Moon Township, Pa. – Robert Morris University will compete in the Horizon League in 10 of its varsity sports beginning in 2020-21. As the Colonials make the transition, stay tuned to RMUColonials.com over the next few months as it breaks down what to expect. Today, we look at men's basketball.
THE BACKDROP
RMU officially
joined the Horizon League July 1, 2020, in 10 of its varsity sports. Sports that will compete in the Horizon League for the Colonials include men's and women's soccer, volleyball, cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field, men's and women's basketball, golf and softball. Men's Hockey competes in Atlantic Hockey, women's hockey in College Hockey America (CHA) and rowing in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). The Robert Morris football team will join the
Big South in 2021, while women's lacrosse
joined the Mid-American Conference.
TO THE RACK
The Horizon League features 12 members, including Cleveland State, Detroit Mercy, Illinois-Chicago, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Northern Kentucky, Oakland, Purdue University Fort Wayne, Robert Morris, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wright State and Youngstown State. In addition to RMU competing in its first season in the Horizon League in 2020-21, the same holds true for Purdue University Fort Wayne, which announced its move to the conference August 6, 2019.
RECENT CHAMPIONS
Northern Kentucky, which joined the Horizon League in 2015, has claimed the last two Horizon League Tournament titles as well as three of the last five. The Norse have been the No. 2 seed in the tournament each of the last two seasons, knocking off No. 1 seed Wright State, 77-66, in 2019 and earning a 71-62 win over No. 4 seed UIC in 2020. NKU also won the Horizon League in 2017 as the No. 4 seed. Green Bay claimed the 2016 Horizon League Tournament championship as a four seed, while Wright State won the 2018 Horizon League Tournament title as a two seed. All-time Butler has won seven tournament championships, the most in Horizon League history. Among current members, Milwaukee owns the most with four, with its last coming in 2014.
THE LAST DANCE
The last No. 1 seed to win the Horizon League Tournament came in 2015, when Valparaiso won the regular-season championship and defeated No. 2 seed Green Bay in the final, 78-69. Wright State claimed the 2020 Horizon League regular-season title with a league record of 15-3 (.833), and overall the Raiders posted a mark of 25-7 (.781). Wright State shared the 2019 Horizon League regular-season championship with Northern Kentucky in 2019, with the Norse claiming the 2018 regular-season crown.
THE HORIZON LEAGUE TOURNAMENT
First round and quarterfinal games in the 2020 Horizon League Tournament were played at the home of the higher seed, with the remaining games played in Indianapolis, Ind., at Indiana Farmers Coliseum. As the No. 4 seed in the 2020 Horizon League Tournament, UIC won on the road at IUPUI and at Youngstown State before knocking off No. 1 seed Wright State, 73-56, in the semifinals at Indiana Farmers Coliseum. The 2021 and 2022 Horizon League Tournament champion will also be crowned at Indiana Farmers Coliseum.
AN INSTANT RIVALRY
Youngstown State is the closest member of the Horizon League to Robert Morris, as YSU sits 58 miles from RMU's front gate. The Colonials and Penguins have squared off in non-conference action 13 of the last 14 seasons, and overall Robert Morris owns an 11-9 (.550) edge in the all-time series against Youngstown State. A total of 13 of the 20 meetings between the two programs have been decided by eight points or less. The farthest member in the Horizon League for the Colonials? That would be Wisconsin-Green Bay, which sits 657 miles from RMU's campus.
THE GREATEST COMEBACK
The biggest comeback in Robert Morris history came against a member of the Horizon League. The Colonials trailed Youngstown State, 57-34, with 16:07 to play Nov. 25, 2008, at the Charles L. Sewall Center. RMU outscored the Penguins, 40-15, over the final 15:29 of the game to earn a 74-72 victory. Former guard and current Director of Basketball Operations,
Jimmy Langhurst (2006-10), ignited a 17-2 run by scoring all 13 of his points during the spurt. Former guard Bateko Francisco (2007-09) capped the comeback and helped Robert Morris erase the 23-point deficit, as his jumper with 2.7 seconds to play lifted the Colonials to the win. RMU Pat Gallagher Head Coach
Andrew Toole was in his second season with RMU at the time and his first as associate head coach.
FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
RMU has never faced Northern Kentucky, Wright State, IUPUI, Green Bay or IPFW in program history and will square off with each for the first time in 2020-21. The Colonials are 7-8 (.467) all-time against Cleveland State as well as 0-3 all-time against Oakland. Robert Morris has played UIC and Detroit Mercy just once each, dropping both contests, and is 0-2 all-time against Milwaukee. RMU played the Panthers twice in a span of 15 days in February of 1977, the first year of NCAA Division I basketball for the Colonials, with a home-and-home two-game set.
HOW ABOUT THAT
Earl "The Twirl" Cureton played for both Robert Morris and Detroit Mercy during his collegiate career. Former RMU junior college head coach Gus Krop brought Cureton to Moon Township for the program's final season as a juco in 1975-76, and in its first foray into NCAA Division I in 1976-77, Cureton averaged 17.2 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. Cureton owns the RMU single-season record for rebounds (274) and remains the only student-athlete in program history to average a double-double in a season. Cureton transferred to Detroit Mercy and was drafted in the third round (58th overall pick) of the 1979 NBA Draft. He spent 12 seasons in the NBA, winning championships with the Philadelphia 76ers (1983) and the Houston Rockets (1994).
UP NEXT
Rising senior guard
Jon Williams has the most experience of any student-athlete on RMU's roster against Horizon League foes. He enters the 2020-21 season having averaged 8.8 points and 4.0 assists in five games against members of the conference while shooting 46.2 percent (12-for-26) from the field, including 50 percent (11-for-22) from beyond the arc. The first career double-figure scoring game for Williams came in his seventh NCAA Division I game, an 81-74 win @ Youngstown State Nov. 29, 2017. In that contest Williams contributed 11 points and five assists. Williams enters the 2020-21 season as RMU's active leader in assists (401) while having scored 665 points in 102 career contests.
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