ROBERT MORRIS (2-3) at NEBRASKA (5-2)
Sunday, December 2, 2007 - 6:05 p.m. Eastern
Devaney Center (13,595) ? Lincoln, Neb.
Radio: WPIT AM 730 (Adam Gusky, play-by-play, & Matt Kirk, color)
Internet: www.sports.yahoo.com (live & archived)
Websites: www.rmucolonials.com ? www.huskers.com

Top Story
Robert Morris (2-3) continues its five-game road swing with their second consecutive five-day road trip beginning at Nebraska (4-2) on Sunday, December 2, at 6:05 p.m. Eastern. Leaving on Saturday morning for their game against the Cornhuskers, RMU takes on Miami (Ohio) Wednesday night and returns to campus early Thursday morning. The Colonials were on the road from Thanksgiving Day until Monday taking part in the Florida Atlantic Thanksgiving Classic where they went 1-1 with a win over FAU and a last-second loss to Missouri.

Quick Stat
Robert Morris and Nebraska have one common opponent this season ? the Florida Gators. Robert Morris opened the year with a four-point loss at Florida, 67-63. The Colonials held a two-point lead in the second half of that game. Nebraska rolled over the Gators at home, 90-63, for their third win of the season.

All-Time Series vs. Nebraska
Robert Morris and Nebraska have played just once with the Cornhuskers holding a 1-0 lead in the all-time series. Nebraska visited the Sewall Center in 1990 and handed the Colonials one of their worst losses in team history, 95-50. Until last Sunday when RMU played Missouri, the Cornhuskers were the only team from the Big 12 that Robert Morris had played. The Colonials are 0-2 against the Big 12.

Scouting the Huskers
Nebraska sits at 5-2 on the season following a 79-65 win at home against Creighton Friday night. The Huskers have outscored their opponents by an average of 11 points on the season, pouring in 72.6 points while holding their opposition to just 61.4 points. Nebraska is hitting on 48.3 percent of their shots from the field, but just 23.3 percent from three-point range and 59.5 from the charity stripe. Opponents are shooting 38.4 percent from the field and 30.2 percent from beyond the arc. Danielle Page leads a balanced scoring attack at 13.4 points per game and 7.7 rebounds per game. Kelsey Griffin is scoring 11.3 points per game as seven Husker players average five or more points per game.

Nebraska Head Coach Connie Yuri
Connie Yuri took over the reins of the Nebraska program in June of 2002 and has a record of 90-71 in her sixth season with the Conrhuskers. The Huskers have made four straight postseason appearances under Yuri, including an trip to the 2007 NCAA Tournament. Yuri went 8-20 in her first season, but has not have a losing record since culminating in a 22-10 record last season. Her first head coaching stint was two seasons at Division III Loras College beginning in 1990-91. She then spent 10 seasons at her alma mater, Creighton, where she graduated from in 1986 and posted a record of 170-115. Yuri has a 285-211 career record.

RMU Last Time Out
Alyssa Hollins hit a jumper from 15-feet with two seconds left in regulation to give Missouri a 74-73 win over Robert Morris at the FAU Thanksgiving Classic. Junior guard Sade Logan who had 34 points while hitting 8-of-10 three-pointers, one shy of the school record. Logan had a school-record 29 field goal attempts, hitting 12. Junior guard Kendra Williams finished with 12 points, four assists and three steals while senior forward Chinata Nesbit added 14 points, six boards, three assists and three steals. The Colonials shot 45.0 percent (27-60) from the field, including 57.1 percent (8-14) from three-point range. Hollins finished with 22 points and six steals for the Tigers. Jessra Johnson led Mizzou with 24 points as the Tigers shot 50.9 percent (29-57) from the field and 36.4 percent (8-18) from beyond the arc.

Leading Scorers: Sade Logan (34), Chinata Nesbit (14), Kendra Williams (12),
Leading Rebounders: Chinata Nesbit (6), Angela Pace (6), Kendra Williams (4)
Assists: Kendra Williams (4), Chinata Nesbit (3), Angela Pace (2)

Play on Player ... of the Week
Junior guard Sade Logan was named the Choice Hotels NEC Player of the Week, keeping the award with a Robert Morris player for the second straight week. Logan went on an unprecedented scoring binge, averaging 30.3 points per game during a three-game week.  The junior guard began the week with a game-high 26 points, five rebounds, two blocks, and two steals in an overtime loss to local rival Duquesne.  Logan posted her first double-double of the season in a 70-59 FAU Thanksgiving Classic victory over host Florida Atlantic, scoring 31 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.  She posted the conference's single-game scoring high thus far this season with 34 points in a tough luck, one-point loss to Missouri, 74-73, Sunday afternoon. Logan is leading the NEC averaging 26.8 points per game.

Three for Me
Its no wonder why Sade Logan wears #3 on the back of her jersey. The 6-0 junior guard has attempted more three-pointers this season, 31, than the rest of the team combined, 19. Logan is averaging a team-best 23.0 points per game and has connected on 10-of-31 three-point attempts (32.3 percent). She finished with 20 points at Florida, 23 points at home against Kent State and 26 against Duquesne. Logan is on pace to break every field goal season record. She is on pace for 677 attempts, 299 three-point attempts, 270 field goals and 96 three-point field goals.

Losing Late Leads
The Colonials have held the lead in the second half of every game this season while sitting at 2-3 overall. Most recently, Robert Morris was up by as many as four points in the second half against Missouri and held a one-point lead with 15 seconds left when the Tigers hit the game-winning shot with two seconds left in regulation. In their loss to Duquesne, the Colonials led by 10 points with 7:40 left before the Dukes tied the game on a three-pointer with 4.7 seconds left in regulation. At Florida in the season opener, RMU held a two-point margin with 15:24 left in the game before the Gators reassumed control and won by four points.

Last Second Losses
Two of the Colonials three losses have come at the hands of last second shots. Missouri's Alyssa Hollins hit a 15-foot jumper with two seconds left to give the Tigers a 74-73 win over Robert Morris at the Florida Atlantic Thanksgiving Classic. In that game Sade Logan hit a jumper with 15 seconds left that gave RMU a one-point lead. Duquesne forced overtime and eventually beat the Colonials on a Kristi Little three-pointer with 4.7 seconds left in regulation. Duquesne won that game, 68-63.

Kendra Canning It
Junior point guard Kendra Williams has bolstered her offensive output this season, averaging 9.8 points per game this season ? well above her career average of 2.8 points and last year's average of 3.3 points. She already has double-digit point games this season, one more than she had in each of her previous two seasons with the Colonials. She is shooting 37.8 percent (17-45) from the field including 42.9 percent (6-14) from three-point range. Williams has reached double-digits in scoring in each of the team's last three games.

This Is How We Roll
Since the Colonials will spend a lot of time in the air this season (see On the Road Again), we are going to track how Robert Morris plays according to how they get to the city they are playing in. So far, the Colonials are 1-3 on the road ? 0-1 when traveling by bus and 1-2 when flying. RMU flys via Southwest (0-1) and US Airways (1-1) and always uses Myers Trailways (0-1) when bussing.

Spreading the Wealth
Robert Morris had 10 different players score against Kent State with just two, Chinata Nesbit (21) and Sade Logan (23), reaching double-digits. Four players recorded their first career points as a Colonial on Thursday ? freshmen Tiffany McMillion and Shakeena Cunningham and juniors Grace Williams and Brittany Dukes. The only players on the RMU roster without a point this season are freshman Destiny Harrison and juniors Gwen Edwards and Latavia Vails. Vails has yet to dress this season.

Double Trouble
Senior Chinata Nesbit recorded her 16th double-double as a Colonial, tearing down 12 rebounds and adding 16 points in the team's four-point loss at Florida. Nesbit tallied 10 of her 16 points in the second half. She also tied for the team-lead with three steals. She and senior Psyche Butler account for 32 of the team's 33 career double-doubles. Junior Sade Logan has the only other one.

The First & Hopefully Not the Last
Robert Morris earned a berth into the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the 30-history of the program. Robert Morris was issued a #13 seed. losing to #4 North Carolina State, 82-54, on the Wolfpack's home court and the Fresno Regional. The Colonials tied for the regular-season Northeast Conference title with a 15-3 record and a 24-8 overall mark. Robert Morris earned the right to play for the national title winning the NEC Tournament and the automatic bid.

The Old
Robert Morris returns just three players from last years team ? redshirt-senior Psyche Butler, senior Chinata Nesbit and junior Kendra Williams. Combined, the three have played five seasons in Colonial jerseys. Williams came in as a true freshman playing in 2005-06 and 2006-07. Butler and Nesbit are both transfers. Butler came to RMU in 2005-06 as a transfer from New Mexico JC. Nesbit is also a transfer, having played at Chipola JC before joining the Colonial team last season.

The New
Fifth-year head coach Sal Buscaglia has 10 new players on his bench this season, three true freshmen, six transfers, and one rejoining the squad after sitting out the 2006-07 season to concentrate on academics. Shakeena Cunningham, Destiny Harrison and Tiffany McMillion are the freshmen. Brittany Dukes, Gwen Edwards, Joy Ike, Angela Pace, Latavia Vails and Grace Williams all attended junior colleges before joining the RMU team. Sade Logan sat out the 2006-07 season after transferring to RMU from Chattanooga State.

On The Road Again
The Colonials are going to rack up the frequent flyer miles in 2007-08. They play 10 of their first 13 games on the road and have just two non-conference home games. In all, the Colonials have 18 road games and 11 home games. Robert Morris will rack up roughly 8,584 travel miles during their non-conference schedule alone. RMU opens the season in Gainesville, Fla., and returns to the Sunshine State again to participate in the FAU Thanksgiving Classic in Boca Raton, Fla. The Colonials then travel to Lincoln, Neb., then directly to Oxford, Ohio, from there. After a home game, RMU buses to Athens, Ohio, before returning to Pittsburgh and flying to New Orleans, La., for the Tulane DoubleTree Classic.

Once, Twice, Three Times The Ladies
The Colonials clinched a spot in their third straight NEC Tournament, all of them coming under coach Sal Buscaglia. They also won their 20 games for the third straight season when they defeated Central Conn. State on Feb. 24. 2006-07 was the first time in those three seasons that they have won 20 games in the regular season. With the victory over FDU on March 3, the Colonials have also held a spot in the NEC Tournament semifinals in each of the last three seasons.

Home-Sweet-Home
When the Colonials actually play at the Charles L. Sewall Center, they are difficult to beat. In the last three seasons, Robert Morris has posted a 39-6 record at home, including a team record 14 home wins last season. RMU was 12-3 in 2004-05 and 12-1 in 2005-06, both numbers that tied the previous record. Since the opening of the Sewall Center during the 1985-86 season, RMU has compiled a 142-138 record for a .507 winning percentage.

Winning Record
Yes, Robert Morris had a winning record of 24-8 in 2006-07, but they also set a record for winning. The 24 wins they piled up last season - 21 in the regular season and three NEC Playoff wins - set a new standard for the program. The previous record of 23 had stood since the 1982-83 squad went 23-5.

Aye-Aye Captain(s)
Senior Psyche Butler was named team captain for 2007-08 and Kendra Williams was named associate captain. Williams is the only returnee on the squad who has attended Robert Morris since her freshman season. Butler transferred to RMU from New Mexico JC and is the only player besides Williams who has played more than one season in a Colonial uniform.

The Butler Did It
Senior captain Psyche Butler put aside some of her offensive opportunities last season to concentrate on becoming the best defensive player on the team, and perhaps, the conference. In 2005-06, she averaged 12.2 points, 10.1 rebounds and took 218 shots. Last season, with Sugeiry Monsac returning from injury and Chinata Nesbit sharing some of the scoring load, Butler's numbers declined while defensive stock skyrocketed. Butler averade 9.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and took 187 shots last season while consistently drawing the toughest defensive assignments.

Season to Remember
Senior Chinata Nesbit had one of the most impressive seasons in a Colonial uniform ever. The forward earned the Northeast Conference Tournament MVP and a spot on the NEC All-Conference First Team. She finished second in the conference in scoring (19.2) and rebounding  (10.3). She filled the RMU single season record books as well, setting records for games played (32), points (613) and free throw attempts (230) while finishing in the top-five in points per game (19.2), rebound (331), blocks (34), field goals made (227), field goals attempted (475) and free throws made (145). She also had 113 assists, ninth all-time. In fact, it would be easier to list the categories that Nesbit's name doesn't appear in ? steals (54), three point field goals (14), three point attempts (47), three point percentage (.298) and free-throw percentage (.630).

Nationally Nesbit
Senior Chinata Nesbit ranked 25th in the nation in scoring (19.2) and was 17th nationally averaging 10.3 rebounds per game. She aslo ranked just inside the top-100 in field goal percentage, connecting at a 47.8 percent clip. She made 227 of 475 shots.

Sal-vation
In a span of just four years, Sal Buscaglia has turned the Robert Morris University women's basketball team into a perennial conference power and national contender. When Buscaglia arrived at RMU, the Colonials  had only won seven games the previous three seasons. After suffering through his worst season record-wise as a head coach in 2003-04, Buscaglia turned the RMU program into a 20-win squad. After going 20-9 last season, Buscaglia became the first head coach in the program's history to guide a team to back-to-back 20 win seasons and led RMU to its first-ever NCAA Tournament while winning a team record 24 games last season.