Regardless of the outcome, this was a night that was bigger than the game of basketball. Tonight’s game was a fundraising event for Coaches vs. Cancer in honor of Director of Basketball Operations, Matthew Sweet.
Head Coach Andy Toole had some thoughts about what tonight meant outside of basketball.
“What an awesome night for Coaches vs. Cancer and Matt Sweet,” Toole said. “I am forever indebted to Mike Rhoades and Penn State for coming to the Events Center and playing us here. I thought we had a pretty good turnout, and I thought it was a great way to honor Matt and continue to raise some dollars for Coaches versus Cancer.”
The Colonials dropped this game to Penn State by a final score of 68-58.
Every game there are always things that need to be improved upon and with this being an exhibition game, the Colonials will look to get back out on the practice court and in the film room to get ready for the upcoming season that is less than two weeks away.
Tonight, Robert Morris was led by TJ Wainwright who had 15 points going 5-for-9 from the field coming off the bench. Andy Toole had some thoughts about what kind of step forward TJ Wainwright can make this season.
“I think he’s got to take a step similar to what he did tonight,” Toole said. “He’s worked tremendously hard in the spring and in the summer with areas in his game we wanted him to attack, perimeter shooting and being more consistent with that, some of his decision making. I thought he made some good decisions there were a couple times he got in a little bit of trouble. He showed some glimpses of being a really good contributor for us. I thought he did some really good things tonight.”
Playing in their first game with the program was guard Markeese Hastings, who put up 11 points and 13 rebounds, and guard Justice Williams who put up nine points with three assists.
Coach Toole had some thoughts about how they have been integrating with the program so far.
“They’ve been great, they really have been. They’ve been coachable, they’ve been really willing in terms of their work, they’ve been consistent in their work. I think there is always a little bit of an adjustment when you join a new team, they’ve been trying to do everything in their power to learn, to fit in, to grow, to be big parts of our team.
With the subtraction of two-star players last year in Enoch Cheeks and Kahliel Spear, Josh Corbin looks to grab the reigns of this team and become a leader while still producing at a high level.
Head Coach Andy Toole had some thought on what he wants to see from Corbin this year.
“I think that Josh certainly has a lot of the characteristics of somebody that can help lead your team, I mean I think we have a number of guys that have that. It’s a good group to be willing to lead because guys are consistent in their work, they’re about the team, about winning. So, those are really positive things in terms of our group, but Josh certainly has to be somebody we can rely on.”
Even though it was an exhibition game, you always want to win. Robert Morris will go back to the drawing board and try and fix some things like the number of turnovers they had (16) and the amount of points they gave up in the paint (40).
Andy Toole talked briefly about the team’s decision-making with the ball.
“Certainly, some of the decisions we had tonight were not very good, but it’s also something that they do (Penn State). They full-court press coach Rhoades has done that for a long time. We made some foolish kind of rushed decisions, we’ve got to get better at, we’ve got to be stronger on the ball. We are going to continue to work at it.”
Robert Morris will have a little under two weeks to finish ironing out these mistakes before the regular season begins.
The Colonials will be back in action Monday, Nov. 6, when they open up the season on the road against Xavier.
