Robert Morris men's basketball picked 5th by NEC coaches
With four starters and 10th-year coach Andy Toole returning from a team that advanced to the semifinals of last season’s Northeast Conference Tournament, the Robert Morris men’s basketball team was picked fifth in the NEC preseason coaches poll.
Among the returning starters are redshirt senior guard Josh Williams, junior guard Jon Williams and junior forward Charles Bain, who each started 35 games last season for Robert Morris (18-17, 11-7). The fourth returning starter, senior forward Yannis Mendy, started 33 games.
• Josh Williams averaged 14.5 points, including a 36-point effort in an 98-89 overtime victory against Cornell in the CIT postseason tournament. Williams made 103 3-pointers and became the second player in school history to surpass 100.
• Bain averaged 10.2 points and 4.7 rebounds while converting 45.8% (130 of 284) of his field-goal attempts.
• Jon Williams takes a streak of 68 consecutive starts at point guard into the new season.
• Mendy averaged 5.7 points and 3.9 rebounds and hit 56.7% (80 of 141) of his attempts from the floor.
RMU opens the season Nov. 7 against Marshall in the Men Against Breast Cancer (MABC) Invitational in Huntington, W. Va. The Colonials also will play Notre Dame (Nov. 9), Howard (Nov. 15) and Toledo (Nov. 16) during the tournament.
Robert Morris welcomes Pitt to the first game at Peoples Court at the UPMC Events Center on Nov. 12. The game will be televised by ESPNU.
Jerry DiPaola is a TribLive reporter covering Pitt athletics since 2011. A Pittsburgh native, he joined the Trib in 1993, first as a copy editor and page designer in the sports department and later as the Pittsburgh Steelers reporter from 1994-2004. He can be reached at jdipaola@triblive.com.
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