Robert Morris assistant Mike Iuzzolino is more than ex-NBA video game star

After a lull, Robert Morris is back in the hunt for another Northeast Conference men’s basketball championship.

The Colonials haven’t won an NEC title — and an accompanying NCAA Tournament bid — since 2015, a year before Mike Iuzzolino joined coach Andy Toole’s staff.

Toole’s right-hand man on the Colonials bench, Iuzzolino figures it’s about time to get back to the Big Dance, where Robert Morris is 2-8 in eight appearances.

“We only get to walk this earth one time in your life,” Iuzzolino said. “I’ve enjoyed all the experiences. I’d love to enjoy another trip to the NCAA Tournament.”

Yes, Iuzzolino would like nothing more Saturday than a victory over his alma mater, St. Francis (Pa.), which visits UPMC Events Center for the second game in two weeks between the teams.

St. Francis (20-8, 13-4) brings an eight-game winning streak, including an 86-71 victory over Robert Morris (16-14, 12-5) on Feb. 18 at DeGol Arena, and leads the third-place Colonials by a game in the NEC standings.

With first-year Division I member Merrimack, despite its half-game, first-place lead in the standings, ineligible for the NEC Tournament, the No. 1 seed will be determined Saturday in the regular-season finale at RMU’s Moon campus.

Robert Morris would get the top seed with a victory. St. Francis could claim the top spot by beating RMU for a second time.

“Mike’s leadership qualities are so important to our success,” Toole said. “In time, you really learn more about Mike. He’s incredibly thoughtful. He’s active on the bench, and we love it.”

Iuzzolino, 52, is no stranger to the NEC. He is a member of the conference’s hall of fame because of a stellar two-year playing career at St. Francis that led to the Dallas Mavericks selecting him in the 1991 NBA Draft.

“He’s a fierce competitor at heart. He’ll tell you like it is,” Robert Morris sophomore guard Dante Treacy said. “When he came to recruit me, I was like, ‘That’s the guy in NBA Jam.’ I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t forget his name.”

After making the Mavericks roster in 1991, Iuzzolino and Derek Harper were Dallas’ two representatives in the popular two-on-two video arcade game that allowed fans to play as their favorite NBA stars.

Before he was draining 3s in NBA Jam, Iuzzolino was a hot shot at St. Francis, leading coach Jim Baron’s Red Flash to the school’s only NCAA Tournament appearance in 1991, when he averaged a school-record 24.1 points as the team’s point guard.

He earned NEC Player of the Year and was drafted in the second round (35th overall pick) by the Mavericks, for whom he played two NBA seasons before enjoying a standout career in Europe.

“Mike had it all,” said Baron, who hired Iuzzolino as an assistant on his staff at Canisius from 2014-16.

“You know what he wanted when we recruited him at St. Francis?” Baron said. “He wanted keys to the gym. He was on a mission.”

Iuzzolino, who played on the same Altoona teams in high school as another former NBA player, Doug West, played sparingly at Penn State during his first two seasons before transferring to St. Francis for his final two seasons. He averaged 21.3 points per game as a junior.

In 32 games, the 5-foot-10 Iuzzolino shot 54.2 percent (227 for 419) overall and 52.8 (103 for 195) from 3-point range. He also converted 215 of 243 free-throw attempts (88.5 percent) and averaged 4.0 assists.

What’s more, Iuzzolino was two-time first-team CoSIDA Academic All-American and was named the Academic All-American of the Year for Division I men’s basketball in 1991.

“When I say Mike had it all, I mean he’s one of the best I’ve ever coached,” said Baron, who spent 29 seasons combined at St. Francis, St. Bonaventure, Rhode Island and Canisius. “The reason I say that is he did it on the court and in the classroom.”

Following an international playing career that included six years in Italy and two in Spain, Iuzzolino bounced around as a college assistant, including stints with the Saint Vincent men and the Duquesne women.

He’s thankful to be continuing his life’s work.

His son, also named Mike, is a 6-foot-1 guard at Canterbury School in New Milford, Conn., after beginning his high school career at North Allegheny.

“I have such a great life,” said the elder Iuzzolino, who lives in Wexford. “It’s such a blessing to be involved with basketball, something I’ve been doing my entire life. I love it here at Robert Morris, and I love working for Andy.”

But most of all, Iuzzolino wants to get back to the NCAA Tournament. The Colonials feel as though they’re close. A victory Saturday would go a long way in strengthening their confidence.