Sacred Heart Welcomes Second Place Robert Morris on Thursday
2/18/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Game 28: Sacred Heart (12-15, 6-8 NEC) vs. Robert Morris (13-13, 9-5 NEC)
February 19, 2015 7:00 pm - William H. Pitt Center (2,067) - Fairfield, Conn.
Setting the Scene... The Sacred Heart University men's basketball team hosts Robert Morris on Thursday at 7 pm knowing that a win will clinch its first Northeast Conference Tournament birth since 2012.
NEC Standings... With a 6-8 conference record, the Pioneers hold a four game lead on the eighth and final postseason spot over Fairleigh Dickinson with four games to play. Robert Morris is currently tied with Bryant for second place with a 9-5 league record.
Series History... Robert Morris holds a commanding, 19-8, advantage in the all-time series between the two teams and is currently on a series-high six-game winning streak dating back to 2012. The Colonials have also won ten of the last eleven matchups. At home, RMU is especially dominant, winning 12 of the 14 meetings in Moon, including six straight. Robert Morris also won the first six ever played in Pennsylvania, before SHU won two straight in 2007 and 2008 ahead of the current streak. The away win in 2008 was the fourth straight over RMU for Sacred Heart dating back to 2006, which is the longest in the series for the Pioneers. The Pioneers have had much better success at the William H. Pitt Center, where they are one game under .500 at 6-7. The Colonials hold the edge as of late, winning three straight and five of the last six.
Last Meeting...Sacred Heart cut a 17 point second half lead to as little as six with 8:56 remaining, but Robert Morris closed the game on a, 22-8, run to pull away and win, 85-65, on January 18 at the Charles L. Sewall Center. Marcquise Reed and Lucky Jones combined for 46 points on 17-26 shooting, including 8-11 from beyond the arch. De'von Barnett led the SHU with 21 points and six rebounds.
Scouting Robert Morris... Despite defeating Central Connecticut at the buzzer, 53-52, on Saturday afternoon, the Colonials have lost three of their past five contests, and now sit at 13-13 overall and 9-5 in the NEC. All five of those conference loses have come by seven points or fewer. RMU is efficient on both ends of the floor, shooting 43.7 percent and holding opponents to 42.9 percent shooting, which both rank in the top three of the league. They lead the NEC in three-point field goal percentage, shooting 35.5 percent, and are third with a 71.7 percent free throw percentage. Robert Morris is led by a three-player attack. Marcquise Reed, Rodney Pryor, and Lucky Jones each rank in the top ten of the league, averaging 15.0, 13.7, and 13.7 points, respectively. Those three also rank in the top ten of the league in several other categories. Reed is second in the league in steals (1.9), fifth in field goal percentage (.527), and tenth in free throw percentage (.755). Pryor makes two threes per contest on 39.7 percent shooting, which ranks sixth and third respectively. Jones sits in the top ten in rebounding (6.4), free throw percentage (.780), steals (1.3), and three pointers per game (2.0). Kavon Stewart leads the team with an average of 4.0 assists each time out.
Career Numbers vs. Robert Morris...
NAME (GP-GS) PPG RPG APG MPG
Phil Gaetano (7-6) 3.3 2.0 6.4 32.6
Steve Glowiak (7-2) 9.3 2.1 0.4 26.7
Evan Kelley (4-3) 8.0 2.5 1.7 23.8
Tevin Falzon (5-2) 3.8 2.6 1.0 13.6
De'von Barnett (3-3) 12.3 4.8 0.7 32.0
Cane Broome (1-1) 9.0 1.0 2.0 23.0
Jordan Allen (1-0) 5.0 5.0 1.0 21.0
Filip Nowicki (1-0) 4.0 6.0 1.0 15.0
Chris Robinson (1-0) 2.0 1.0 1.0 5.0
Eyimofe Edukugho (1-0)4.0 - - 10.0
-Barnett scored a season-high 22 points on 8-12 shooting in a career-high 36 minutes at Robert Morris earlier this season. He attempted career high 10 free throws in that game.
-Kelley scored his 1,000th career point against the Colonials on January 18. He has averaged 10.0 points in the last three meetings.
-Gaetano is averaging 8.0 assists in the last three meetings.
-Glowiak is averaging 13.0 points in 25.0 minutes of action in his last two games with Robert Morris.
-Falzon has been held scoreless in the last two meetings with RMU.
-One of Broome's three games not reaching double digit scoring in conference play came at RMU.
-Nowicki's tied his conference-high in rebounds with 6 in the January 18 matchup.
Offensive and Defensive Efficiency... The two teams rank in the top three of the conference in both field goal percentage and field goal percentage defense. SHU is leading the NEC in both, shooting 45.6 percent from the field and holding foes to just 42.6 percent. The Colonials are third with a 43.7 percent field goal percentage and second with opponents shooting 42.9 percent.
Three Point Percentage Disparity... Based on percentage, Robert Morris is the best three point shooting team with a 35.5 percentage, while the Pioneers are at the bottom of the league at 31.6 percent.
Win and Your in... Holding a four game lead for eighth place over Fairleigh Dickinson with four games to play, either a Sacred Heart victory or a FDU defeat would clinch a postseason playoff birth for SHU for the first time since 2012.
In the Midst of a Tough Stretch... Thursday will be Sacred Heart's eighth straight game against a team that was in the top five of the NEC rankings at the time SHU played them. The Pioneers are 4-3 in the stretch so far, which started on January 24 at Bryant.
Happy to be in the Pitt... After two straight on the road, SHU returns to the William H. Pitt Center, where it is 8-5 on the year and has won three of its last four. The eight wins are the most for the program since a 9-4 home campaign in the 2009-10 season
-After the loss at St. Francis Brooklyn, Sacred Heart is now 3-10 on the road in 2014-15.
Rare Scoring Slump... The Pioneers have scored 62 points in back to back games, its two lowest scoring outputs in conference play. This comes after its two highest scoring outputs of the NEC season in the previous games two games against Wagner (86) and Bryant (84).
The 62 points in the win at the Mount is the fewest for SHU in a win this season.
Find the Stroke From Deep... Sacred Heart has gone 6-12 from beyond the arch in consecutive games. SHU only had one game of at least fifty percent in the entire season prior to the two game stretch.
