Robert Morris Blown Out at Oakland in Lackluster Defensive Performance

One of the biggest issues with this year’s Robert Morris (11-6, 3-3) squad has been the ability to defend shots cleanly, especially at the basket, and it proved to be the reason that the Colonials’ suffered a 23-point blowout loss to Oakland (8-8, 4-1) on Sunday afternoon as the Golden Grizzlies went 33-of-37 at the free throw line in the 96-73 beatdown.

The Colonials’ lack of interior defense popped up in game one at Iowa as they allowed the Hawkeyes to shoot 44 free throws and it has not slowed down since as opponents have shot 30-plus free throws five times this season, while four others have attempted at least 20 free throws. In fact, the Colonials have held just three Division-I foes to under 20 free throws in a game this season.

Outside of DeSean Goode, who recorded another impressive game with 18 points and eight rebounds, the Colonials were completely outmatched by the size and speed of the Golden Grizzlies’ offense.

Isaac Garrett led the Golden Grizzlies with 30 points as he went a perfect 16-of-16 from the free throw line and Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year Tuburu Naivalurua added 21 points. As a team, the Golden Grizzlies shot a combined 57% from the field and forced the Colonials into 24 personal fouls.

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Robert Morris jumped out to an early 4-2 lead on buckets from Albert Vargas and Goode, but that ended up being the only time that the Colonials led in the entire game. Oakland instantly opened up an 8-0 run that turned into a lengthy 26-9 outburst. The early run featured the Golden Grizzlies sinking all 11 of their free throw opportunities.

The Colonials found themselves down 26-13 after the run but started to show some life after Kaleb Brown cut into the 13-point deficit with a three that Goode followed up with a successful and-one chance that trimmed the Golden Grizzlies lead down to seven.

The Golden Grizzlies tried again to pull away as Garrett hit a smooth layup before Naivalurua nailed a sweet shimmy fade to push the lead back out to 10 points. The only thing that kept the Colonials around at that point was a pair of threes by Ryan Prather Jr. as his second of the bunch made the score 38-30.

After Prather finally missed again, the Golden Grizzlies went on a 6-0 run and it looked like the beginning of the end for the Colonials. The run ended with about a minute left in the half with the score at 51-35 and the Colonials were blessed to climb back to just an 11-point hole before the halftime buzzer as Cam Wilds hit a layup and three free throws after he was fouled attempting a full-court buzzer beater.

Instead of mounting a comeback on the slight momentum shift, Robert Morris continued to commit the same errors to start the second half as Oakland went on a 15-4 run in the first four minutes to extend its lead to 65-44. Before the Colonials knew it, the Golden Grizzlies lead catapulted to a 22-point advantage shortly after the under-12 timeout before reaching its peak of 31 points at 91-60 at the 4:23 mark.

The Colonials were able to go on a 13-6 run to close the game out that saved a smidge of face in the box score but ultimately it goes down as the biggest loss to a non-power opponent since a 30-point loss to Wright St. during the 2023-24 season.

Robert Morris’ week long break could not have come at a better time as the next time that the Colonials will be in action is next Sunday at the UPMC Events Center when they take on Purdue Fort-Wayne. The Colonials will then hit the road for another two Horizon League games before they get three-straight games at home in late January.