Gordo Article

[SluSignGuy]

If we get this much coverage for a loss, imagine if Lisch's 3 went in?

A year ago, St. Louis went on the road and lost to Gonzaga by 30 points.

“We got smashed,” Billikens coach Brad Soderberg recalled. “It was 75-45 and it could have been worse. They subbed with about 10 minutes to go.”

This year, SLU was ready for the Bulldogs at Savvis Center. Kevin Lisch rose up just before the buzzer and launched a three-point jumper, right on target . . . but it rattled out. Gonzaga escaped St.. Louis with a 60-57 victory and respect for the progress the Billikens are making.

Gonzaga coach Mark Few praised Soderberg for implementing a previously unseen defense to contain all-America forward Adam Morrison.

“Coach Soderberg does a great job, especially on the defensive end,” Few said. “They came out in a triangle and two. We hadn’t seen that before. We knew it was coming, with how well a couple of our guys have been playing.

“It’s a different defense. You don’t face a triangle and two every day. There was some adjustment there.”

Few also offered kudos to SLU center Ian Vouyoukas, who is becoming one of the better pure centers in college basketball. He took 269-pound Gonzaga center J.P Batista out of the game.

“They have a nice mix,” Few said. “They have a post player that can really score. We haven’t seen anybody like him, except seeing J.P. in practice every day. He is a post player you’ve got to double. He’s a scorer, a free-throw guy. They have some nice shooters and athletes.”

So the Billikens are on the move up, as colleague Bryan Burwell notes elsewhere on the site. They not only impressed Gonzaga in this game, they also impressed a visiting group of recruits and thousands of fans who haven’t been to SLU game in a while.

“The fans, I know they support St. Louis, but the majority came to see us play,” Morrison said. “I don’t want to knock on the program or anything, but we know every place we go, people will be excited to play us.”

That is a slap at SLU, of course, but Soderberg understood his point.

“I’m still of the belief we have to earn our fans,” Soderberg said. “When we put out a product that people of St. Louis are proud of, then we can expect a few more there. We can’t gimmick our way to get people in there. We can’t try and tricks. We have to play good basketball.”

SLU seems to be on that track, for the following reasons:

-- Good coaching: Some STLtoday readers get sick of our effusive praise for Soderberg as a teacher and tactician. But he is widely respected within his industry for games like this – when his team successfully used the triangle-and-two defense after practicing it for just two days.

After consulting with his dad, a master of gimmick defenses at the high school level, Soderberg decided to chase Morrison and guard Derek Raivio, surround Batista and challenge every other Bulldog to shoot.

“I haven’t seen anybody else do that,” Soderberg said. “My reason for doing that, I have too much respect for the people they played – U-Conn and Michigan State and Oklahoma State and Washington and so on. Nobody could stop them. They are averaging 48 percent for the year. As much as I think we have a good man-to-man defense, I just didn’t think we could do it. We took two days to put in a whole new defense, a whole new system. That’s why I’m really proud of the guys. They picked it up really well and I thought played great defense.

“If their all-American hadn’t hit some great shots, the outcome would have been different.”

The Billikens slowed Gonzaga down, kept them out of their fast-break game and baffled their half-court offense.

“They did a good job, every time I drove, there were two guys looking at me,” Morrison said. “You have to tip your hat to that team to slow me down, keep me in check.”

-- Stronger post game: Vouyoukas scored 16 against Gonzaga despite facing constant double teaming. “He is a big guy, uses his body well, ducks in real hard,” Bulldogs forward Sean Mallon said. “He is so big, so wide, it’s hard to deny him the ball.”

Ian converted hook shots with both hands, attacked the rim with a variety of strong post moves and made all six of his free throws.

-- Better recruiting: Tommie Liddell gives the Billikens a whole different look. As a freshman, he matched up against Morrison and defended him well, with help from his teammates. Although he struggled to convert his slashes to the basket, he used his exceptional skill to convert offensive rebounds.

He is the Next Level of SLU recruiting.

Lisch and Luke Meyer had to assume bigger roles after Anthony Drejaj suffered his foot injury. Liddell, Lisch, Meyer and speedy point guard Dwayne Polk were all big signings for a program trying to become at least a regional power.

-- Player development: To get SLU over the hump, Soderberg also has to make players better. A good example is 6-foot-8 forward Justin Johnson, a junior who has spent his SLU career on the bubble. Sometimes he seems to have a bright future here . . . and sometimes he vanishes to the end of the bench, having failed to stand out in practices or games.

Against top teams, the Billikens desperately need solid work from Johnson. Otherwise, match-up troubles will doom them. They have nobody else with his body type.

“I’ve made it clear to him what I expect,” Soderberg said. “It’s taken him a while to understand. He’s in his fourth year. After we got back from Honolulu, we kind of laid it on the line. Either your time has come or it’s not going to come, ever.”

Johnson scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds against Gonzaga. “He played a great game,” Soderberg said. “He looked like a Division I power forward tonight.”

-- Better scheduling. SLU has played at Hawaii, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, North Carolina, Mississippi and Oakland. They have played Southern Illinois and Gonzaga at home and will welcome Iowa to town next Friday.

“By design, we put them through a very difficult non-conference schedule,” Soderberg said. “Being 5-5 at Christmas isn’t what we had in mind. We were hoping we could do a little better. Get one of these. We weren’t able to do.”

But, he added, “Our kids didn’t back down, they didn’t play with any fear. I didn’t sense any intimidation, anything like that. I guess, if anything, is a step in the right direction.

“It’s almost like you have to experience before you can be successful in it. We have to give our kids a steady dose of tough opponents. And then it’s going to happen. A year ago, we went to Gonzaga and lost by 30. That was my fear going to Chapel Hill, We’re going to get smashed. All of a sudden, you bring in a couple of freshman who have some talent and you let those same guys that got smashed at Gonzaga try it again. Closer. You bring Gonzaga back here, with that same squad, closer.

“I’m not into the close, the moral victories, but it’s a process. We’re not going to become Gonzaga like right away. We have to build. We have to continue to get good players, we have to recruit well. But most of all, we have to expose our kids to this kind of competition. We know now we can play. We didn’t win, but we know we can play with the best people. I hope we can keep building.”

We do too. Games like Thursday night’s battle are tremendous for the city and the school.

[slufanskip]

Nice article ... I think this SLU team is going to earn it's way into the hearts of StL basketball fans.

Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman

[waterboy]

I also think that Saint Louis fans are looking for some positives as well:

The Rams are going through the motions

The Lauries have run the Blues and Mizzou into the ground

The Cardinals are making some questionable offseason moves

Hey, it's us and the Steamers right now:)

I think that we are in position to pick up some serious additions to the fan base, especially if we keep the momentum going.

[billiken_roy]

was that a new billikens.com employee or vtime helping you with the signs last nite. he did a great job!

the signs were very good imo. you are a missed fixture at the games.

[VTIME]

i was at home listening to first half on the radio while FSN Midwest had me watching a Indiana State v Illinois State game that not only was supposed to end at 8:00, a half hour after the game started, but then didnt end until 8:40 because the game went into overtime. I should've gone to the game. I wont make the same mistake Wednesday. I got to see the second half. If we didnt have that five minute stretch without a FG we would've won. They werent scoring either,but that was our chance to make a move. That drought started with Ian picking up his third foul while giving up a 3pt play to Morrison. Batista had 3 fouls also, but they left him in. Two things, Ian, keep yourself in the close game by not fouling an All-American who is going to make a layup, second Soderberg keep your big man in to counter their big man.

[SluSignGuy]

That was actually Polk's little Brother (if you noticed, he primarily held the Polka sign).

Lisch's cousin got in the act (a little more shy though) for a few seconds too.