56-42 SLU Not Pretty But I'll Take it

[TheA_Bomb]

This game seemed to be a back and forth struggle but SLU pulled it out. You know SIUC wanted to bring it all tonight after those bad losses and SLU could've been snake bit after the long travel back from Hawaii. I am very happy they pulled out the win and it was by 14 pts. The D was good, the shooting was 46% but only 23% from 3PT that has to get better. VN and JJ both made contributions but no Husak whatsovever, I wonder if that is b/c he is hurt or b/c he did not match up well? IV had a double double 17 PTS 13 REB DP had some good assists w/ 4. Lisch made some great plays defensively and hitting the big 3 PTRs. Drejaj was our best shooter and hit his 3s and FTs. 15 TOs is too many but that is partially b/c of the D style that SIUC plays. Liddell played 19 minutes and from what I could tell he wasn't everywhere on the court like he seemed to be in the first two games.

[nostatic]

Looked like they got some good minutes out of VN & JJ, but where was TL in the 2nd half?

[BradFan]

Telling comment by the Coach in the postgame...if his team played this poorly on offense last year, they wouldn't have had a chance to win the game, but this year, a different story. TL was off tonight, so was DB. Despite that, Ian continued to dominate, and in the second half, some big minutes from VN and JJ..not to mention KL being tough in the clutch. There will be growing pains this season, but let's face it, there are lots of reasons to be excited about this club. They were far from their best tonight against an NCAA team and won, if not quite convincingly, with some authority and clutch play when it counted.

[Billiphan]

The 9 turnovers in the first half were a bit frustrating. They were a little sloppy with the lead. If someone on the team could make some open 3's they'd be tough to beat. IV is the man. They should find a way to get him 15+ shots a game. Good contribution from VN. KL and AD were solid. I thought they played some good team defense. I thought at times on offense they did a little too much standing around. OVerall, a good but not great win. After the pounding last year, we'll take it. I hope they can build on that for UWM.

[TEE]

this is my take on the game and other Billiken items.

that was one ugly game!

this four guard thing has to stop NOW! when we play teams like Iowa and Gonzaga we are gonna get run out of the gym.

VN's play tonight is a good reason why he and Ian need to play up front together. we need another body to rebound and set picks for our shooters. there is way too much standing around on offense. I know people love the guy, but AD is playing too many minutes. the best/most talented/most upside players we have need to play. start Ian,VN,DB,TL and KL or DP. Play the best five we have at their natural positions, play the role players in the support roles.

I know people love AD's heart, hustle and effort, but talent wins games, NCAA tournament games.

[TheA_Bomb]

AD was the only one hitting 3s until Lisch hit a few. He also got to the line alot and hit almost all of the FTs.

[TEE]

I know and I am happy he made his freethrows, BUT his basketball instincts stink. anytime when we need to make ft's late in the game and you have a player like KL on the court you have to get the ball in his hands. AD will lose more games at the line than win them, that is an honest no BS opinion. PLUS AD doesn't need to be taking jump shots. when Ian is doubled guys like KL/DB need to be taking shots with TL/DP taking it to the basket.

[SLU_Nick]

Well, this is definitely a turning point in the season. If we lose this game, I could see us sliding. The team showed a ton of confidence and my opinion and it is good to know that if some players (TL and DB) have bad games, we have enough depth to still pull it out.

JJ and VN picked up some huge minutes in the 2nd half to spell IV. I thought that was the key in the game. I am very surpised that brad gave JJ another chance after JJ looked fairly lost in the first half in his few minutes. It was really nice to see VN hit open jumpers, we need someone to.

AD played well and seems to be much more in control this season than last season. Perhaps because he has different guards to control the tempo and he doesnt have to have the ball in his hands all the time.

IV = Zeus. Enough said

KL really took control of the game at the end. In the last 4 minutes we were only up by 7 or 8 and KL really set the tempo. I thought he looked like josh fisher the way that he would play stifling defense and then hit shots to help his team win

I was very surprised when Polk started the game on Tatum, and then when tatum hit that first jumper, I thought he was on his way to 37. Polk really stayed with him though and his quickness outshined his lack of strength tonight. Polk really needs to learn to shoot though.

Thats all I got. Great Win Bills!

Nick

[jjray]

Big win for our team. The only "ugly" part of the game from SLU's perspective was the perimeter shooter and a spat of turnovers late in the 1st half ... but that, IMHO, would be quibbling. To beat SIU handily with this young team is huge (especially coming off the poor showing in Hawaii).

I think coach went with JJ as the backup center because he did not like the match of Bryce on Falker (and I can't blame him, Falker is explosive with hops). JJ looked a little too amped up the 3 minutes we saw him in the 1st half but acquitted himself quite well in the 2nd when Ian got in early foul trouble. The block on the defensive end and then the o-rebound with a putback on the other end were sweet. Coach went with Newborne to defend Shaw most of the 2nd half and VN also made a good showing. Solid D, rebounded on the defensive end, and hit open mid-range jumpers that were key in the middle of the 2nd half. Great contribution. Dwayne was great with his penetration but again bad with the perimeter shooting.

[slufanskip]

Did anyone notice DP's off hand taped up ...

This game wasn't ugly. There were bad moments, like the end of the 1st half when we scored I believe 4 points in 10 minutes. We scored 52 in the other 30. Also SIU played tough physical D and worked the clock, alot like us last year.

What did Coach mean whenhe said if we struggled to score like this last year we would have lost. 56 pts was an offensive explosion last year. (actually it wasn't it our avg last year)

The difference in Dwayne's D is that Tatum didn't move without the ball as well as the Robinson kid, they also didn't really set picks for him when he didn't have the ball ... and Dwayne was quicker than him.

IAN,IAN,IAN,IAN,IAN,IAN,IAN ... the way he was taking it to the hole, I say we paly Bryce at the 5, JJ at the 4, and IAN at the 3.

KL ... man was he tough.

We were a better team with AD on the floor tonight.

VN played well ... he hits the open J's.

TL, DB ... off nights ... alot of weapons this year. AD and KL step up instead from the guard position.

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[Schasz]

Solid workmanlike win by our young men tonight against an opponent that we have struggled against. Let's face it last year's team would have found a way to lose this game. I agree that this was a huge win for our team, now let's get another win at UWM.

[cheeseman]

Skip - did you really mean to say that IV should play the 3 spot? Why would you take a natural center and move him away from the basket? While this was not a fast paced game and looked closer than it really was - SIU never got the lead once they were up 9-4 - I know they closed within 1 but that was brief and they played most of the game consistently down by 6-8 pts. Sitting in the stands I never felt really threatened by them all night so I think we really had control of the game for the most part. SIU's defense was good and was the reason we could not run more but if we had hit just 2 or 3 more threes then the game would have looked more like a runaway and we would have scored over 60 points and nobody would be talking about how ugly or slow the game was. This was a good win for us - now we have try to get at least 2 wins over the next 5 games - 3 would really nice.

[3star_recruit]

AD didn't really get to the line -- SIU put him there. Four of those attempts were in the last 90 seconds of the game when SIU was in foul to stop the clock mode and he just happened to be the one holding the ball. I've got no problem with Drejaj starting as long as he shoots the ball decently and Lisch gets enough minutes to make an impact on the game. So far so good.

[billiken_roy]

tee, go look at the overall stats thus far:

http://slubillikens.collegesports.com/spor...ativeStats.html

he is tied with lisch for second on the team in scoring, he leads the team in steals, he is shooting 40% from the field which trails only vouyoukas and lisch, and we all know he is a night in and night out defender and leader. no way you sit drejaj right now.

[SLUAvtr]

I noticed something from that link when I was going through it. Look at the free throws!!!!! We've had 58 taken, compared to 32 given! That's an amazing stat imo. Young kids are prone to making stupid fouls, but if we're almost doubling FT taken as opposed to given, that'll win us quite a few more games too. I think we all remember last year where FT missed killed the chances for a W in quite a few games. I give props to this team for this stat, way to go Bills!

[lefty]

NCAA team this year ? Doubtful. Ian was the show. The problem will be when he gets in foul trouble.

[lefty]

and it was late after the game was already pretty much decided. Vas'Shun was the one, other than Ian, hitting key buckets.

[Taj79]

.. Drejaj has to play and pass whatever he can from a graduating senior body into incoming freshmen. I think that is easier done when the senior is playing substantial minutes and can both lead by example and conversation. This season is too young to not play him. Team sports are as much intangibles and head games as mostly anything else except pure talent. If by having Drejaj on the floor this team gains some intangible aspect that converts into wins andmeans a post season berth, i think youhave to go with it.

On the flip side, if the pre-conference season ends and the conference gets off ot a bad start, at that point I think you have to reevaluate and determine what is more important, staying with the guy who is out the door in a few months or playing and developing those that are returning. Interesting call. I'm glad I don't have to make that one....

[billiken_roy]

i thought lisch's late three was the door slammer. he misses that and siu goes down and hits a three that game was a problem.

too often last year we didnt have someone to close out a game. we discussed it many times in those 12 games that were lost that we were within one possession of the lead with less than a minute to go. lisch showed last nite he wanted the ball at the end of the game. last year the only person that showed that moxie was drejaj. and while i commend anthony for having the guts to take the shot(s)........

[SShoe]

given Brad's reaction to last year, I would think that if we did struggle we would see less of Drejaj like we saw less of Reggie. However, I'm not sure at this point that we will struggle (at least not like last year) so Drejaj will play. It's hard to argue right now against DRejaj, as much as I want to.

Of course it's still possible Drejaj's minutes could decline as the year progresses and our young-ins continue to improve.

[BILLIDOC]

hey tee sounds to me you havent got a clue. you must be pretty stupid by the statements you make about drejaj polk and game observations.go learn what basketball is about.

[cheeseman]

What I have come to see is that Brad has found a way to give all the guards good minutes - so the only thing that will take pt from AD is if he plays poor defense - probably not going to happen - or he shoots terrible - also not likely, he won't shoot great but probably well enough to stay in the rotation.