By Paul Meyer
www.rmucolonials.com
Nov. 6, 2009
Meyer on Morris Link
Moon Township, Pa. - Mike Rice has heard the talk.
Now the Robert Morris University head coach would like to see some walk on the part of his players - especially the five seniors.
"I like to hear the talk about repeating (last season's Northeast Conference championship),'' Rice said. "But I want action to back that up. Our seniors' perseverance through practice isn't quite as good as it probably should be. There's a lack of consistency of effort in practices.
"They're not consistent with that sense of urgency to get better every day. You have to get better every day. They don't always want to go out and do what it takes to have that daily improvement.''
Rice, in his third year as the Colonial mentor, knew what he had in leaders Tony Lee (2008) and Jeremy Chappell (last season). They were tremendous practice players.
"They had great mental toughness,'' Rice said. "I know we're more athletic as a team this season than we've ever been. We're deeper as a team than we've ever been. I just don't know if we're going to have the same toughness and sense of urgency.
"It's up to us as a staff and certainly myself as the head coach to find ways to motivate them to win those daily battles of improvement.''
The Colonials did do a good job in their exhibition tuneup against Shippensburg Thursday night, racing to a 45-14 halftime lead and coasting to a 78-47 victory.
The Colonials played the second half at a less rapid pace because Rice wanted to see his team play some zone defense, which they'll probably need to play at times in their opener at Syracuse Wednesday night.
He also wanted to see how his team played against a zone because they'll see that at Syracuse and again at Penn State Nov. 16. He asked Shippensburg coach Dave Springer to play some zone, and Springer obliged.
"Our guys thought playing a zone was a time to rest, and that was very disappointing,'' Rice said. "We didn't play at the same pace, and that's unacceptable. We want to make the game chaotic, and I didn't like our change of tempo.''
There was no problem with the Colonials' upbeat tempo in the first half. Led by guards Velton Jones and Karon Abraham, Robert Morris forced six turnovers in the first four minutes. The Colonials, using a lot of full-court pressure, zipped to a 33-10 lead in the first 14 minutes.
"We're going to be a pressure team,'' Rice said. "I thought our pressure sped (Shippensburg) up. I thought we played at the pace I want to play at during the season.''
The Colonials' highly touted bunch of newcomers played well for the most part.
True freshmen Brad Piehl, Coron Williams, Lijah Thompson and Abraham, redshirt freshman Jones and sophomore Russell Johnson combined for 37 points and 17 rebounds. Jones and Abraham each had a team-high 12 points, while Piehl grabbed a team-best five rebounds.
"I was more excited about seeing the freshmen play,'' senior Mezie Nwigwe said. "I think they stepped it up and played good. That makes me feel good about the season.''
"They were good,'' Rice said, "but they have no idea what they're getting into in the next couple of weeks. Every time they have lapses (defensively), the other team will score.''
"They played all right, but I'm not going to praise them,'' senior Dallas Green said. "I don't want them getting the big head.''
As junior guard Gary Wallace noted: "It's a long season.''
Abraham, reputed to be a defensive whiz, scored all 12 of his points in the first half.
"Karon can flat-out score the basketball,'' Rice said.
"Coach Rice wanted me to show both sides,'' said Abraham, referring more to his offense. "But in my four years here, I want to be known as one of the best defensive players in the conference. Defense starts your offense. It makes the game a lot easier. You can wear the other team down. At the end of the game, we still have energy and the other team is tired.''
Jones, who did practice with the Colonials last season, did a fine job running the point in the absence of senior Jimmy Langhurst (injured finger).
"Coach Rice wants me to make energy plays and get people involved in the offense,'' Jones said.
When Langhurst returns, probably within a couple weeks, Jones will be his backup, but you can expect to see a lot of Jones.
"He's someone who's going to play a lot of minutes at point guard,'' Rice said.
Rice likely will use Jones as the point guard at times and move Langhurst to the shooting guard position to take advantage of his three-point shooting ability. Johnson, who sat out last season to concentrate on academics, probably will start upfront against Syracuse. Against Shippensburg, Johnson had three points and three rebounds.
"He's a wing player who's getting the rust off,'' Rice said, "but he's as physically gifted as anybody I've had here.''
Rice seems to have done a good job creating depth with the newcomers on a team that lost Northeast Conference Player of the Year Jeremy Chappell and NEC Defensive Player of the Year Bateko Francisco from last season's club.
"If you don't have good players, you're not going to be successful - especially in a competitive league like the NEC,'' Rice said.
As St. Francis (N.Y.) coach Brian Nash said recently: "Sometimes it's not the X's and O's. You've got to have the Jimmy's and Joe's - guys who can make the shots.''
One sort of downer out of the exhibition game was that senior Rob Robinson, the Colonials' leading returning scorer and rebounder, had only eight points and no rebounds in 22 minutes.
"If he's not outstanding, we're in deep trouble,'' Rice said. "He needs to fill the stat sheet - points, rebounds, assists, blocked shots. I expect Rob to be an anchor for a Robert Morris team that needs production from its front court more than from its back court this year.''
One other item of note from the Shippensburg exercise concerns freshman walk-on Treadwell Lewis, a Connecticut native who went to prep school in Massachusetts. Lewis, a guard whose mannerisms are reminiscent of former Pirate pitcher and current Pirate broadcaster Bob Walk, entered the game with just under two minutes left and delighted his teammates by sinking a three with 40 seconds remaining.
"He comes to practice. He works hard,'' Abraham said. "We're always riding him, but he made the shot. That was huge.''
AROUND THE NEC: Central Connecticut State forward Ken Horton, voted by the coaches to the preseason all-NEC team, won't play this season, Blue Devil coach Howie Dickenman said. Horton, a 6'6" junior, had an "A-Rod operation,'' Dickenman said, referring to New York Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez who had hip surgery last spring. Horton, who will have two seasons of eligibility left, last season averaged 16.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game ... Long Island, picked to finish second behind Mount St. Mary's in the coaches preseason poll, will be without center Aurimas Adomaitis, forward Julian Boyd and guard Lucas Faggiano. Adomaitis, who would have been a senior, signed to play professionally in his native Lithuania. Boyd, a 6'6" sophomore, has a heart issue. "It's a very serious health issue,'' coach Jim Ferry said. "The chances of him playing are very slim - probably none.'' Boyd was voted the NEC's Rookie of the Year last season after averaging 10.5 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. Faggiano, who would have been a sophomore, signed to play professionally in his native Argentina ... Saint Francis (Pa.) won't have senior forward Mislav Jukic, who had double hip surgery. Jukic last season averaged 10.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.
