Robert Morris HC Andy Toole Pleads For Local Support as Season Winds Down

MOON TWP, Pa. — After Robert Morris lost to Purdue Fort Wayne on the last day of January, the Colonials were losers of two of three and held a 6-7 league record which put the team’s hopes of repeating as Horizon League champions on the back burner.

Fast forward nearly a whole month later, the Colonials are winners of six straight games and are in full control of their own destiny as they will be playing to clinch the No. 2 seed for the upcoming league tournament in the team’s regular season finale against Cleveland State.

Despite missing out on the chance to repeat as the regular season champs after Wright State clinched the title earlier this week, the Colonials are not only the hottest team in the league but they also are the lone team to claim a season sweep over the regular season champions.

While everything is pointing to another deep postseason run for the Colonials, as they have a sharpshooter in Ryan Prather Jr. that is playing his best basketball of late, a potential All-League frontcourt in DeSean Goode and Nikolaos Chitikoudis and a pool of role players that are finding their groove, only one thing is missing according to head coach Andy Toole.

The one thing that is missing is the support of the local community and Toole spoke about his wishes for more support and how crucial a real home-court advantage is following his team’s most recent win.

“It’d be great if we could get some more people here,” Toole said. “I wish more people would come out consistently to support these guys. I wish we could continue to get some more students out because I do think it makes a dramatic difference when you can create a home court advantage and a hostile environment.”

While the UPMC Events Center hosted its loudest crowd of the season on Wednesday when Robert Morris defeated Detroit Mercy for the team’s 20th win of the season, the stands were still more than half empty which is disappointing considering the fact that the Colonials have been the city’s best college basketball program over the last two seasons.

Last season, it took all the way until the Colonials’ home Horizon League Tournament game to pack the building full of supporters which was understandable in a sense as the program had to earn the respect of the locals back following a half decade of hardships since joining the Horizon League.

This year’s lack of support is anything but understandable though. Yes, the team faltered in the month of January but they rallied through the rough times and clinched the program’s first back-to-back 20-win seasons since the 2013-14 and 2014-2015 seasons.

Long story short, Toole and the rest of the staff at Robert Morris fought through adversity to deliver a more than respectable product on the court and the leader of the Colonials just wishes more people came out to support those efforts.

“Part of our job is to put a good product on the floor, and I think this year we’ve done that,” Toole said. “It’d be nice if we could get some more attendance to be able to create some more energy and atmosphere in the building.”

Even if you are not an alumni of Robert Morris, the UPMC Events Center helps create an attractive environment for all basketball fans that should make catching a game there one of the city’s hottest attractions, especially while the team is playing to the standard that they have been able to over the last two seasons.

“It’s amazing the number of people that come into the facility for the first time and watch a game and are like, ‘Man, that was so great. I didn’t realize how great that was. What an enjoyable experience,'” Toole continued. “
It’s high level basketball. You got good coaches, good players, good teams. 
You can go and get a couple Coors Lights or whatever you want, and enjoy yourself and be right on right there in the action.”

Despite the fact that it would be a better late than never situation, there are two more chances for the local community to come out and support the hometown NCAA Tournament hopefuls this season.

The first is on Saturday afternoon when Robert Morris hosts Cleveland State in the regular season finale and the second is next Wednesday evening when the Colonials will host a Horizon League Tournament game.