Moon Township, Pa. – The
Robert Morris University women's basketball team begins its closing stretch of the regular season with a pair of road games at Oakland this weekend. The Colonials have won three of their last four contests, taking one from Youngstown State after sweeping Wright State the weekend before. Meanwhile, the Golden Grizzlies are coming off being swept at Cleveland State, which snapped a four-game winning streak. In the Horizon League's current tournament seeding based on adjusted league RPI, Oakland enters this weekend as the six seed while RMU sits ninth.
GAMES #13 & 14
Robert Morris Colonials (3-9, 3-9 HL) @ Oakland Golden Grizzlies (8-9, 8-6 HL)
February 5-6, 2021 // 3:00 p.m. / 1:00 p.m. // Rochester, Mich. – Athletics Center O'Rena (4,000)
Live Video: ESPN+ (Fri. / Sat.) // Live Stats: GoldenGrizzlies.com
Game Notes: Robert Morris // Oakland
History w/ Oakland
Overall: 0-0 | Home: 0-0 | Away: 0-0 | Neutral: 0-0 | Streak: N/A
Last Game: N/A
Robert Morris and Oakland have never played each other. With the Colonials' move to the Horizon League this season, the Grizzlies are seven league foes that RMU has never faced entering 2020-21, joining Detroit Mercy, Green Bay, IUPUI, Milwaukee, Purdue Fort Wayne, and UIC.
Scouting the Golden Grizzlies
Eighth-year head coach Jeff Tungate has Oakland at 8-9 overall and 8-6 in the Horizon League. The Golden Grizzlies dropped all three of their non-conference games at No. 25 Michigan (62-95), Toledo (59-71), and No. 25 Michigan State (56-94), but have split with Wright State and Youngstown State, and completed two-game sweeps of UIC, Detroit Mercy, and Purdue Fort Wayne. With two more victories, Tungate would reach the 100-win milestone.
Junior guard Kahlaijah Dean paces Oakland in most statistical categories, including scoring (15.5), rebounding (5.5), assists (4.4), steals (1.9), free throw percentage (.750), and minutes (31.1). She has reached double-figures scoring in six straight games, posting a pair of double-doubles over that stretch. Sophomore guard Alona Blackwell is also averaging double-digit points at 11.6 per game and has a team-best 36 three-pointers, while redshirt junior forward Breanna Perry leads the team in blocks (1.6) despite averaging just 13.0 minutes per contest off the bench.
The Golden Grizzlies rank inside the top 100 nationally in assists (15.2, 65th), turnover margin (+2.53, 71st), turnovers forced (18.06, 78th), and assist-to-turnover ratio (0.98, 85th). Oakland has struggled in rebounding margin (-6.0, 298th), field goal percentage defense (.435, 284th), personal fouls (19.5, 280th), free throw percentage (.642, 277th), and scoring defense (70.9, 265th).
Take Care
One area where RMU has shined in the 2020-21 season is taking care of the basketball. The Colonials give the ball up at an average of 14.1 times per game, which is the best mark in the Horizon League and ranks 63rd nationally. If RMU continues at this rate, it would establish a new record for fewest turnovers per game in a single season, which was originally established in the 2005-06 season at 14.5 turnovers per contest.
The Colonials have committed single-digit turnovers in three consecutive contests, giving it up eight times on Jan. 23 against Wright State, then nine and seven times respectively over the weekend versus Youngstown State. This is the first time that has ever happened in program history, with RMU's most only other two-game stretch of nine or fewer turnovers coming on Jan. 26-28, 2008 when it committed nine each against St. Francis Brooklyn and Central Connecticut.
You Gotta Have Sol
Rookie forward
Sol Castro has been terrific as of late, reaching double-figures scoring in four consecutive games with three double-doubles sprinkled in there. Castro is averaging 16.3 points on 50.0 percent shooting, 10.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.3 blocks over this four-game stretch, and has established new single-game highs in points (23), rebounds (15), assists (4), and blocks (2).
Castro's breakout started on the Jan. 22-23 weekend against Wright State, as she was named Horizon League Freshman of the Week after averaging 21.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks over the two contests. She posted her first double-double on Jan. 22, finishing with 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting and 11 caroms in a 50-43 win. The following day, the Rio Colorado, Argentina product scored 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting, adding five rebounds, two assists, and two blocks in a 68-65 triumph against the Raiders.
Castro became the first RMU player to receive a Horizon League weekly award, and the 15th different freshman in program history to garner a conference weekly honor. The last to do was
Esther Castedo, who was named Northeast Conference (NEC) Rookie of the Week on Jan. 16, 2019. Castro currently paces the Colonials in scoring (9.5), rebounding (5.8), field goal percentage (.441), and minutes played (29.3).
The Veterans
RMU has seen three of its seniors reach the 100-game milestone this season, as
Nina Augustin and
Honoka Ikematsu both met the mark on Jan. 2 against IUPUI, while
Laura Carrasco did so last Friday against Youngstown State. The trio are three of 32 players to play in at least 100 career games as Colonials.
With Augustin (106), Carrasco (101), and Ikematsu (100) all over the century mark, who is next to meet the milestone? Redshirt junior
Megan Callahan currently sits at 84 games, while true juniors
Natalie Villaflor and
Esther Castedo are at 75 and 74 contests, respectively.
Keeping It (Almost) 100
Over his 13-year career at Robert Morris, Sal Buscaglia turned one of the worst NCAA Division I women's basketball programs into a mid-major power, sending RMU to a quartet of NCAA Tournaments (2007, 2008, 2014, 2016) as well as the 2010 Postseason WNIT and 2012 Postseason WBI. By his side the entire time was his son,
Charlie Buscaglia, who took over for his retired father in 2016-17 and has since raised the bar even further.
Coach B, as he is respectfully called, is five wins shy of the 100-win milestone, owning a 95-46 (.674) head coaching record. He became the first head coach in NEC history to win four consecutive Coach of the Year awards, and left the league tied for the lead in that department. Buscaglia was bestowed with the Best Coach designation in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's College Basketball Decade in Review in 2019, and set school records for most wins by a first-year head coach (22, 2016-17) and single-season wins (25, 2017-18).
Call It A Comeback
Trailing 58-47 with 6:56 remaining in regulation on Jan. 23, RMU used a 21-7 run over the remainder of the contest to complete a two-game sweep of Wright State with a 68-65 win. Senior guard
Nina Augustin went on a personal 7-0 rally over that span, burying the game-tying three-pointer, go-ahead jumper, and insurance free throws to seal the victory.
This was the Colonials second double-digit point comeback in as many seasons, previously doing so on Dec. 18, 2019 at Norfolk State. In that contest, RMU trailed by as many as 13 points in the third quarter before forcing overtime, ultimately winning 69-62 with the extra frame. The Colonials' last double-figure comeback at home happened in the 2017-18 season, as they made up a 10-point second-half gap in a 62-49 triumph over Fairleigh Dickinson on Feb. 17, 2018.
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, and are 3-0 in 2020-21. All-time, RMU is 646-0 when holding the lead at the final whistle.
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