Playing with virtually an entirely new lineup this season, Robert Morris again is streaking.
Winners of five games in the past six — the loss was a two-point decision to Milwaukee — the Colonials (9-4) head east to the mountains Saturday for what might be their last time facing old nemesis Saint Francis (2-10).
Tipoff at DeGol Arena in Loretto is 1 p.m.
“We’re building some confidence. We’re going through this for the first time with most of these guys.” said Robert Morris coach Andy Toole, who has reshaped his roster for a second consecutive season with a heavy infusion of transfers.
IU Indianapolis transfer DeSean Goode, a 6-foot-8 senior, leads the Colonials in scoring (13.6 ppg) and rebounding (9.2 rpg).
On Friday, Goode was named to the early-season watch list for the Lou Henson Award, presented annually to the top Division I Mid-Major player.
It’s becoming a familiar scenario for the Colonials, who got hot a year ago with a revamped lineup and won 16 of 17 games, including an 89-78 victory over Youngstown State that clinched their first Horizon League Tournament championship.
Through RMU stayed close to No. 2 seed Alabama throughout an NCAA Tournament first-round game before losing 90-81, the Colonials came away with a splendid 26-9 record, their most victories in a season since a 26-11 mark in 2011-12, Toole’s second at the helm.
The Colonials on Tuesday won a rematch, outlasting the Penguins, 80-77 in overtime, at UPMC Events Center, their fourth victory in six games decided by five points or less.
“I wish that game was not on break so we could have some students there,” Toole said. “I thought that game should have been on (free) TV. (A number of Robert Morris games can be seen on ESPN+ with a subscription). It would’ve been a great product for people to see the quality of basketball, the quality of player that’s in the Horizon League.
“Having that come this early on your schedule teaches you about yourself and also shows some areas that we’ve got to continue to tighten up and improve. We made enough plays to get out with a win.”
In a storied regional rivalry between Robert Morris and Saint Francis, the 94th meeting could be their last. Virtually all the games were played when both teams were members of the Northeast Conference.
RMU, which leads the series, 55-38, left the NEC in 2020 to join the Horizon, and Saint Francis announced it is dropping out of Division I at the end of the school year and will transition to the Division III Presidents’ Athletic Conference.
The show must go on
It was touch-and-go for veteran Duquesne play-by-play man Ray Goss in the Dukes’ most recent game a week ago, a 78-75 loss at Nevada.
Goss, Division I’s longest-tenured basketball play-by-play announcer by a single season over Pitt legend Bill Hillgrove, doesn’t go to all the road games anymore — he’s 88 and lives in Indiana, Pa. — and Dec. 13 was one of those no-shows.
But it doesn’t mean Goss, who has called nearly 1,700 games, has lost his passion for getting the word out on Duquesne’s iHeartRadio broadcasts.
Goss was ready to work the game from his house on a conference call with substitute color man Darren Zaslau, a producer and board operator when the video stream on the Mountain West Network went down.
The failure presumably was caused by a power outage at Lawlor Events Center in Reno, Nev., that forced the cancellation of an earlier women’s game between Pacific and Nevada.
“It reminded me of Rosey Rosewell,” Goss said of the legendary former Pittsburgh Pirates announcer. “He’d be at all the home games, but he didn’t go to the away games. He’d watch the ticker tape. You could hear it in the background — ‘tick-tick-tick-tick’ — and he’d say, ‘Ball one.’ That’s what it remined me of.”
The group followed the internet play-by-play from Reno during the first half before video was restored at halftime.
“When we lost the picture, we were thinking about not even doing it,” Goss said. “But then, all of a sudden, Darren saw the play-by-play, and there was 19 minutes and 48 seconds left and I just started to recite what was happening and Darren jumped in with some comments of his own.”
Duquesne (6-5), idle since a two-game trip to Boise State and Nevada, is back in action Monday night against Canisius (5-7) at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse in search of its first victory since beating Stony Brook, 84-75, at home on Dec. 6.
Goss is thankful he won’t likely have to rely on a video feed to call the game.
“I plan on being there to see it in person,” he said.
