Fast start for West Chester University men's basketball

West Chester is 9-0 this season under head coach Damien Blair
Photo credit West Chester University Athletics
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The West Chester University men's basketball team went 22-9 a season ago, qualifying for the NCAA Division II Tournament.

The Golden Rams lost six seniors off that roster, but they are still playing at a high level, as they have opened the 2019-2020 season with a 9-0 record.

Head coach Damien Blair talked to KYW Newsradio about what has allowed his team to get on such a roll here early in the season.

"We have good leadership in (seniors) Tim Toro, Malik Jackson and (junior) Colin Daly," he said. "They were on the team last year, and they've done a really good job of taking the young guys under their wing. We also have a pretty good freshman in Robbie Heath."

And what a story Heath has been here early in the season. The Abington High School product is averaging 24 points and nearly eight rebounds a game so far this season. He is 12th in the nation in scoring (No. 1 among freshmen).

"He is an unorthodox scorer," Blair said. "When you look at the stat sheet at the end of the game, you're just shocked at how many points he puts up and how many rebounds that he gets. He doesn't have a true position. He's not a point guard, a two or a three. He's just great at putting the ball in the hole."

While the Golden Rams are undefeated, Blair says they still have areas where they can get better.

"We've got to do a better job of defending the three-point line," he said. "That's probably one of our weak areas right now. When you're bringing in a bunch of new players, they just don't understand your schemes, where you want them to be defensively. And we're very detail oriented. We make sure that we give a lot of help-side defense, and right now, with this young group, we struggle in that area.

"The one area that we are strong in is rebounding. That's something that traditionally we do a really good job at. But I think we can still get better at finding the man, making sure that we attack, and making sure that we secure the ball every possession."

West Chester will look to stay undefeated on Friday night when the Golden Rams host California University of Pennsylvania.

Follow Matt on Twitter @Mattleon1060.