. Earl Brown had an unlucky 13-point, 13-rebound double-double … Central Connecticut State ended its 11-game losing streak in dramatic fashion. The Blue Devils picked up their first NEC win of the season on junior Brandon Peel's improbable trey from the right elbow at the buzzer -- following an in-bounds pass from the other end of the court -- that gave CCSU a 53-50 win against visiting Wagner. "A major, major loss,'' Wagner coach Bashir Mason told the Staten Island Advance. "We just have to make sure we rebound and don't let this spiral on us."

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Players Mentioned

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

#4 David Appolon: G; 6' 4"; Senior; Sr.

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

#24 Aaron Tate: F; 6' 5"; Junior; Jr.

#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

#4 David Appolon
: 6' 4"; Senior; Sr.
: G

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

#24 Aaron Tate
: 6' 5"; Junior; Jr.
: F

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

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