The Robert Morris men’s basketball team has punched their ticket for an NCAA Tournament bid by beating a pesky Youngstown State team in the Barbasol Horizon League Basketball Championship in Indianapolis.
RMU head coach Andrew Toole coached in the NCAA Tournament back as 2015, but this marks the 1st time the Colonials have earned a bid for The Dance since 2020 (before they were in the Horizon League), when they didn’t get to actually play in it.
“I don’t think that you ever are fully resolved from the emotions of that 2020 experience,” Toole said. “…I got a text from Chris King, our AD, and he basically said, we’re in trouble, right? And so that next day was Thursday, and it got canceled…Friday morning I walked into the worst locker room I’ve ever been in in my life…It was like going to a funeral. You know, those guys will always have that disappointment of not being able to participate in a tournament. But this is a different group. This is a different year. These guys have been unbelievable.”
In a game where every time it looked like Robert Morris might pull away Youngstown State kept climbing their way back into the game, it was a hot start for the Colonials the day after the Penguins played past midnight that made the difference.
Amarion Dickerson and Kam Woods made three-pointers on the Colonials’ first two possessions, and then Robert Morris scored 5 more points before Youngstown State finally got on the board almost 3 minutes into the game.
RMU would be paced in the game by Josh Omojafo’s 24 points, as he would be one of the team’s three players who were named to the all-tournament team. That team would also include DJ Smith and Woods.
Woods, who is playing for his 5th team in 5 seasons, was named the tournament MVP after scoring 17 points, grabbing 6 rebounds, and dishing out 5 assists. He also made the play that sent his team’s semifinal game into overtime.
“(Robert Morris) has been the place where I can be myself and find myself again,” Woods said after the game.
By winning the Horizon League regular season and tournament, Robert Morris completes an impressive turnaround that saw them move from 9th place in 2023-24 all the way to the top.
“I felt last year our biggest issue was our lack of ability to defend, right,” Toole said. “Either defending in space or defending with physicality. And so, we wanted to go out, and we wanted to look for guys that play with an energy and edge on the defensive side…Those were areas that we were so deficient last year; we just couldn’t get stops.”
The numbers bear out Toole’s observation, as last year’s group gave up 75.8 points per game, 7th in the league, while this year’s team only gave up 70.4, which got them up to 2nd in that statistical category.
The Colonials will wait until this weekend’s Selection Sunday to learn their seed and who they will play next.
