By Paul Meyer
www.rmucolonials.com
Jan. 26, 2010
Meyer on Morris Link
Moon Township, Pa. - Robert Morris University basketball coach Mike Rice, after glancing at the Northeast Conference standings a couple days ago, noted: "Things are starting to sort themselves out.''
Things this weekend also will start to even themselves out.
For example, Quinnipiac, tied atop the NEC standings with Robert Morris at 7-1, has played five home league games and won all five. It will play its next three on the road.
Long Island, 6-2 in the NEC, has played six home league games, winning five. The Blackbirds will play five of their next six games on the road, including Thursday night's date at Robert Morris.
St. Francis (N.Y.), which stops by the Sewall Center Saturday evening, also is 6-2 in the NEC and also has played six home league games. And like Long Island, the Terriers will play of five of their next six games on the road.
The one home game each of those teams plays in the next three weeks is against the other during the NEC's "Rivalry Week'' Feb. 4-6 in another bit of schedule evening-out.
Sacred Heart and Monmouth, tied for fifth place at 5-3, both have played five home league games. Each went 4-1 and each will play three of its next four games on the road.
Meanwhile, Central Connecticut State, Mount St. Mary's, Wagner and Bryant all have played six road league games. That's impacted their starts in league play significantly. CCSU and Mount St. Mary's both are 2-6. Wagner is 1-7. Bryant, 0-20 overall, is 0-8 in the NEC.
Now, though, as the league schedule this weekend reaches and passes the halfway mark, those four teams begin welcome runs of home games.
Bottom line here is that over the next three weekends the home/road splits will become much more even in the NEC.
Robert Morris is 4-0 at home in league play and 3-1 on the road. Long Island is the one that put that "1" in the right column on the Colonial NEC record.
The Colonials lost at LIU, 74-64, Jan. 7, shooting just 36.7 (22-of-60) from the field. Even so, RMU led almost the entire first half (there was a tie at 17-17) and still held a 39-33 lead three and-a-half minutes into the second half. However, the Blackbirds went on a 22-7 run that carried them to a 55-46 advantage with just under eight minutes remaining. The Colonials did rally to close to within 65-63 with 1:19 left, but LIU was able to hold off the Colonials' charge.
Jaytornah Wisseh, LIU's standout senior guard who's scored in double figures in each of his past nine games, had 11 points and five assists that night. Guard Kyle Johnson had 22 points, and freshman forward Kenny Onyechi, who leads the NEC with 2.5 blocked shots per game, added 17 points.
"He's built like Mike Tyson,'' LIU coach Jim Ferry said of the 6-7, 225-pound Onyechi. "He's going to be a special player.''
Thursday night's game offers some interesting statistical contrasts.
Robert Morris is second in field goal defense in NEC games, holding opponents to 38.8 percent from the floor. Long Island is sixth in field goal percentage (42.2). Long Island leads the NEC in three-point accuracy (43.6 percent), while RMU is first in three-point defense (34.0 percent). LIU is third in the league in scoring (70.8 points per game); Robert Morris is fourth in scoring defense (63.4).
Finally, Long Island leads the league in free throw percentage (71.3), while RMU is ninth (64.5).
Robert Morris, which has won five consecutive games since losing at LIU, won for the eighth time in nine games last Saturday at Monmouth. The Colonials, trailing 31-21 early in the second half, rallied behind freshman Karon Abraham and senior Mezie Nwigwe and won, 66-53.
The offensive outburst came after a terrible first half offensively by both teams, who combined to make only 11-of-55 field goal attempts in the first 20 minutes.
"I thought both teams were really after it defensively, so it was a low-scoring half. That was fine,'' said Monmouth coach Dave Calloway, whose team led, 19-17, at the break.
"In the second half, we were unselfish and a pretty good basketball game broke out,'' Rice said. "When we're unselfish, we're at our best. We're starting to get that toughness - that mentality - to compete for a championship.''
The Colonials, 38-6 in regular-season NEC games under Rice, won the past two regular-season championships and last season added the NEC championship and a trip to the NCAA tournament.
Q THE CATS: Right about here perhaps we should mention Quinnipiac, whose 7-1 start in NEC play is the Bobcats' best since they began play in the league in 1998-99.
"That's fine,'' senior guard Jeremy Baker said, "but we still have February and March to worry about. I wouldn't feel like we're the team to beat. We're the hot team right now, but Robert Morris is still the defending champion, and as far as the conference is concerned we still have to go through Robert Morris.''
And TO Robert Morris.
It's probably a bit premature to point this out, but keep in mind that Quinnipiac plays at Robert Morris Feb. 20. It's the only regular-season game between the teams, so the tie-breaker aspect relative to NEC tournament seeding could be at work that night.
The Bobcats, who have out-rebounded each of their 19 opponents this season, won their seventh consecutive game Sunday, beating Central Connecticut State 75-62. The Blue Devils had a 20-12 lead with six minutes left in the first half and were up 28-25 at halftime, but Justin Rutty led a second-half surge that helped carry Quinnipiac to its win.
Rutty, a 6'7" junior, scored eight points in the first 5:42 after intermission, leading the Bobcats to a 44-33 lead.
"We talked a lot at halftime about being a little more mature and stronger with the ball and finishing our shots, making shots in the second half,'' Quinnipiac coach Tom Moore said. "To our guys' credit, we really executed well in the second half. I thought we were a pretty complete team for the first 12 or 13 minutes of the second half.''
Rutty, who'd been kind of quiet recently, had 26 points and 14 rebounds against CCSU. In the three previous games, he totaled 22 points and 21 rebounds.
KNIGHTS RIGHT: Fairleigh Dickinson, which had lost three straight game since opening 3-1, evened its record at 4-4 with a come-from-behind 78-75 victory against Saint Francis (Pa.) last Saturday. The visiting Red Flash led 30-14 with eight minutes left in the first half and still led 42-36 at the half.
However, the Knights withstood 13-for-22 shooting from beyond the arc by the Red Flash and pulled out the victory. Point guard Mike Scott had 20 points and nine assists. Guard Sean Baptiste, who scored only one point in a 65-50 loss to RMU two nights earlier, had 19 points and was 6-of-10 from downtown.
"This team showed moxie,'' FDU interim coach Greg Vetrone said. "We never gave up. We battled and came back. Mike's stats (were) great, and Sean bounced back from a couple of down games.''
Saint Francis (Pa.) has lost 16 consecutive road NEC games since winning at St. Francis (N.Y.), 63-50, Feb. 14, 2008. The Red Flash also has lost 22 consecutive road games overall since a 65-61 victory at Morgan State Dec. 1, 2008.
The Red Flash next play on the road at Robert Morris Feb. 6.
NEC NUGGETS: The 49 points Robert Morris scored in the second half at Monmouth last Saturday were the most points allowed by the Hawks in a half in an NEC game since Wagner outscored them, 50-28, in the second half Feb. 28, 2009. In Wagner's 91-60 victory, Seahawk senior guard Joey Mundweiler set a league record with 11 three-pointers (in 18 attempts) and finished with 39 points … Wagner freshman Danny Mundweiler, Joey's brother, came off the bench Saturday to score 17 points and was 5-of-8 from beyond the arc in the Seahawks' 57-54 loss at St. Francis (N.Y.). Wagner shot only four throws - all by Michael Orock - and made one … In its two second halves against Monmouth this season, the Colonials totaled 96 points and were a combined 28-of-45 from the field, including 9-of-14 from beyond the arc … St. Francis (N.Y.) has yet to score 70 points in a game this season, but the Terriers have held nine consecutive opponents under 70 points and lead the NEC in points allowed (57.5 per game) … LIU sophomore Michael Culpo is 41-of-82 from beyond the arc this season, including 17-of-27 (63 percent) in NEC games … Robby Ptacek, CCSU's leading scorer (12.9 point per game), returned against Quinnipiac after missing three games because of an ankle injury. Ptacek played 18 minutes and scored five points … Sacred Heart's Chauncey Hardy, suspended for the Pioneers' game against CCSU Jan. 21, also did not play in the team's 84-60 win against Bryant last Saturday … Corey Hassan led Sacred Heart with 26 points and played just 25 minutes … In its loss at LIU, Mount St. Mary's had no player score in double figures. Shawn Atupem and Jeremy Goode each had eight points. Goode was just 3-of-12 from the field. The Mountaineers didn't help themselves by making only 12-of-23 free throw attempts.
