Last season, Robert Morris and Youngstown State met in the Horizon League championship title game. It was the Colonials who earned the conference’s autobid to the NCAA Tournament. The defending champs and the Penguins were two preseason contenders entering this season and have looked the part to this point.
Robert Morris split its road trip at Milwaukee and Green Bay two weeks ago, while Youngstown is the lone 2-0 team in the Horizon standings. This makes the battle in Moon Township between these teams all the more critical, as a road win by the Penguins makes them the clear favorite for the regular season title.
Here are the keys to Robert Morris pulling off the win.
1. Winning the interior battle
One area where the Colonials have a clear advantage is on the inside, led by the starting frontcourt duo of DeSean Goode (13.4 ppg and 8.9 rpg) and Nikolaos Chitikoudis (12 ppg and 6.8 rpg). In the recent comeback win over Toledo, the two combined for 29 points and 24 rebounds.
Youngstown isn’t a big team, with 7’0 center Imanuel Zorgvol (7.7 ppg and 3.1 rpg) as the lone rotation player over 6’7. As the top rebounding team in the Horizon League, RMU will look to take advantage, including getting some extra possessions off misses.
2. Don’t get killed in the 3-point battle
If Robert Morris dominates inside, then the following key may not matter as much. But the Penguins have been excellent on perimeter defense this season, ranking top-6 in the nation by allowing just 4.7 three-point makes per game at 27%. RMU is average overall from deep, making just under eight a game, and only point guard Albert Vargas (41% on 3.7 attempts) is the main consistent threat among those who take more than two shots from deep a game.
Youngstown makes 10.5 3-pointers per game from deep, with several rotation players shooting over 40% from deep. If the Penguins dominate in this category and can hold their own on the boards, that’ll be how they win on the road.
3. Ryan Prather matches Cris Carroll’s consistency
While Youngstown State is a fairly balanced offensive unit overall, the star who has emerged is Carroll, who leads them with 15.1 ppg on 52% FG shooting and 46% from deep on six attempts. What’s interesting about Carroll is that he’s yet to score 20+ points in any of his 11 games, with the margin being between 11-19 and 7-12 field goal attempts.
Robert Morris has its own scoring wing forward in Prather, second on the team with 12.3 ppg, shooting 40% from the field and 28% from deep. The junior’s production has been much broader, with three games of 17+ points and three with eight or fewer points.
If Prather has a big outing, the Colonials’ odds of winning Wednesday night will be high.