Robert Morris Colonials
NEC (20-14, 13-5)
Robert Morris has suffered through a few down years following their NCAA Tournament appearance in 2015. Last season though, the Colonials started to turn things around and reached the CIT. With an experienced squad, Coach Andrew Toole has built off that success and taken his team back to the NCAA Tournament in 2020.
Big Wins: 1/4 at Merrimack (69-58), 2/8 at Sacred Heart (61-58), 3/10 vs St. Francis (77-67)
Bad Losses: 11/30 at Cleveland State (59-70), 1/23 at St. Francis Brooklyn (57-78), 2/15 Fairleigh Dickinson (71-72)
Coach: Andrew Toole
Why They Can Surprise:
Few teams in the country share the ball better than Robert Morris. The team ranks 9th in the nation with 16.5 assists per game. They will work for an open look at the basket. And many of those open looks come from beyond the arc. Josh Williams shoots an impressive 41.7 percent from three-point territory and leads the team with 13.6 points per game. Joe Williams and Dante Treacy are not too shabby shooting the ball either, both hitting 39.6 percent of their attempts from long range. If the Colonials can manage to find those open looks against a tougher defense, they have the ability to score quite a few points.
Why They Can Disappoint:
However, the defense is a major concern. Robert Morris allows the opposition to score 67.1 points per game, which is not a horrible number, but the opposition shoots 44.6 percent from the floor. It will take a better effort than that to pull off a massive NCAA Tournament upset. What the Colonials want to do is force turnovers. They do that relatively well, but often if they do not get the turnover, RMU will give up an easy bucket. The Colonials will have to keep the defensive pressure up for 40 minutes and play one of their best offensive games of the season to reach the round of 32.
Probable Starters:
Dante Treacy, Sophomore, Guard, 8.7 ppg, 4.5 apg
Jon Williams, Junior, Guard, 6.3 ppg, 4.1 apg
Josh Williams, Senior, Guard, 13.6 ppg, 2.6 apg, 4.4 rpg
AJ Bramah, Junior, Guard, 13.0 ppg, 7.9 rpg
Yannis Mendy, Senior, Forward, 8.6 ppg, 4.7 rpg
Key Role Players:
Charles Bain, Junior, Forward, 6.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg
Jalen Hawkins, Sophomore, Guard, 7.3 ppg, 1.2 apg
Sayveon McEwen, Senior, Guard, 5.4 ppg
By the Numbers:
Scoring Offense: 69.6 (224th in nation, 7th in conference)
Scoring Defense: 67.1 (115, 2)
Field-Goal Percentage: 44.3 (144, 3)
Field-Goal Defense: 44.6 (264, 7)
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 8.3 (66, 3)
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 36.2 (44, 2)
Free-Throw Percentage: 67.1 (293, 10)
Rebound Margin: -0.7 (213, 6)
Assists Per Game: 16.5 (9, 1)
Turnovers Per Game: 12.8 (154, 4)
Recent Postseason Appearances:
| 2019 | CIT | First Round win over Cornell |
| 2019 | CIT | Second Round loss to Presbyterian |
| 2015 | NCAA | Opening Round win over North Florida |
| 2015 | NCAA | Round of 64 loss to Duke |
| 2014 | NIT | First Round win over St. John's |
| 2014 | NIT | Second Round loss to Belmont |
| 2013 | NIT | First Round win over Kentucky |
| 2013 | NIT | Second Round loss to Providence |
| 2012 | CIT | First Round win over Indiana State |
| 2012 | CIT | Second Round win over Toledo |
| 2012 | CIT | Quarterfinal loss to Fairfield |
| 2010 | NCAA | Round of 64 loss to Villanova |
| 2009 | NCAA | Round of 64 loss to Michigan State |
| 2008 | NIT | First Round loss to Syracuse |
| 1992 | NCAA | Round of 64 loss to UCLA |
| 1990 | NCAA | Round of 64 loss to Kansas |
*all team stats through 3/8
