MOON TOWNSHIP– After a less-than-ideal start to the conference season, the Robert Morris men’s basketball team began the road to righting some wrongs with a 92-48 victory over IUPUI.
IUPUI grabbed the lead early on when they went up 6-2 minutes into the game. But by the time the first media timeout came around, the Colonials had grabbed the lead and never gave it up.
It was a game of milestones for the Colonials. It was the largest conference margin of victory since 2011. Josh Corbin scored his 800th point and Makrkeese Hastings reached 700 rebounds.
Although this game was chalked full of positives, the impressive depth scoring has to be chief among them.
92 points in total for the Colonials, and yet not one player went for over 20. All five starters went for double digits. Alvaro Folgueiras continued his coming-out party with 12, and Chris Ford doubled his season average with 10.
Head Coach Andy Toole spoke on his team’s depth scoring.
“We don’t necessarily sit there and say, ‘Hey, we want so-and-so to get x, and so-and-so to get y.’ We want to take really good shots down the floor each time. I thought that our ball movement was good and did a good job of playing inside out.”
“We have got to keep trying to stay with that,” Toole said. “Some of our best teams have had multiple guys that have averaged from nine points to 15 points.”
After the teams’ rocky start to conference play, Coach Toole noted the effort level as the difference in tonight’s game.
“Our ability to give multiple efforts was great, and that’s how it has got to be. We’ve got to be able to find ways to make that the norm instead of the exception to the rule.”
Despite the massive win in terms of point differential, Coach Toole was not thrilled post-game. Likely due to his team’s struggles this season, he did not mince words throughout the post-game press conference.
“Some of our defensive efforts have not been up to the level that we’ve defended at throughout my time here. It’s a frustration and it’s a little bit of an embarrassment that we can’t give the effort required, and so it was good to see the effort tonight. But it can’t wane and can’t go back.”
Defense and offense both came with effort tonight as the Colonials shot a staggering 37% from three and 61% from the field, while the Jaguars were held to 20% from three and a dismal 32% from the field.
Robert Morris looks to stay hot throughout this four-game homestand when they take on Wright State next Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the UPMC Events Center.
