Women's Basketball | 12/6/2018 2:38:00 PM
GAME #8
Kent State Golden Flashes (3-4, 0-0 MAC) @ Robert Morris Colonials (1-6, 0-0 NEC)
Friday, December 7, 2018 // 7:00 p.m. // Moon Township, Pa. – North Athletic Complex
Live Video: NEC Front Row // Live Stats: RMUColonials.com
Play-by-Play: Adam Gusky, Color Commentary: Spencer Witt
Notes Package: Kent State // Robert Morris
Musket Shots
> Fresh off a season-long four-game road trip, the Robert Morris University women's basketball team begins a six-game home stand on Friday, Dec. 7 when it hosts Kent State. This is the third consecutive season that the Colonials and Golden Flashes have played, each winning a game during this stretch. RMU is coming off a 92-63 loss at No. 14/15 Iowa, while KSU fell at Wright State this past Sunday, 61-55.
> This six-game home stand is the longest this season for the Colonials. RMU's first home stand was just two games, and it doesn't have more than two straight home games over the remainder of the 2018-19 campaign.
> Five of the six teams the Colonials have lost to boast winning records thus far, combining to go 30-16. Youngstown State, Rhode Island, Loyola Marymount, and Iowa have each only lost two games. The lone team that doesn't is Bowling Green, as they sit at 3-4 overall.
> Third-year head coach Charlie Buscaglia sits two wins shy of 50 for his career following a victory over La Salle on Nov. 11. Buscaglia is looking to reach 50 victories faster than any other coach in program history, the record currently held by Dan Swalga at 78 games. His father, Sal Buscaglia, reached the 50-win mark at RMU on Dec. 28, 2006 after 96 contests in charge of the Colonials.
Series History w/ Kent State
Overall: 5-5 | Home: 2-2 | Away: 2-3 | Neutral: 0-1 | Streak: L1
Last Meeting: 12/19/2017; Moon Township, Pa. – Kent State 46, Robert Morris 31
> Robert Morris is 5-5 all-time against Kent State, winning three of the last four matchups.
> On one of the Colonials' two Education Days last season, the Golden Flashes pulled out a 46-31 win. RMU trailed by just three at halftime, but was outscored 25-13 in the second half. Jocelynne Jones '18 tallied nine points and five steals to lead the Colonials, as the hosts shot just 25.0 percent as a team.
> The year before was more favorable to RMU, as it defeated Kent State in overtime, 68-65. Megan Smith '18 was one of four Colonials in double-figures scoring, collecting 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting. In her first career start, Nneka Ezeigbo pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds in 35 minutes.
Scouting the Golden Flashes
> Kent State enters this contest with a 3-4 overall record, owning a Kent State Classic tourney title over Northern Kentucky and Oakland, along with a 62-34 triumph against Youngstown State. The Golden Flashes opened the season with losses at North Carolina (73-60) and North Carolina State (78-61), and are riding a two-game losing streak with defeats to Duquesne (77-72) and Wright State (61-55).
> As a team, the Golden Flashes rank 64th nationally in fewest turnovers (105), 76th in three-pointers per game (7.4), and 78th in free throw percentage (.725). KSU is winning the turnover battle by a margin of 2.7 per game, and has held teams defensively to a field goal percentage of .365.
> Redshirt junior guard Megan Carter leads the team in scoring (18.0 PPG) and assists (21), while also ranking second in rebounding (5.4 RPG). Freshman guard Asiah Dingle is averaging 12.2 points per game and shooting 78.6 percent from the free throw stripe, while classmate Lindsey Thall is nearing a double-figure average at 9.7 points per game to go with a team-best 10 blocks.
Ezeigbo Knows
> After a slow start to her junior campaign, Nneka Ezeigbo has heated up over the holiday season. Ezeigbo has scored in double figures in three consecutive games, bumping her scoring average from 7.8 to a team-best 10.0 points per game.
>Â Ezeigbo most recently posted a 13-point performance on 6-of-8 from the field at No. 14/15 Iowa. Over this three-game stretch, the junior is averaging 13.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.0 steals, and 1.3 blocks per game, while shooting 63.0 percent (17-27) from the floor.
> Thanksgiving might be Ezeigbo's favorite holiday. She's now made back-to-back All-Tournament Teams at both the ShareSLO Holiday Beach Classic and LMU Thanksgiving Classic, averaging 11.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.0 blocks, and 2.0 steals over the last two Turkey Day tourneys. Ezeigbo is shooting 55.6 percent (20-36 FG) from the field and 77.8 percent (7-9 FT) at the stripe during those games.
The N&N Show
> In RMU's 15th game all-time against a nationally-ranked foe, senior guard Nia Adams and junior forward Nadège Pluviose shined. Adams and Pluviose each scored 11 points, combining to shoot 8-of-15 from the field and 4-of-8 on three-pointers.
> Adams' effort came in 16 minutes, as she converted a career-best 3-of-6 attempts from deep. The 11-point performance was one shy of matching her career standard, a 12-point game at Michigan State on Nov. 11, 2017.
>Â Pluviose rebounded from a shooting slump in Los Angeles with a 4-of-7 performance in 26 minutes at Iowa. The junior added five assists and three rebounds to go along with her 11 points. As a freshman against the Hawkeyes, Pluviose excelled with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting in 15 minutes off the bench.
Hanging with the Hawkeyes
> The 92-63 final score against No. 14/15 Iowa on Sunday was closer than it appeared. With 4:49 remaining in the third quarter, Nneka Ezeigbo converted a layup to make it 56-52, bringing RMU from 20 points down to four.
> In each of the Colonials' four contests at Iowa, they've trailed by single digits at one point in the final 15 minutes. RMU trailed by nine points (67-58) with 5:02 to go in 2016, two points (40-38) with 3:42 left in the third in 2015, and seven points (55-48) with 11:28 remaining in 2014.
Splash Sisters
> The guard trio of Megan Callahan, Esther Castedo, and Honoka Ikematsu have been dynamite from distance thus far, combining to make 44 three-pointers at a 42.3 percent conversion rate.
>Â Castedo has been the most efficient of the three, as her 46.7 percent performance from deep is tied for fourth in the NEC and ranks 29th nationally. The freshman has made 14 treys this season, including a pair of four-trifecta efforts against La Salle and Bowling Green.
> Callahan is tied for the team-high in made three-pointers with 15. She's sank 42.9 percent of her attempts and has made one in every game thus far. Last season, the sophomore finished fourth in the NEC in three-point percentage (.383) and ninth in three-pointers made (1.9 per game).
> Ikematsu also has 15 three-pointers to her name this season, converting at a rate of 38.5 percent. She opened the season with five makes from distance at Youngstown State, her fourth career performance with five or more. The program's all-time leader in three-point percentage (.408), Ikematsu finished third in the NEC last season in that category (.414) and eighth in three-pointers made (2.0 per game).
Insurmountable Lead
> Robert Morris has never lost a game in which it has held the lead at the end of the second half. The Colonials are 1-0 in such situations this season and went 25-0 last season. All-time, RMU is 599-0 when holding the lead at the final whistle.
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