(Robert Morris Game Notes)

For those basketball aficionados, it’s not quite the 40 minutes of hell employed by Nolan Richardson’s Arkansas teams of the early 1990’s, but the Webster Gorloks will face full court pressure for the entire game Wednesday as they face Robert Morris Springfield in non-conference action.

“It’s a contained press,” said acting head coach Jordan Olufson. “They want you to make a bad pass and they are athletic enough to take advantage. We have to be patient, make good decisions with the ball and keep our composure.”

With the decision to pressure all over the court, the Eagles have a tendency to get in foul trouble early – which could play into the Gorloks’ hands. Webster is converting 68 percent from the foul line, but taking out the 57 percent performance that opened the season, the Gorloks are converting 73 percent.

“We want to have a controlled up-tempo style,” said Olufson. “I want us to control (the game) with our style, with the mindset focused on half-court motion offense. They gamble a lot and reach. We want to get them in foul trouble early with motion, dribble drives and get to the line.”

Additionally, the press will help keep Webster’s balance scoring attack on track. The Gorloks have six players that are averaging at least 9.5 points, led by freshman guard Courtney Brown. The reserve point guard is coming off the bench to score 12.4 points per game. Classmate and backcourt partner Blaire Underwood is adding 11.7 points per contest.

The true test of WU’s balance could be found in the box scores as through seven games, six different Gorloks have led the team in scoring. Brown is the only player to achieve the feat twice.

“I don’t want to be a team with one player averaging 20 points,” said Olufson. “We want to be very balanced where everyone is a threat. We want everyone to have to play us straight and not be able to double.”

Speaking of doubles, sophomore Katy Meyer is coming off back-to-back double-doubles, including tying her career-high with 20 points with 11 boards in the victory over Rust Sunday. She added a career-high 12 rebounds a day earlier in the win over MacMurray. Freshman Ayrica Lockett also recorded a double-double in the Rust victory – the first of her career – with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

The game is slated to tip-off at 6 p.m. at Grant Gymnasium.