Robert Morris Sees Season Hit Rock Bottom With Loss to IU Indy

The Robert Morris men’s basketball team was put together with the hopes of returning to Indianapolis for another chance to win the Horizon League and they got off to a promising start to the season as they sat at 10-4 with a 2-1 league record.

Since that point, the Colonials (11-8, 3-5) have lost four of their last five games and just dropped an overtime game to IU Indy (5-15, 1-8), the league’s last placed team. Prior to Thursday’s stunner, the Jaguars were winless since Horizon League play started, dropping each of their first eight contests.

Final. pic.twitter.com/4b8xIMXyJT

— RMU Basketball (@RMUMBasketball) January 16, 2026

Notables

The Jaguars’ win put a stain on former DeSean Goode’s return to The Jungle, as he earned Horizon League All-Freshman honors a season ago as a member of IU Indy. While the Colonials lost, Goode was one of the bright spots on Andy Toole’s squad once again, as he posted 20 points and eight rebounds.

The other bright spot was Ryan Prather Jr., who finished as the team’s leading scorer with 21 points as he went 5-of-8 from three-point range.

Despite the solid nights from Goode and Prather, the Colonials played fell victim to the same problems that have held them back of recent: inconsistent effort and bad defense.

To start, Robert Morris held multiple double-digit leads through out the game including a 12-point lead early in the second half and a separate 10-point lead midway through the period, but as quickly as the Colonials went on scoring runs, they allowed the Jaguars to immediately match or one-up them with runs of their own.

The Jaguars managed those runs on the back of their full-court press that gave the Colonials problems all night long as they committed 18 turnovers that led to 33 points for IU Indy.

Additionally, the Jaguars brought a high-powered offense into the game as they averaged 84.9 points per game and it was the worst possible matchup for the Colonials. During the recent skid, the Colonials have not been a good defensive team as they have allowed great team shooting percentages and a boat load of free throws.

Neither of those things changed against IU Indy. The Jaguars managed to shoot 48% from the field and 44% from three, but most importantly, the Colonials fouled 25 times which led to the Jaguars to go 26-of-35 from the free throw line.

Game Recap

Robert Morris started the game off with the correct pace and tempo as it jumped out to a quick 15-5 lead as the Colonials made five of their first six shots including back-to-back three from Darius Livingston Jr. that capped off a 12-0 scoring run.

Immediately, IU Indy started its trend of matching scoring runs as it did just that, going on a 12-0 run behind three consecutive turnovers to take a 17-15 lead.

That 12-0 run turned into a 16-3 run and it gave the Jaguars a 21-18 lead but the Colonials answered with Prather’s first triple of the night to tie the game up. The two teams went onto trade the lead three times over the next four minutes before a pair of free throws from Ta’Zir Smith just before the half put the Colonials ahead 41-38.

The Colonials started the second half on a long scoring run just like they did the first, as they opened up a 12-point lead at 52-40 just three minutes into the half. But again, the Jaguars matched with a 10-2 run that cut the score back down to 54-50.

Robert Morris started trading twos for threes which allowed them to reclaim a 10-point lead at 64-54 with 10:04 left in the half.

That is when IU Indy ramped up its full-court press again and caused another series of turnovers that led to an 11-0 run and the Jaguars taking their first lead of the second half. Kyler D’Augustino, the Jaguars’ leading scorer with 28 points, capped the run off with four-straight buckets.

The Colonials quickly jumped back ahead on a three on the other end of the floor by Albert Vargas. They used that momentum killer to build a new small lead, but Jaxon Edwards, who finished with 25 points, scored the Jaguars’ next eight points on free throws. He went 13-of-15 from the line in the game.

Edwards’ personal run put the Jaguars back ahead 77-76 before a back-and-forth end of regulation happened. The teams saw the score be tied at 79 before a backdown floater by D’Augustino over Smith with 16 seconds left ended up being the score that sent the game to overtime. Vargas attempted a turnaround game-winning shot at the buzzer but all it found was the back of the rim.

IU Indy turned a couple of early mistakes into an 88-84 lead midway through the overtime period before Smith carved into it with a three at the 1:42 mark. The teams started to trade sloppy defensive possessions as the game’s next 10 points all came from the free throw line.

The series of free throws took the time down to 25 seconds and the Jaguars held a 94-91 lead. Vargas and the Colonials rushed the ball down the court and he tried to wrap baseline, under the basket, for a quick midrange two but it missed and so did the ensuing tip-in attempt.

That led to a game-clinching dunk on the other end by Micah Davis and it gave the Jaguars its first Horizon League victory this season.

Next Up

Robert Morris will take its three-game losing streak to Northern Kentucky (14-6, 6-3) on Saturday. The Norse already beat the Colonials two weeks ago in Moon Township, 79-77.