Colonials go cold on trip down South
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- On the surface, Robert Morris' lone takeaway from a 64-47 loss Wednesday night to Memphis was obvious: the end of a three-game winning streak, a sour ending to a December that saw six wins in its previous seven games.
But as coach Andrew Toole pondered the game's upshot outside the locker room after the game, he found "a ton of teachable moments."
Every moment in practice where the Colonials aren't sharp, every lack of focus -- they all get exposed in a road game against a team that started the season ranked in the top 10.
"They rear their ugly head in this kind of game," he said.
Ugly is a good word to describe Robert Morris' shooting, too.
The Colonials made just six of their 31 shots in the first half, a nasty percentage of 19.4 percent that led to a 32-18 halftime deficit.
They finished shooting 23.2 percent, but made just three of their 18 3-point attempts.
"We just couldn't make a shot; it wasn't anything they were doing," said junior guard Velton Jones, who saw his streak of 19 consecutive games in double figures snapped. He scored seven points and was 2 for 13 from the field.
"Shots we usually make, we didn't make them tonight," he said.
The Tigers did have something to do with it, though. In front of an announced crowd of 16,436 at FedExForum, they blocked 13 shots -- seven of them by forward Tarik Black.
"If you go up lazy, they manage to block the shots," said forward Lucky Jones, the Colonials' lone double-digit scorer with 10 points.
Will Barton scored 27 and grabbed 13 rebounds for Memphis (7-5). Barton made five 3-pointers. The Tigers, who shot 51.1 percent, emptied their bench at the end, playing 14 players.
"I know the fans will probably say 'Oh, it's only Robert Morris,' " Memphis coach Josh Pastner said. "Trust me, Tiger nation, that is a good basketball team. They are picked to win their league, and they are a veteran team. That's going to be a good, top-100 RPI win,"
Toole said he told his team at halftime to "just attack," which he said fit more of its identity. It resulted in a bit more efficient second half, but not much -- the Colonials still missed 28 of their 38 field goal attempts.
The Colonials (10-3) play the third game in their five-game road trip Monday at Ohio.
First Published December 30, 2011 12:00 am
