Robert Morris guard Velton Jones (2) fouls Kentucky forward Willie Cauley-Stein (15) during the first half of an NIT college basketball game on Tuesday, March 19, 2013, in Coraopolis, Pa. (AP Photo/Don Wright)
WILL GRAVES, AP Sports Writer
MOON, Pa. (AP) – Mike McFadden hit two free throws with 8.7 seconds remaining and Robert Morris shocked defending national champion Kentucky 59-57 in the opening round of the NIT on Tuesday night.
The Wildcats decided not to call timeout after the second free throw but Kyle Wiltjer’s 3-pointer before the buzzer bounced harmlessly off the rim, sending hundreds of students onto the court as Robert Morris ruined Kentucky coach John Calipari’s homecoming.
Lucky Jones led the Colonials (24-10) with 15 points but was ejected for a flagrant foul on Archie Goodwin with 3:41 to play. Kentucky, which trailed by 13 in the second half, managed to tie it twice but could never grab the lead.
Goodwin scored 18 points for the Wildcats but couldn’t stop Kentucky’s disappointing season come to a stunning end.
The victory was validation for the Colonials, who won the Northeastern Conference regular season title with ease but were upset in the conference tournament. The loss relegated the school to the NIT, but it hardly felt like a letdown in perhaps the biggest win in the program’s history.
“I know they were disappointed not to get to NCAA tournament. This is a memory they’ll get for rest of their lives.” Robert Morris coach Andy Toole said in the giddy aftermath.
Robert Morris will advance to the second round, while Kentucky’s injury-marred underachieving year came to a merciful end. The Wildcats were never the same after center Nerlens Noel went down with a devastating knee injury. Kentucky dropped six of its final 10 games, the last one coming in a somewhat rickety gym in the Pittsburgh suburbs.
The Wildcats let the Colonials race to an early 10-0 lead, only led briefly at the end of the first half and appeared disinterested to spoil the return of a hometown kid made good.
Calipari was born in Pittsburgh, grew up a couple of miles from the Robert Morris campus and played guard at Moon High a couple of 3-pointers away. He returned to Western Pennyslvania to finish up his college playing at Clarion and served as an assistant coach at Pittsburgh in the 1980s before hitting the big-time.
The homecoming, however, was less happy than hostile.
Fans scooped up the 3,500 tickets in a matter of hours on Monday then lined up outside in the blustery March wind well before tipoff of arguably the biggest game in school history. Robert Morris averaged barely 1,000 fans during its 15 home games, yet there were scalpers asking for $75 to get in the door.
Though disappointed in missing the NCAAs, in a way, it may have served as a blessing.
While the NCAAs would have provided Robert Morris with a brief moment in the sun, the NIT gave the school of just over 3,600 undergraduate students an opportunity to host one of college basketball’s big boys on its own turf.
Kentucky earned a top seed in the NIT but was forced to hit the road because Rupp Arena is hosting NCAA games this weekend. Though Calipari warned his team to be ready, the Wildcats hardly looked thrilled to be there, and it showed.
Robert Morris scored the game’s first 10 points while the Wildcats ‚Äî who typically play in front of home crowds in excess of 23,000 ‚Äî stumbled their way through a series of miscues and appeared rattled in a gym with wooden bleachers that swayed underneath the feet of a clamoring student section chanting “Bobby Mo” every chance it could.
Senior Jarrod Polson came off the bench to steady things, and Kentucky recovered to get within 28-27 at the break.
Yet the Colonials never folded, making 8 of 12 shots during one stretch to move back in front 49-36 then holding off a late Kentucky push to send students leaping over tables and onto the floor in a delirious celebration.
KENTUCKY (21-12): Cauley-Stein 4-6 1-4 9, Poythress 3-7 0-0 6, Goodwin 5-8 8-8 18, Harrow 2-3 0-0 5, Mays 1-5 2-2 5, Hood 1-2 0-0 2, Polson 4-5 2-4 10, Wiltjer 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 21-40 13-18 57.
ROBERT MORRIS (24-10): L. Jones 4-5 6-6 15, Johnson 5-11 2-2 14, McFadden 3-4 2-2 8, Williams 2-4 0-0 6, Myers-Pate 3-7 0-0 6, V. Jones 3-7 2-2 8, Appolon 0-1 0-0 0, Anderson 0-5 2-2 2, Hawkins 0-0 0-0 0, Armstrong 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-44 14-14 59.
Halftime_Robert Morris 28-27. 3-Point Goals_Kentucky 2-10 (Harrow 1-2, Mays 1-4, Hood 0-1, Poythress 0-1, Wiltjer 0-2), Robert Morris 5-16 (Williams 2-4, Johnson 2-4, L. Jones 1-2, Appolon 0-1, V. Jones 0-1, Myers-Pate 0-1, Anderson 0-3). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Kentucky 25 (Goodwin 7), Robert Morris 19 (Johnson 5). Assists_Kentucky 7 (Polson 3), Robert Morris 10 (V. Jones 5). Total Fouls_Kentucky 17, Robert Morris 20. A_3,444.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
34 Responses to Robert Morris stuns Kentucky in NIT, 59-57
Leave a Reply
Blue Zoom Radio Show
Polls
Loading ...Choose Your Favorite!
we gave a good efort alot fo people say give some the players their walking papers me? i’d like to see them come back maybe during the off season they could have worked on their game and could surprise alot of people even people who has even bashed them and they may even get their props from people who bashed them as for me i will NOT bash them and hope they come back again love me cats GO CATS!!!!!!!!!!
NO ONE should bash these kids as people, but, as PLAYERS, they can expect and deserve to take a lot of criticism. And by criticism I mean for their play, work ethic and anything else basketball related, not for anything personal. No young kid deserves to take personal criticism from fans. We don’t know what it is like to be them.
I like these kids as people, but think they are a complete waste as a basketball “team”.
If any of them decide to stay, I will still be in their corner and hoping that they can do as you want and surprise all of us.
Larry Pup…..sir, how do u like ur team now??
I still like my team pal. What are you doing, playing gotcha? You are a real piece of work Mike I’ll say that for you.. It was a perfect storm for RM.. We were doomed if we did or didn’t win. They played UK tough. I give them credit. There will be another day and team next year. I can wait. Are you really a cardinal in disguise, maybe a hoosier?
I ask for it…and they gave it to me…I will miss not seeing this Team, they are some wonderful young men…Wish they would have had more Success…” for themselves, more than for me ” !
When looking back on this team’s percieved talent, potential and expectations, this has to be the WORST team in UK history. I know it is definitely the worst in my lifetime. Even the losing and probationary teams played with more heart.
I am glad this travesty is over. I will regroup, pay for next year’s season tickets and do it all over again, with the hope that the next group will gel and have a little bit of self respect and pride. Something this team seemed to be completely void of.
Jim B….One would have to think this is bottom. It couldn’t possibly get any worse. Hopefully we get some good news tomorrow from Randle.
Guess this team wasn’t NIT worthy either. Wow.
Going to be interesting to see who will be back,and who will actually buy into the program.I am sure there are many like me who are extremly dissappointed in this years team.When I saw Noel,Poythress,and Goodwin play in the Jordan Classic here in Charlotte last spring,i thought they would carry on the traditionof one and done as their play was outstanding,and their talent level unlimited.I never dreamed this group would end their first year at UK on such a sour note.
Rock bottom without a doubt. No excuses please, I’m sure we’ll hear the same old stuff from the players we have been hearing for the last month. TGIF ( Thank God It’s Finished). Lets move on, take the heat from the press, get whoever wants the NBA out of here, get Randle, Wiggins or Gordon and hold chins up. We are KENTUCKY !
How come everyone is giving Cal a pass on this season and blaming only the players. He did an extremely poor job coaching this group of guys HE recruited. No adjustments during games, no adjustments to the type of offense and defense they run even though these guys aren’t suited to play dribble drive or man to man.If you really want to win you adjust your style to the players capabilities… if you want to win. I love Cal as a coach but he coaches much better when he has the best players
… not so good when he has to rely on Xs and Os.
I agree Pacman. It looked to me like Cal gave up more than the players. When the team stepped onto the floor for several games this year, they looked as though they did not have a clue of what to do – I don’t know if it was because they couldn’t or didn’t understand, but the game plans never seemed to be adjusted to where this team felt comfortable or had a flow to their game. This team would have been much better off to play a zone defense and forget the dribble drive. They may have been pretty good with the old Princeton offense.
Larry Pup….not playing gotcha here…UK alum and sports nut who hates losing especially with no fight, desire, or passion. Everybody plays UK tough…so you have to give a lot of credit. UK doesn’t play tough, and I am quick to discredit. Unfortunately these guys have left themselves wide open for criticism all year.
Pacman….there are a lot of folks that aren’t giving Cal a pass. This team has his signature all over it. I don’t know if I have ever seen a poorer passing, poorer shooting, or poorer defending team. He has NOT really coached anybody up, and I lay a lot of blame at the feet of the assistants as well. The coaching staff showed about as much emotion this year as the players. Cal tried the psycho babble, soft balling and none of it worked.
Also some blame goes to Mitch for even putting UK in a position of having to play at that rathole gym against some of the worst fans and dirtiest players I have seen. If Mitch could play the NIT in 2009 at Memorial while hosting NCAA he could have done it again. He chose to help create this debacle. Its funny how the basketball team gets treated like the football team when they don’t win.
I don’t understand why we didn’t play ” Zone “…Could have covered the Three and with WCS STAYING down low, inside drives and second chance points could have been easily minimized…
i read everyone will be back WCS wants to talk to his family about it. but he does not want to leave without a ring wich means i would say he is coming back but also calipari said he will talk to all the players one on one and he will tell them the truth and for some the truth may hurt some of the players.
This team gave up last week. For all it’s potential, they just laid a very large egg. Really sad. This is one case of “one and one” going haywire!
The great coaches don’t change their style. They teach players to win with their style no matter what. Sports isn’t really about X’s and O’s. It’s about who gets the job done using the method they are told to play. There’s no way to make a team good just by playing zone. A zone defense is easy to beat compared to a man to man. That’s why the great coaches don’t use zone defenses that much. They may throw in a zone once in a while but for the most part they play man to man. I know coaches like Dean Smith used the “point zone” which is just a 3-2 zone with the middle man extended out (our high school used this in the 70′s at times when they had a 6’7″ guard who basically covered the entire floor from the point position) and of course there’s Jim Boeheim. How many titles has he won? I don’t really think that much of Smith as a coach either.
Back to the real issue. This team stunk up the floor. It’s that simple. I haven’t seen a team have so much trouble passing the ball since I was in elementary school. Only Wiltjer ever showed much promise as a passer and he couldn’t really create passes. He just had to wait for an opportunity. The defense was staggeringly bad for a UK team. If you go to UK you’re supposed to play defense period. But too many of these guys didn’t and the ones that tried weren’t really that good at it.
I realize we were spoiled tremendously last year but this team looked for all the world like a Smith team and that’s bad. Cal will get a pass or two after winning a title. But if the next team plays like this he may discover he can’t coach big time basketball after all. For one thing he isn’t selfish enough to keep players in school instead of making big bucks. Heck the Cats could have had Wall and Cousins leading this team. BBN fans will accept losing players as long as the wins come. But they won’t accept many seasons like this one. It was a disgrace.
I’m going to be totally honest here for the first time about this team. They showed me nothing but selfishness from the very start. Then they showed they were soft as marshmallows. They never played smart and they never played hard. I’m surprised they won as many games as they did to be honest. You can’t win playing like this team did. And I’m scared the attitude will carry over to next season even with all the talent coming in. I almost hope that certain players that I think caused friction on this team don’t come back. I won’t name those guards but I will point out that a forward had 4 straight games of 20 points and they failed to give him the ball the rest of the season. That stinks friends. That stinks.
This was really bad. Clearly we proved to the NCAA committee we were not tournament worthy. Sean Woods was not too far off when he called this team out. Now begs the question, who stays and who goes.
I like our team. I have enjoyed watching them improve both individually and as a team this year.
This has to be one of the lowest points in UK Basketball history. Now, to have to watch Louisville use your court and march to th finals against Indiana. Wow.
Well, if one Kentucky Team Can’t do it, maybe another Can…UL & WKU have that opportunity, show us what you got…ANYBODY, but Indiana ! Low Point in UK History, Nah ! Just a bump in the Road…Denny, don’t forget who TOOK YOU OUT…
UP yours Denny!
There is not one thing you can look at over the season and say this team improved on. As individuals, the only improvement I see is that WCS came on in a few games but seemed to give up when the guards would not get him the ball. I am not sure 3 of the freshman should come back because their attitude may cause even more problems next year. Several of the players proved they do not like competition from the other team, how will they respond when that competition comes from within the team?? Not sure Cal should take the chance on them hurting us another year. Has an overall number 1 in the NIT ever been knocked out in the first game??? That is shameful!
Old Fan: We assume that the new comers are going to buy in to the coaching of Calipair and have the skill and desire that they are reported to have. If that is the case, I see this year’s players having to fight for playing time. That would be great for most schools. But UK is not most schools. As badly as these players have performed this year, I would expect that they still have NBA ambition. Next year’s freshmen will come to Lexington expecting to play for a brief period of time and move on. In order to do that they must be given staring roles. Calipari must find a way to blend this years returnees with next year’s freshmen. He has hinted that he is willing to abandon his record of only playing 7 or 8 players. It will be interesting. I
All you doom and gloom fair weather fans, things will get better. Help is on the way. This NIT gig was a pit and trap from the get go. The No. 1 seed had to go play in a high school gym, against a veteran team, who was touting this as the most important game in their entire history. Where we messed up is our fans sending the RM head coach all those nasty emails. How many of those did he post on the locker room wall? We ran into a buzz saw! UK rallied back from 13 down to tie. They could have easily tucked their tails and quit, but they didn’t. This UK team showed fight and a will to win, or you were not watching the same game I was. Had Kyle hit the shot we win. I have never seen so many cry babies, and sore losers as UK basketball has. And you have the audacity to call yourselves fans. RM would have beaten many teams on that floor last night. I give them credit, and credit is due. Everybody better enjoy this little UK fall from the top now while they can because hide and watch next year. Come on Randle sign.
Good post LP – I agree! Too many “fans” bail when everything does not go our way.
The season was certainly a disappointment but not an “all time low” as some fans are saying. (They must not remember the seasons of 66/67, 73/74 & 88/89.)
Mike even gave the team to LP, as he said above; “How do u like ur team now”? Sorry Mike, but the team is a part all of the BBN.
As far as the e-mails from U.K. “fans” to the RM Head Coach; How do we know that those “fans” were from U.K.? Could be someone else trying to stir up trouble.
You may be right about other people sending the emails. That is a real good possibility. I thought about that after you said it.
Fair weather fan? I listened to every second of the Kansas blowout of the sanctioned team. It was 150-95. Yeah I’m a fair weather fan alright. I stuck with the team through the Smith years and the Clyde years. Those were hardly fair weather years. Yes they did play a good team in a bad environment. But their shirts say “Kentucky” on them. That generally means they win against mid-major teams. I’ve seen other Cat teams lose to mid-majors and I never felt like this. I saw the losses to Middle Tenn. and UAB in back to back years. But those teams had real talent. They played hard and won most of their games. The Cats were 22-6 and 22-8 those two years. They had guys like Bowie, Turpin, Beal, Hurt, and Minniefield. There was never any doubt about the heart of those teams. They just ran into hungry teams playing well. This team did too but they also have had a bad habit of not showing up. That’s why people are upset..
I’m upset to King, but I don’t trash 18 and 19 year old young men after the last game of a very disappointing season who from what I saw, didn’t quit last night. All them losses and years you mentioned I was there too. You are not the only one. UK is my team win or lose, that’s all I’m a sayin!
You tell’um LP…
Did anyone really expect this team to play well in the NIT? They quit before the Vandy game. Cal didn’t have a bench, that’s on him, but these players have not been coachable … apparently listening to outside forces.
First off, please knock it off with the fair weather fans comments. We can express our disappointment in the team’s performance without being unfairly labeled a fair weather fan. To even suggest that this team lived up to its potential would be delusional. Most of us have supported the team this year through thick and thin. A number of factors, including youth, injury, and other things, contributed to a season I think most of us would truthfully admit was disappointing to say the least. I agree with Jim that no one should bash these young guys as people, but accurately commenting on their play is not out of bounds in the least.
This season is in the books. Bad seasons happen even to the best, most elite teams. With the commitment of Julius Randle, we have 7 top-tier recruits coming in to join whoever returns to the team for next year. I really feel that the development of the team was slowed because practices probably were not competitive. Next year’s team, conceivably, could be a lot like the 96 championship team in that the players said that practices were always a lot more difficult than the games. If the players recruited this year are as tough-minded as reputed, I don’t think any returning players will dare play with anything but full effort. Given Cal’s track record, I fully expect next year’s team to return to the one-for-all and all-for-one mentality that graced his three previous UK teams.
In the meantime, I will continue to savor the memories of last year’s exceptionally selfless team and dream of even more glorious victories.