Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU men's basketball team announced
its 2021-22 roster Tuesday, which includes 13 student-athletes, nine of which will wear a Colonials uniform for the first time this season.
THE RETURN OF …
RMU returns two starters from last season in senior forward
Kahliel Spear and sophomore guard
Kam Farris. The duo combined to score 319 points in 2020-21, with Spear leading the way by finishing third for the Colonials at 9.9 points per contest and ranking fourth in the Horizon League in blocks per game (1.28). The last time the Colonials took the court in the first round of the
2021 Horizon League Tournament @ Detroit Mercy (2/25/21), Spear paced RMU with 22 points while adding five boards, three steals and two blocks, while Farris scored 15 points. In all, RMU returns 23.2 percent (319-of-1,374) of its scoring, 19.5 percent (126-of-646) of its rebounding and 12.4 percent (37-for-299) of its assists in 2021-22.
NICE TO MEET YOU
Of the nine newcomers on the roster for RMU in 2021-22, seven are transfers from a previous NCAA Division I institution. To get an in-depth look at each of the new Colonials, click on the name below …
| No. |
Name |
Pos. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Hometown |
Previous School |
| 1 |
Michael Green III |
G |
5'8" |
150 |
Bronx, N.Y. |
Bryant |
| 3 |
Rasheem Dunn |
G |
6'2" |
190 |
Brooklyn, N.Y. |
St. John's |
| 4 |
Mattia Acunzo |
F |
6'8" |
225 |
Sardinia, Italy |
Toledo |
| 11 |
Jaron Williams |
F |
6'6" |
210 |
Rock Hill, S.C. |
UT Martin |
| 13 |
Tristan Jeffries |
G |
6'6" |
185 |
Jersey City, N.J. |
St. Thomas Aquinas |
| 21 |
Matt Mayers |
F |
6'8" |
210 |
Hastings-On-Hudson, N.Y. |
Hutchinson C.C. |
| 23 |
Brandon Stone |
F |
6'11" |
200 |
Alverton, Pa. |
La Salle |
| 31 |
Ferron Flavors, Jr. |
G |
6'3" |
190 |
Federal Way, Wash. |
Oklahoma State |
| 35 |
Justin Winston |
F |
6'8" |
220 |
West Orange, N.J. |
St. Bonaventure |
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
The latest RMU roster is a true melting pot. The 13 student-athletes for the Colonials that make up the 2021-22 roster hail from eight different states as well as the District of Columbia. Included among the states represented for RMU in 2021-22 are New Jersey (Jeffries, Winston), New York (Dunn, Green III, Mayers), Pennsylvania (Stone), Rhode Island (Cheeks), South Carolina (Williams), Texas (Spear), Vermont (Farris) and Washington (Flavors, Jr.). Sophomore
Chase Cook hails from Washington, D.C., while the Colonials also bring international flavor with
Mattia Acunzo, who is from Sardinia, Italy, but played his prep basketball at Kennedy Catholic in Hermitage, Pa.
THE EARLY BIRDS
Forwards
Brandon Stone and
Justin Winston transferred to RMU in January and spent the spring semester practicing with the Colonials. Both began their respective NCAA Division I careers at Atlantic 10 programs, with Stone playing at La Salle and Winston at St. Bonaventure. In 25 games for the Explorers in 2019-20, Stone rejected 13 shots while averaging 3.0 points and 2.6 rebounds per contest. Winston, meanwhile, averaged 8.7 points and 3.4 rebounds during his rookie season with the Bonnies. He appeared in 31 games, including 28 starts, and contributed nine points and a pair of blocks in an 83-80 win over Duquesne (2/6/20) in a game that was played at the UPMC Events Center.
THE ELDER STATESMAN
Graduate student
Rasheem Dunn, a transfer from St. John's who began his career at St. Francis Brooklyn, enters the 2021-22 season having scored 1,407 career points at the NCAA Division I level. He also owns career totals of 306 assists and 146 steals and is just three rebounds shy of 500 for his career.
DID YOU KNOW?
As a member of the Terriers, Dunn recorded his first career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds against RMU (2/4/17) in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y., at the Generoso Pope Athletic Complex. The Colonials
prevailed in that contest, 78-54, behind a double-double from guard Isaiah Still (2015-17), who finished with 18 points and 10 boards. Dunn also recorded a double-double against RMU with 17 points and 10 caroms as the Colonials earned an 80-79 overtime win over the Terriers at the A.J. Palumbo Center Jan. 4, 2018. In that contest former guard Matty McConnell (2015-18) converted a
three-point play with 10.8 seconds remaining in OT that gave the Colonials the margin of victory. Dunn enters the 2021-22 season with five career double-doubles, including a 13-point, 10-assist performance @ Providence (2/6/21) last season with St. John's.
THE NAME GAME
The last member of the Colonials to join the latest recruiting class was senior forward
Jaron Williams, a transfer from UT Martin who joined RMU in May. Last season Williams finished second for the Skyhawks in scoring at 10.3 points per game, paced UT Martin in field goal percentage (.492) and also grabbed an average of 3.3 rebounds per game. The addition for the Colonials marks the fifth consecutive year the RMU roster owns a student-athlete with the last name of Williams.
THE ELDER STATESMAN PART DEUX
Graduate student
Ferron Flavors, Jr., a transfer from Oklahoma State who has also spent time at the NCAA Division I level at Fairfield and Cal Baptist, enters the 2021-22 campaign with career totals of 905 points and 207 three-pointers. During the 2019-20 campaign, Flavors, Jr., led the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in three-point field goal percentage (.439) and three-point field goals made per game (3.00). During his NCAA Division I career, Flavors, Jr., owns a three-point field goal percentage of 36.4 percent (207-for-568) in 88 games, averaging 2.35 triples per contest.
SHOW RUNNER
While Dunn can run the point for RMU, the Colonials should also be bolstered by the addition of
Michael Green III. A transfer from Bryant who was named the 2020 Northeast Conference Rookie of the Year, Green III averaged 16.0 points and 3.7 assists last season for the Bulldogs. He ranked seventh in the NEC in both scoring and assists per game, posting a career-high 33 points in a 93-88 triumph @ Massachusetts (12/21/20). Combined, the trio of Dunn (19), Flavors, Jr. (6) and Green (8) own 33 games eclipsing the 20-point plateau.
HOW ABOUT THAT
The only true freshman on the RMU 2021-22 roster is
Tristan Jeffries, who signed a
National Letter of Intent (NLI) with the Colonials in November of 2020. The Colonials also have one junior college transfer in junior forward
Matt Mayers, who spent the last two seasons at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas. Mayers was named to the 2021 NJCAA Division I All-America First Team, the 13th student-athlete for the Blue Dragons to earn the honor, after averaging 17.8 points and 9.4 rebounds during the 2020-21 season while shooting 59.6 percent (165-for-277) from the field.
RMU BASKETBALL SEASON TICKETS
Season tickets for
RMU basketball for the 2021-22 season can be purchased by calling the RMU Ticket Office at (412) 397-4949. Season tickets may be purchased for courtside, the Eat'n Park Club, center court premium, side court, baseline and upper sideline.
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