Moon Township, Pa. – The
Robert Morris University women's basketball team continues a four-game home stand and a stretch of eight of 10 games at the UPMC Events Center when it hosts Northern Kentucky for a pair on January 8-9. The Colonials were originally supposed to welcome UIC to Moon Township, but the Flames paused basketball activities prior to last weekend's slate due to positive COVID-19 tests within their program. This will be the third and fourth matchups between RMU and NKU this season, as the Colonials opened the 2020-21 campaign in the Bluegrass State on Dec. 12-13, 2020.
GAMES #7 & 8
Northern Kentucky Norse (4-5, 4-0 HL) @ Robert Morris Colonials (0-6, 0-6 HL)
January 8-9, 2021 // 1:00 p.m. / 12:00 p.m. // Moon Township, Pa. – UPMC Events Center (4,000)
Live Video: ESPN3 (Fri. / Sat.) // Live Audio: RMU Gameday App // Live Stats: RMUColonials.com
On-Air Talent: Adam Gusky (play-by-play), Jim Elias (color commentary)
Game Notes: Northern Kentucky // Robert Morris
History w/ Northern Kentucky
Overall: 1-5 | Home: 0-2 | Away: 1-2 | Neutral: 0-1 | Streak: L2
Last Game: Dec. 13, 2020 – Highland Heights, Ky. – Northern Kentucky 62, Robert Morris 50
Robert Morris trails in the all-time series against Northern Kentucky by a 1-5 margin, losing two earlier this season after winning the previous meeting in 2017. The Colonials are 0-2 at home against the Norse, having lost by margins of nine and two points in 2013 and 2015, respectively.
In the most recent meeting, RMU outscored NKU in the fourth quarter, 16-9, but ultimately couldn't fully make up a deficit as it fell 62-50. The Colonials outscored the Norse bench, 24-7, thanks in part to nine points from
Megan Callahan, and received a team-high 10 points from
Nina Augustin.
The only win for the Colonials in the series came in a non-conference matchup on Nov. 21, 2017, a 59-50 triumph in Highland Heights. It was the first victory of a school-record 25 accumulated by RMU in 2017-18.
Nneka Ezeigbo provided 16 points (8-13 FG) and seven rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench, and the Colonial defense held the Norse to 26.1 percent (12-46) shooting and a 1-of-17 mark (5.9%) from three-point land.
Megan Callahan added eight points, four rebounds, and a steal in her second career start.
Scouting the Norse
Led by fifth-year head coach Camryn Whitaker, Northern Kentucky is one of three league unbeatens at 4-0 alongside IUPUI (6-0) and Milwaukee (6-0). The Norse are 4-5 overall, dropping their first four contests to Cincinnati (67-73), Akron (60-70), Bowling Green (49-63), and No. 19 Ohio State (63-96), and most recently fell to No. 2 Louisville on New Year's Day, 74-64.
Redshirt junior guard Lindsey Duvall has been terrific this season, pacing the team in scoring (15.1) and rebounding (8.0) while shooting 46.2 percent on field goals, 41.0 percent on three-pointers, and 80.0 percent at the free throw stripe. She has scored in double figures in each of NKU's nine games, and posted three consecutive double-doubles from Dec. 3-12 - the final one coming against RMU. Sophomore guard Ivy Turner (9.8 PPG) and senior center Grayson Rose (9.0 PPG) also are near the double-digit mark for scoring, with Turner pacing the team in assists (2.8) and Rose topping her peers in blocks (1.6).
NKU ranks highly in the national landscape over a number of statistical categories, including rebounding margin (+10.4, 26th), personal fouls (14.9, 37th), and three-point field goal defense (.281, 94th). The Norse rank near the bottom in turnovers forced (13.33, 297th), turnover margin (-5.00, 305th), and steals (4.4, 330th).
The Veterans
Last Saturday's contest against IUPUI marked a milestone for senior duo
Nina Augustin and
Honoka Ikematsu, as that game was the 100th in both of their careers. The pair are two of three Colonials that are likely to hit the century mark this season, with classmate
Laura Carrasco (95 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.
You Gotta Have Sol
Freshman forward
Sol Castro has emerged as a reliable option on both ends of the floor this season, and had possibly her best game as a collegian in RMU's last contest against IUPUI. Castro led the Colonials with a career-high 15 points on 7-of-15 shooting, adding four rebounds, an assist, block, and steal against the Jaguars' talented group of post players.
Through six games, Castro - the first RMU freshman to start a season opener since
Honoka Ikematsu on Nov. 11, 2017 at Michigan State - leads the team in minutes (25.8) and field goal percentage (.452), slots second in scoring (6.7) and steals (1.2), and fourth in rebounding (2.7) and assists (0.8). The Rio Colorado, Argentina product has scored in double figures twice this season, first doing so on Dec. 19 at Milwaukee with a 10-point (4-5 FG, 2-3 FT) performance.
Home Cookin'
2020-21 has been an unconventional season thus far, including with home-road game splits. RMU has only played six games thus far and finally played at home with last 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 amount of games, the Colonials' four-game season-opening road swing was their longest since the 2014-15 season when they played their first five contests away from Moon Township. RMU is now 20-19 (.523) in home openers as a Division I program following its loss to IUPUI on New Year's Day.
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.
Bench Brigade
The Colonial bench has started 2020-21 by outproducing the opponents' reserves, averaging 20.7 points per game and 5.0 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.
Going Back to Cali
Redshirt junior guard
Megan Callahan was a bright spot offensively in RMU's first series at Northern Kentucky, as she went 5-of-7 (71.4%) on three-point attempts. Callahan went just 11-of-41 (26.8%) on three-pointers in 2019-20, but thanks to her performance against the Norse, she currently sits fifth all-time at RMU with a 37.6 percent conversion rate.
Callahan made all three of her attempts in the Dec. 13 tilt, finishing with nine points in 13 minutes. With one more trifecta, she will become the 16th Colonial to reach the century mark, joining her teammates
Honoka Ikematsu (161, 6th) and
Nina Augustin (107, 14th).
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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