SLU came in to last night's contest with Rhode Island feeling pretty good. They had won two in a row in Conference Play and were poised to get back to .500 in the Atlantic 10. With the way the standings were bunched in the middle of the league, a win over the Rams would have meant a possible jump to fourth place in the conference. Unfortunately, all of those positive thoughts disappeared as the Billikens struggled shooting the ball all night and lost by two, 59-57. The Billikens now find themselves in 10th place in the league.
The game was a back and forth affair all night, no team led by more than 5 points at any time during the game. The pace of the game in the first ten minutes favored Rhode Island, who likes to push the ball. The Rams tried to impose their pace on the game by extending pressure the length of the floor to start. The Billikens, amazingly, handled the pressure well and got some easy buckets in transition. This forced Rhode Island to settle back in to their half court defense, and the pace slowed to SLU's liking.
The Billiken offense, at times, looked very good. This was especially apparent early on as Rhode Island came out to guard Billikens at the three point line. This led to several open back cuts off of screens, and easy lay-ups for the Billikens. The problem was, as the game wore on, SLU was not hitting anything from outside the three point arc. This meant that URI no longer had to respect the outside shot, and they packed their defense inside, and those back-cut lanes disappeared.
To say the Billikens struggled shooting the ball would be an understatement. Overall, they shot only 38.3% from the field. It gets even worse when you look outside the three point line where they shot only 18.2% (4-22). The international tandem of Cody Ellis and Rob Loe combined to go 0 for 9 from three point range (Ellis, 0-5; Loe, 0-4). Many of those were WIDE OPEN looks. If Rob or Cody makes just one shot, the Billikens win.
On the other end of the floor, SLU's defense did a good job of not allowing Rhode Island to get much out of their set offense. This led to the Rams putting the game in the hands of their Senior forward, Delroy James. James would get the ball at the top of the key, the other Rams players would clear out, and Delroy would simply break down whoever was guarding him, taking them one on one to the hoop. SLU tried guarding him with several defenders (Brian Conklin, Kyle Cassity, Jordair Jett, Dwayne Evans, to name a few), but no one could stop him consistently. James led all scorers with 21.
Despite all of their struggles shooting the ball and defending James, SLU still had a chance to win late in the game. Jordair Jett was electric towards the end of the second half, making some big shots to keep the Billikens in the game. Unfortunately, Jett could not continue that strong play and disappeared with about 2 minutes remaining. This has been a common problem for SLU this year. At the end of close games, in the absence of Kwamain Mitchell, they do not have anyone who feels confident with the ball in their hands. No one wants to take a shot, and this leads to passes being forced which leads to turnovers. A perfect example last night was Kyle Cassity. Cassity drove the left side of the lane with about 55 seconds left and the Billikens trailing by two. It looked like he had a look for a lay-up, and that even if he did not make the shot, he would be fouled by the collapsing Rhode Island defender. Instead, he drove under the basket and tried to force a pass out to the right wing. TURNOVER.
The Billikens (7-12, 2-4) go on the road to face George Washington (10-10, 3-3) on Saturday afternoon. The Colonials have lost four in a row, and are led in points (13.8 PPG) and assists (4.4 APG) by Junior guard Tony Taylor.
BILLIKENS PLAYER OF THE GAME
Even though he didn't lead the team in scoring, I am giving this honor to Freshman Dwayne Evans. Evans has given consistent energy to the Billikens and stood up strong against Delroy James, despite being only a Freshman. Evans finished with 9 points, 6 rebounds (which led the Billikens), and 2 blocked shots.
RAMS PLAYER OF THE GAME
This was not even a contest. Senior Delroy James was the best player on the floor. It did not matter who tried to guard him, James was able to get to the hole one on one against every defender Majerus threw at him. James led all scorers with 21 points, to go along with 6 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots.
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