Top Story - The Robert Morris University men's basketball team, riding a season high five-game winning streak, starts a two-game road trip Thursday when it travels to Brooklyn, N.Y., for a 7:00 p.m. contest @ Long Island. The Colonials are coming off a 64-48 victory over Central Connecticut State (1/6/07) to help even their NEC record at 2-2 and complete a perfect 3-0 homestand. RMU will also travel to Teaneck, N.J, for a 7:00 p.m. contest @ Fairleigh Dickinson (1/13/07) during its swing. Thanks to its 10th win against CCSU, Robert Morris established a new NEC record while tying a school record for fastest to 10 wins. The 1988-89 Colonials also started 10-3 en route to an overall record of 21-9 and a spot in the 1989 NCAA Tournament.

Quick Stat of the Night - Robert Morris enters Thursday's game riding a season high five-game winning streak based in large part to its defense. In the last five games, opponents have shot just 40.7 percent (112-for-275) from the field in averaging 61.8 points per contest. Including RMU's current five-game winning streak the Colonials are in the midst of, the club has posted winning streaks of at least five games a total of 14 times in school history. By yielding an average of 61.8 points per game during the winning streak, it marks the second best defensive effort by the Colonials during a winning streak. In 1999-2000, Robert Morris allowed an average of 61.0 points per game in winning five straight from Feb. 5, 2000, to Feb. 17, 2000.

Thursday's Opponent and the All-Time Series - Robert Morris and Long Island will square off for the 54th time Thursday night, with the Colonials holding a 30-23 edge in the all-time series. The two clubs split the season series in 2005-06, with each team garnering victory on its home court. Robert Morris downed the Blackbirds, 70-66, at the Charles L. Sewall Center (1/14/06) before dropping a 74-69 decision at the Wellness, Recreation & Athletic Center (2/16/06). RMU carries a five-game losing streak into Thursday's game in Brooklyn, as the last victory came Feb. 26, 2000, with a 73-58 win at the Schwartz Athletic Center.

PROBABLE STARTERS

Robert Morris (10-3 / 2-2 NEC)

Long Island (5-9 / 1-2 NEC)

Head Coach Mark Schmidt (sixth season; Boston College '85) - The 2006-07 campaign marks Mark Schmidt's sixth year as head coach of the men's basketball program at Robert Morris University. He owns an overall record of 75-82 (.478), including a 51-45 (.531) mark in the Northeast Conference, and was named to his current post May 7, 2001. Schmidt guided the Colonials to their first winning season in six years in 2005-06 with an overall record of 15-14, including 10-8 in conference action. He also led RMU to the NEC Tournament semifinals for the second time in the last three years in 2006. In 2003-04 and 2004-05, he led RMU to identical overall records of 14-15. In 2001-02, Schmidt led Robert Morris to a 12-18 overall record, the most victories for a first-year head coach in the 30-year history of the Colonial men's basketball program.

Prior to RMU, Schmidt spent seven seasons as one of the nation's top assistants at Xavier University under current Wake Forest head coach Skip Prosser from 1994-2001. While with the Musketeers, Schmidt played a dual role, serving as both a coach and the program's top recruiter. His coaching responsibilities centered mostly around the post players, and he helped develop and recruit players at Xavier that have moved on to the professional ranks, including James Posey (Memphis Grizzlies), David West (New Orleans Hornets), Romain Sato (San Antonio Spurs), Lionel Chalmers (Minnesota Timberwolves) and David Young (Seattle Supersonics). Prior to his stint with Xavier, Schmidt served one year as an assistant at Loyola College in Baltimore, Md., also under Prosser. He also spent two seasons at Penn State University under Bruce Parkhill from 1991-93, and started his coaching career as an assistant at St. Michael's College in Vermont from 1989-91.

Schmidt's playing career was highlighted by four years as a guard/forward at Boston College, where he received his bachelor's degree in business administration and management with a concentration in marketing in 1985. The Eagles went 22-10 and made the NCAA Elite Eight during his freshman season in 1981-82 under head coach Tom Davis and 25-7 the next year in making the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen in his first of three years playing for current Maryland coach Gary Williams. Boston College reached the NIT second round in 1984 and the NCAA Sweet Sixteen again in 1985.

Scouting the Blackbirds - Long Island enters Thursday's game against Robert Morris with an overall record of 5-9, including a 1-2 mark in the Northeast Conference. The Blackbirds are coming off a 68-52 loss to St. Francis (N.Y.) and own a record of 10-4 in the Wellness, Recreation and Athletic Center, which opened in January of 2006. LIU has been led by senior guard James Williams, who ranks second in the NEC in scoring (16.1 ppg). The leading rebounder for Long Island is senior guard Aubin Scott, who pulls down an average of 7.9 caroms a contest. 

Long Island Head Coach - In his fifth season on the sidelines for the Blackbirds is Jim Ferry (Keene State '90), who owns an overall record of 152-97 (.610), including a record of 48-78 (.381) with Long Island. Prior to his stint with LIU, Ferry spent three seasons at Division II Adelphi University, where he guided the Panthers to an overall record of 82-11.

RMU's Last Game - Robert Morris remained perfect at home in the Charles L. Sewall Center and held Central Connecticut State to a shooting percentage of just 36.4 percent (16-for-44) en route to a 64-48 win over the Blue Devils Jan. 6. The Blue Devils hit their first four shots from the field, including three-pointers from Tristan Blackwood and Joe Seymore, to build an early 10-4 advantage three and-a-half minutes into the contest, but after that Central Connecticut State converted just 12 of its final 40 shots from the field as the RMU defense clamped down. Robert Morris took a 15-14 lead after a layup from junior guard Tony Lee with 13:12 to go before halftime, but Obie Nwadike answered with a layup of his own to push the Blue Devils back in front, 16-15. The see-saw battle continued until Robert Morris hung a 9-1 run on CCSU to take a 29-22 lead and eventually entered the break with a 29-24 advantage. During the spurt freshman guard Mezie Nwigwe came off the bench to hit a three-pointer, while Lee hit a pair of free throws and senior forward A.J. Jackson added a jumper. In the first five minutes of the second half RMU held Central Connecticut State to just 1-for-5 shooting and in the process stretched its five-point halftime lead into a 12-point advantage, 41-29, with 15:07 to play. Sophomore guard Jeremy Chappell scored five points during the run, while Jackson added a three-pointer. Chappell's jumper in the paint with 12:03 remaining gave Robert Morris its biggest lead of the game, 46-31, and the Blue Devils could whittle their deficit to single digits just once the rest of the game. Blackwood hit a pair from the charity stripe to make it 52-44 in favor of RMU with 6:18 to go. Senior guard Derek Coleman answered with a layup to push the Colonial lead back to double digits, 54-44, and Chappell's three-pointer from the corner with 3:22 helped seal the victory by giving RMU a 59-46 edge. Chappell scored 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting to pace all scorers and added eight rebounds, while Jackson recorded his 18th career double-double thanks to 13 points and 10 boards. He also added a career high three steals. Lee added 12 points, seven rebounds, three assists and four steals, while Coleman chipped in with 10 points and six assists.

Leading Scorers: Chappell (16), Jackson (13), Lee (12), Coleman (10)
Leading Rebounders: HJackson (10), Chappell (8), Lee (7), Harris (4), Coleman (4)
Assists: Coleman (6), Lee (3), Chappell (2), Jackson (2)

Central Connecticut State Game Notes - Robert Morris dominated on the glass against the Blue Devils, outrebounding CCSU by 20 (39-19) ... The Colonials also held a 13-9 edge on the offensive glass ... Guards Tristan Blackwood and Javier Mojica, who scored a combined 103 points in CCSU's first two NEC games, were held to a combined 15 points ... Blackwood finished just 1-for-9 from the field, including 1-of-7 from beyond the arc ... Blue Devil forward Obie Nwadike, who had 17 rebounds two nights prior in a win @ Saint Francis (Pa.) (1/4/07), grabbed just five rebounds ... Jeremy Chappell led RMU with 16 points, the first time in 13 games this season the sophomore guard has paced the Colonials in scoring ... RMU shot 45 percent (9-for-20) from beyond the arc, the first time in 10 games the club shot better than 40 percent from long range.

The Anatomy of a Five-Game Winning Streak - Robert Morris takes a five-game winning streak into its game Thursday @ Long Island, which ties the longest streak for the Colonials under sixth-year head coach Mark Schmidt. A look at some statistical numbers to show how RMU has reached its streak ... Robert Morris has shot 52 percent (142-for-273) from the field while holding its opponents to a shooting percentage of 40.7 percent (112-for-275) ... The Colonials own a rebounding margin of +5.0 during their winning streak, averaging 35.0 rebounds a game while yielding an average of 30.0 per contest ... RMU has converted 73.8 percent (76-for-103) of its free throws while its opponents have shot just 68.4 percent (54-for-79).

Center of Attention - While a lot of attention is paid to RMU's “Big Four” in regard to scoring, the Colonials wouldn't be carrying a five-game winning streak into their game Thursday @ Long Island without the contributions from senior center Freddie Harris. In the last five games Harris has become a bigger factor for Robert Morris, averaging 7.6 points and 3.6 rebounds in just over a shade of 20 minutes of work (20.2 minutes per contest). Even more impressive has been the shooting touch employed by Harris. In the last five games Harris is shooting a spectacular 70 percent (14-for-20) from the field.

Stingy - If Robert Morris is to extend its winning streak any farther than five games when it takes its show on the road this week for games @ Long Island (1/11/07) and Fairleigh Dickinson (1/13/07), the defensive intensity will have to continue. The Colonials enter Thursday's game against the Blackbirds currently leading the NEC in scoring defense, allowing an average of 66.0 points per game. That's just a shade ahead of Monmouth, which yields an average of 66.2 points per contest. Entering this season, RMU allowed an average of 72.0 ppg in five seasons under head coach Mark Schmidt. Keeping their opponent under 70 points a game has been beneficial for the Colonials in the Schmidt era, as well, as since the beginning of the 2005-06 campaign RMU is 14-3 when holding its opponents under 70 points in a contest.

On A Roll - Senior guard Derek Coleman notched his second career double double in RMU's Northeast Conference home opener against Quinnipiac (1/4/07), scoring 13 points and dishing out a career high 11 assists. In the first four league games of the 2006-07 campaign Coleman has done a solid job of creating offense, averaging 7.8 assists per contest, which leads the circuit. Even with his success distributing the ball, Coleman is in the midst of his best stretch shooting from the free-throw line. Entering Thursday's tilt @ Long Island Coleman has converted each of his last 17 opportunities at the charity stripe in his last six games. On the season Coleman leads the NEC in free-throw percentage at 90.6 percent.

Spread The Jam - One of the strength's for Robert Morris on the 2006-07 campaign has been the club's ability to be unselfish, and that has never been more evident than the during RMU's five-game winning streak. In the last five contests RMU has converted a total of 142 field goals, with the club posting assists on 87 of those baskets. That equates to over 60 percent (61.3) of the club's field goals. As a club so far this year Robert Morris is averaging 16.31 assists per game, which leads the Northeast Conference. The highest assist per game average by RMU in the six-year tenure of head coach Mark Schmidt is 15.2 dimes per contest, set in Schmidt's inaugural season as head coach in 2001-02.

Paint by Numbers - RMU's shooting woes from beyond the three-point arc in recent weeks has been well documented, yet despite those struggles the Colonials have begun to balance out their offense. Robert Morris looks for its sixth straight win Thursday @ Long Island having outscored its opponent, 182-98, in points in the paint in its last five games. As a whole RMU has done a more than adequate job of working the ball inside so far in 2006-07, averaging 33.2 points in the paint this season and outscoring their opponent in the category in nine of its first 13 tilts. Take away the three-point shooting by the Colonials in 2006-07 (32.7 percent) and Robert Morris is shooting 54.3 percent (260-for-479) in two-point field goals.

Did You Know? RMU's +34 scoring margin in its victories over Quinnipiac (1/4/07) and Central Connecticut State (1/6/07) is the best such mark by a Robert Morris club under head coach Mark Schmidt. The previous best was a +32 scoring margin in wins over St. Francis (N.Y.) (93-80; 1/10/02) and Long Island (85-66; 1/12/02) in Schmidt's first year as head coach in 2001-02.

Making It Count - An area of strength for RMU under the direction of head coach Mark Schmidt has been the ability of the team to convert at the free-throw line. Robert Morris has finished in the top five in the Northeast Conference in free-throw percentage each of the previous five years, including a league-best 75.4 percent (384-for-576) in 2003-04. So far this season the Colonials rank second in the circuit in free throw percentage, converting 72.6 percent (164-for-226) of their opportunites. Robert Morris has been even better in pressure situations, converting 78.6 percent (55-for-70) of its shots in the last five minutes of games. Senior guard Derek Coleman and senior forward A.J. Jackson have been at the stripe the most in crunch time, and they have come through, combining to hit 23 of their 26 opportunities (88.5 percent).

The Chappell Show - Sophomore guard Jeremy Chappell has battled through a sophomore season that has seen opposing defenses use a double team to make him work for shots. In RMU's recently completed homestand there are signs that Chappell is breaking out of his funk, as he led the Colonials with 16 points while adding eight rebounds in a 64-48 win over Central Connecticut State (1/6/07). It marks the first time in 2006-07 Chappell has led Robert Morris in scoring. In victories over Quinnipiac (1/4/07) and the Blue Devils, Chappell averaged 17.0 points and 7.0 rebounds while shooting 55.6 percent (15-for-27) from the field.