The Horizon League Tournament is fully underway, with Green Bay clinching its tickey to Indy with a win over Purdue Fort Wayne on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, there are four other games to determine the other teams, including 2-seed Robert Morris taking on 9-seed, Youngstown State.Â
The last time these teams faced off in the postseason, it was in the Horizon League Tournament finals, where the Colonials won its first conference title after leaving the NEC. This year, RMU beat the Penguins both times, but just by nine combined points, with one coming in overtime in Moon Township.
The teams are back there Wednesday night, with Robert Morris looking to avoid an upset. Here are three keys to the game to watch.
1. Defending Cris Carroll
The most important player on the Penguins to deal with is Carroll, 4th in the Horizon League with 17.4 ppg, shooting 48% from the field and 40% from deep on seven attempts a game. He has a season-high 34 points against Green Bay and against RMU, went for 31 points in the overtime defeat, as well as 20 in the other loss.
Carroll also had 11 combined turnovers in the two games against the Colonials, whose defense has been at a high level. A rough outing from him will make it nearly impossible for Youngstown to pull off the upset.
2. Nikolaos Chitikoudis vs the Penguins interior
While DeSean Goode is the Horizon League Player of the Year, RMU has gotten great frontcourt play from both starters, with Chitikoudis averaging 17 ppg and 11 rpg in the final four games. But he had two of this rougher performances against the Penguins, including going 4/18 from the field in the first game, before taking just two field goal attempts at YSU in Round 2.
Not only is Chitikoudis on the Horizon League all-defensive team, but so is 7’0 center Imanuel Zorgvol, who leads the conference with two blocks per game and had seven combined blocks in the two outings. Yes, a big outing from Goode could make this point moot but if both RMU forwards take control inside, that’ll lead to a win.
3. 3-point x-factors
One area where both teams are prolific at is from beyond the arc. RMU ranks 27th nationally at 37% shooting from deep, while YSU makes 10 three-pointers a game, good for 32nd in the country, although, they’re not as efficient.Â
Both teams are also in the top-3 in the Horizon League at defending the three-point shot, so threes could also be hard to come by. RMU’s interior advantage can offset any barrage of threes from the Penguins but if one team clearly wins the battle from beyond the arc, that could determine the outcome of this game.