Larry Hughes Jr. Leaving Program

[Old guy]

I am sad to see Larry Hughes go, and wish him the best in the future.

[laker119]

Hes on a collision course for SEMO.  He’ll find his level somewhere

[slu92]

I just hope it doesn’t poison the well with local recruits down the road. It very well might. Plus now you have one of your all time great players upset and he lives in town AND has a club team. Best of luck to Larry Jr! He seemed like a good kid. 

[BigMouthBilliken]

11 minutes ago, slu92 said:

I just hope it doesn’t poison the well with local recruits down the road. It very well might. Plus now you have one of your all time great players upset and he lives in town AND has a club team. Best of luck to Larry Jr! He seemed like a good kid. 

In the era of NIL I don’t know how much weight playing for your local U carries anymore

[dlarry]

2 minutes ago, BigMouthBilliken said:

In the era of NIL I don’t know how much weight playing for your local U carries anymore

What concerns me is how much Larry Senior was contributing to NIL.

 

[VeniceMenace]

1 hour ago, SluSignGuy said:

 

Oh man! Does this mean Sincere be back? 15 ppg!!!

[Aquinas]

At the beginning of the season he was in the hunt for the open guard spot. As the dust has settled, he is clearly in a backup role. He could either accept that reality and work to improve his game or clock out.  He clocked out. 

I would like to have seen him stay. 

McCottry and Pikaar will get more minutes and appear to have higher ceilings. Hopefully Johnson and Thames get fully healthy. 

I also wouldn't be surprised to see Casey redshirt, as he hasn't done much, is way behind the team and can't be in game condition. 

[MattyMo213]

Man he must’ve hated those “The Lou” jerseys 

[Brighton]

37 minutes ago, dlarry said:

What concerns me is how much Larry Senior was contributing to NIL.

 

This.

It's a bigger blow than many realize.

[RiseOfTheBillikens]

22 minutes ago, Brighton said:

This.

It's a bigger blow than many realize.

Fire Chris may

[almaman]

37 minutes ago, MattyMo213 said:

Man he must’ve hated those “The Lou” jerseys 

good one

[Dr. Holly Hills]

I guess they haven’t said where he’s going?  What are the transfer rules now (if any)?  Can you transfer at semester and play for another team? 

[Lord Elrond]

4 minutes ago, Dr. Holly Hills said:

I guess they haven’t said where he’s going?  What are the transfer rules now (if any)?  Can you transfer at semester and play for another team? 

There are no rules, go anywhere that accepts you as a student, get paid, play right away

[Bay Area Billiken]

Motion for Reconsideration ...

[HoosierPal]

1 hour ago, Dr. Holly Hills said:

I guess they haven’t said where he’s going?  What are the transfer rules now (if any)?  Can you transfer at semester and play for another team? 

Not in the same season.

[laker119]

3 hours ago, dlarry said:

What concerns me is how much Larry Senior was contributing to NIL.

 

So essentially Larry Jr's presence on this team had become such that his primary purpose was to maintain a pipeline to Larry Sr's wallet.  If that is the case (which it probably is, as his on court performance has diminished year over year), I wish he would have been gone sooner.  This is essentially the equivalent of hiring a recruit's dad so the recruit will come to your school (cough cough...Michael Porter Jr).  I, for one, am fine with not following that path.  I get he is a significant contributor - but let's not act like there are not alot of other high-dollar contributors to NIL and this program, in general.  Just because Larry is leaving doesn't mean our NIL $$$ will run dry; let's not get too hyperbolic here.  

[thetorch]

5 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

36.3% career three point shooter.  We don't have many of those.

Hughes II is currently SLU's 20th best Career 3 Point Shooter (150 attempts).  This is a significant loss.

Best wishes wherever you go.

So silly.

His minutes have gone down despite all the injury issues.

It is a loss, but not significant. 

[Dr. Holly Hills]

Not meant to be a virtue signal, but in the big picture this sucks.  LH2 is a very nice, well adjusted kid.  Never the most talented, but I never got the sense that he was not hustling.  I wish him well and obviously hope this doesn’t negatively affect any long term local recruiting. 
 

For the short term, I don’t think there is a lot of impact.  For whatever reason, he wasn’t a great fit or just didn’t want to give it more time to figure it out.  Most of the impact is our sheer lack of bodies.

 

hey, TLR and Ozzy had a not so great breakup and it turned out ok in the long run for them and fans.

 

[VeniceMenace]

15 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

36.3% career three point shooter.  We don't have many of those.

Hughes II is currently SLU's 20th best Career 3 Point Shooter (150 attempts).  This is a significant loss.

Best wishes wherever you go.

His rate of 34% from 3 this season matches the team average of three-point shooting...so it begs the question of what else he adds to the mix to earn PT.

[billiken_roy]

i dont know why the mbm's turned on his defense.   imo he was still the best defensive guard we had.   no one doubled better than he did as last season.  he led the team in steals last year when he got the opportunity to play more after yuri graduated.  other than medley and meadows he led the team in assists even though he had limited minutes playing point guard.   

we all knew that schertz doesnt employ a traditional point guard.   the majority of offensive possessions Avila is more or less the point guard.   we have seen swope's mediocre at best decision making so he wasnt a point guard either imo (one hell of a scorer though.   i think he is a fabulous addition) so it has befuddled me why schertz didnt give him more time.   you all can say he wasnt producing, but anyone that has ever played basketball at any level knows how much stress and pressure it puts on a player when they lose their spot and are faced with trying to win that time back.  truth is he regressed in those efforts, and my guess is a family decision was made to look for a new opportunity elsewhere.   those thinking he is lindenwood bound i think are way off base.   i dont think he is duke or kentucky bound, but he will find a home.  and it wouldnt surprise me we end up with some regrets in a couple of years. 

good luck Larry.  I for one wish you were still a billiken. 

[ACE]

2 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

i dont know why the mbm's turned on his defense.   imo he was still the best defensive guard we had.   no one doubled better than he did as last season.  he led the team in steals last year when he got the opportunity to play more after yuri graduated.  other than medley and meadows he led the team in assists even though he had limited minutes playing point guard.   

we all knew that schertz doesnt employ a traditional point guard.   the majority of offensive possessions Avila is more or less the point guard.   we have seen swope's mediocre at best decision making so he wasnt a point guard either imo (one hell of a scorer though.   i think he is a fabulous addition) so it has befuddled me why schertz didnt give him more time.   you all can say he wasnt producing, but anyone that has ever played basketball at any level knows how much stress and pressure it puts on a player when they lose their spot and are faced with trying to win that time back.  truth is he regressed in those efforts, and my guess is a family decision was made to look for a new opportunity elsewhere.   those thinking he is lindenwood bound i think are way off base.   i dont think he is duke or kentucky bound, but he will find a home.  and it wouldnt surprise me we end up with some regrets in a couple of years. 

good luck Larry.  I for one wish you were still a billiken. 

Schertz didn't agree with that. In the game Larry sat out the 2nd half, he said he went with his best defensive options at guard - and Larry wasn't one of them.

[cgeldmacher]

I saw this coming a few games ago.  I think it was the Quinniapac game or the UMass Lowell game.  In pregame warmups, LHII dunked every time he got the ball.  Odd for someone who's talent is 3 point shooting.  I took it as a statement to the coaches that he unhappy and that he was pouting.  This was the same game where we called a timeout to set up a last shot for the first half and, as soon as he got the ball, he fired up a three with about 9 seconds left.  Clearly wasn't the play that was called, and the coaches were obviously upset.  He didn't see the court in the 2nd half of that game.

I was always a proponent of his game when he arrived here.  In my mind, his three point shooting could have been the difference maker for him becoming a starter and a star on this team.  My recent displeasure with him has to do with things like the story I mention above and the fact that he did not seem to have any interest in playing in Schertz's system.  In many games, as soon as he got in he shot the ball as soon as it was first passed to him.  Didn't matter if a defender was in his face.  This affected his shooting percentages.  My take is that he wasted his talent and possibility at being a true contributor by sulking and refusing to participate in a system that, had he bought into it, would have accentuated his skills.  So sad.

That being said, I do wish him the best of luck in the future.

[billiken_roy]

16 minutes ago, ACE said:

Schertz didn't agree with that. In the game Larry sat out the 2nd half, he said he went with his best defensive options at guard - and Larry wasn't one of them.

Can you provide the quote of Coach Schertz said this was the reason Larry didn't play?   Thanks for the help 

[Adman]

8 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

Can you provide the quote of Coach Schertz said this was the reason Larry didn't play?   Thanks for the help 

Roy, I don’t have the quote handy. But Schertz was very clear in the post-game interview that while he wasn’t happy with his play in those last 9 seconds (and immediately talked to him about it at the end of the half,) that WASN’T the reason he didn’t play in the second half. 
 

Schertz said he didn’t play in the second half because he needed a better defensive player to counter UMass-Lowell’s crazy-good shooting.

[VeniceMenace]

48 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

Can you provide the quote of Coach Schertz said this was the reason Larry didn't play?   Thanks for the help 

From the PD story:

in SLU’s game at home against UMass Lowell on Nov. 27, Hughes did not play in the second half after taking a shot with nine seconds to go in the first half as SLU worked for the last shot. The shot didn’t go in, Lowell got the rebound and scored, with Hughes not getting back on defense.

Schertz went onto the court after the buzzer and talked with Hughes. Schertz said after the game that Hughes wasn’t alone in not getting back on defense and he didn’t play him in the second half for other reasons.

“In the second half,” Schertz said that day, “I felt like we had to go with our best defensive players because (Lowell is) so talented offensively. Amari (McCottry) and Kobe (Johnson) give us off the bench our two best defenders on the perimeter. And so that’s why.

 

“There’s nothing with Larry in terms of benching him for that. Larry’s going to play. He’s going to, I think, play a really significant role for us. And in his shots, I think he’s got a chance to impact the game. And more than just shooting, and that’s what we’ve talked about for him, is taking care of the ball, taking great shots and really competing his tail off defensively. And if he does those things, he’s going to play a major role for this team.”

 

In seven games this season, Hughes averaged 4.7 points and shot 34.6% on 3-pointers. In his two-plus years at SLU, he averaged 5.1 points. He made five 3-point shots in SLU’s win over NAIA school Avila and had 15 points.

 

But even before the Lowell game, Hughes’ playing time had dropped. After playing a season-high 21 minutes against Wichita State, he played 11 against Quinnipiac. In the one game he played after the Lowell game, he played 12 minutes against Jackson State, was the third choice at guard off the bench in the second half and took just one shot.