Moon Township, Pa. – The
Robert Morris University women's basketball team opens the New Year with its first home games of the 2020-21 campaign, as it hosts Horizon League preseason favorite IUPUI for a pair on January 1-2. The Colonials have gotten off on the wrong foot in their debut Horizon League season, opening with four straight losses to Northern Kentucky and Milwaukee. Meanwhile, the Jaguars have been impressive with a perfect 4-0 league mark and 6-1 overall record, with their only loss coming in a 65-58 defeat at Notre Dame.
GAMES #5 & 6
IUPUI Jaguars (6-1, 4-0 HL) @ Robert Morris Colonials (0-4, 0-4 HL)
January 1-2, 2021 // 1:01 p.m. / 12:01 p.m. // Moon Township, Pa. – UPMC Events Center (4,000)
Live Video: ESPN+ (Fri. / Sat.) // Live Audio: RMU Gameday App // Live Stats: RMUColonials.com
On-Air Talent: Adam Gusky (play-by-play), Justin Pyles (color commentary)
Game Notes: IUPUI // Robert Morris
History w/ IUPUI
Overall: 0-0 | Home: 0-0 | Away: 0-0 | Neutral: 0-0 | Streak: N/A
Last Game: N/A
Robert Morris and IUPUI have never played each other. With the Colonials' move to the Horizon League this season, the Jaguars are seven league foes that RMU has never faced entering 2020-21, joining Detroit Mercy, Green Bay, Milwaukee, Oakland, Purdue Fort Wayne, and UIC.
Scouting the Jaguars
Led by 11th-year head coach Austin Parkinson, IUPUI is off to another flying start in 2020-21 with a 6-1 overall record and perfect 4-0 mark in Horizon League play. The Jaguars, who are ranked No. 6 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll and are receiving votes in the USA TODAY Top 25 Coaches' Poll opened the season with wins at Northern Illinois (85-61) and Ball State (73-49) before suffering their only blemish, a 58-65 defeat at Notre Dame. In its first four conference contests, IUPUI owns an average margin of victory of 28.5 points per game.
Senior center Macee Williams is the Jaguars' most decorated player, with a pair of Horizon League Player of the Year and 2018 Horizon League Freshman of the Year awards in her trophy cabinet. She has shown no signs of slowing down in 2020-21, as she leads the team in points (17.9), rebounds (9.1), field goal percentage (.583), free throws made (27), and blocks (0.4). Fellow fourth-year Sydney Roule is also averaging double figures in points (11.3) and has shot an impressive 23-of-44 (.523) from three-point range, while redshirt junior guard Destiny Perkins paces IUPUI in assists (3.7) and steals (2.4).
The Jaguars own one of nation's top defenses, ranking third in three-point percentage defense (.195), 12th in scoring defense (52.3), 28th in scoring margin (+22.1), 33rd in rebounding margin (+10.1), and 56th in field goal percentage defense (.361). IUPUI also slots high nationally in field goal percentage (.478, 26th), three-point field goal percentage (.380, 28th), assists (17.9, 28th), and three-point field goals (8.6, 38th), but has struggled in turnovers (18.4, 245th) and blocked shots (2.0, 260th).
New Year, New Colonials
RMU hasn't gotten off to the start it wanted in 2020-21, but maybe a change of the year will help reverse the tide. In the Colonials' previous five weekend series that opened a New Year, they have won nine of the 10 games with seven of those victories coming by double-digits. The only loss over this stretch came on Jan. 7, 2017 when RMU fell 56-49 at home to St. Francis Brooklyn.
Opening up the New Year on a high note has been a staple of
Charlie Buscaglia's tenure with the Colonials. Since he joined the staff prior to the 2003-04 season, RMU is 13-4 (.765) in its January opener with nine of those triumphs coming on its home court. The Colonials are also 15-1 (.938) in conference lidlifters since 2004-05, a trend they hope to continue with the move from the Northeast Conference to the Horizon League.
Home Cookin'
2020-21 has been an unconventional season thus far, including with home-road game splits. RMU has only played four games thus far and finally gets a home contest with this weekend's series against IUPUI, marking the first time as a varsity program that it had to wait until January to open the home slate.
In terms of number of games, the Colonials' four-game season-opening road swing is their longest since the 2014-15 season when they played their first five contests away from Moon Township. RMU is 20-18 (.526) in home openers as a Division I program, and has won four of its last five by an average of 31.3 points.
The new UPMC Events Center helped the Colonials retain that homecourt advantage in 2019-20, as they went 12-3 (.800) in the venue's inaugural season - a mark that featured a 58-43 triumph over new Horizon League foe Youngstown State in the arena's debut.
The Veterans
Saturday's contest against IUPUI will likely mark a milestone for senior duo
Nina Augustin and
Honoka Ikematsu, as that game is projected to be the 100th in both of their careers. The pair are two of three Colonials likely to hit the century mark this season, with classmate
Laura Carrasco (93 games) trailing both.
Both Augustin and Ikematsu have exemplified reliability over their careers, missing just two possible games each. Augustin played in all 33 games in both her freshman and sophomore seasons before missing a pair as a junior in 2019-20. Ikematsu sat out one game in both 2017-18 and 2018-19 before appearing in all 30 as a junior last season.
The Defense (Never) Rests
Robert Morris prides itself on its defense and 2019-20 was no different. The Colonials finished the season ranked sixth nationally in scoring defense (52.6), 10th in three-point field goal defense (.266), 11th in turnovers forced (21.17), 12th in field goal percentage defense (.346), 17th in turnover margin (+5.57), 20th in steals (10.7), 31st in scoring margin (+12.4), 76th in rebounds (39.70), and 79th in rebounding margin (+4.0). RMU's scoring defense, scoring margin, and field goal percentage defense are all school records.
The Colonials have ranked inside the top 25 of scoring defense in each of the last four seasons, placing 25th in 2016-17 (57.0), eighth in 2017-18 (54.1), and 12th in 2018-19 (55.3) before achieving last season's sixth ranking (52.6). RMU is also in the midst of an impressive streak, causing double-digit turnovers in each of its last 165 games. In 79 of those contests, the Colonials have forced 20 or more turnovers from their opponent - a number that included 19 such instances last season and two this season.
Bench Brigade
The Colonial bench has started 2020-21 by outproducing the opponents' reserves, averaging 21.0 points per game and 6.0 more than who they are facing. Last season, the group averaged 24.4 points per contest and 10.8 more than their opponents'. RMU's reserves tallied double-digit points in 27 consecutive games and 29 contests overall, and hit the 20-point mark in 17 of the last 19.
Charlie Buscaglia has always had a strong bench since taking over as head coach in 2016-17. RMU received 23.5 points per game from its reserves in 2018-19 and 20.0 in 2017-18.
The Colonial bench scored 30 or more points six times last season, highlighted by hitting a season-high 39 points on Feb. 1, 2020 against Central Connecticut. Since 2016-17, RMU is 19-1 when it receives 30 or more points from its reserves.
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 were 23-0 in such situations last season. All-time, RMU is 643-0 when holding the lead at the final whistle.
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