Early morning News-Democrat story. To get you fired up.

[jmolina]

Billikens still are searching for elusive winning streak

SLU yet to have back-to-back wins

BY STEVE KORTE

Belleville News-Democrat

ST. LOUIS - Win one, lose one, win one, lose one.

It's a pattern that the St. Louis University Billikens (8-7, 2-1) will be trying to break when they play the Richmond Spiders (9-7, 2-1) at 6:30 p.m. today at the Robins Center in Richmond, Va.

"The next step now is to get over that hump, not to break the string, but to play good basketball and try to get a road win in conference," Billikens coach Brad Soderberg said. "I'm not so much concerned about the win-loss thing as I am us continuing to be competitive in the conference standings."

The Billikens have to yet to put together a two-game winning streak or a two-game losing streak this season.

"You can't be over .500 unless you win two games in a row at some point," Soderberg said. "That's the first step. I think this team is better than a .500 ballclub."

They've done this one-step-forward, one-step-backward dance for a team-record 17 games going back to the final two games of last season.

The Billikens 1945-46 squad alternated wins and losses through their first 11 games.

Soderberg said he hasn't even addressed the oddity with his players.

"The wins and losses take care of themselves," Soderberg said. "I never really worry about the sequence of when you win and when you lose, my concern is about the quality of play. If the quality of play improves, you'll see the wins come along."

The Billikens are coming off a 50-48 win over Massachusetts Minutemen on Saturday. The game was decided on freshman Tommie Liddell's 15-foot fallaway jumper with 1.5 seconds left.

All three of the Billikens' Atlantic 10 Conference games have gone down to the final ticks of the clock.

They beat St. Bonaventure 60-58 as a last second 3-pointer by the Bonnies rimmed out. They lost to George Washington 69-64 in overtime as Danny Brown lost control of the ball as he tried to take the potential game-winning shot at the end of regulation.

"We've been through three A-10 games, and the last shot has affected every one of them," Soderberg said. "It has been very competitive so far. We're lucky to be 2-1, and yet on the positive side, we're so close to being 3-0."

The Billikens are meeting the Spiders for the first time.

The Spiders are coached by Chris Mooney, who spent the previous year as the head coach at the Air Force Academy.

Mooney replaces Jerry Wainright, who left to become the head coach at DePaul University.

The Spiders are led by seniors Jermaine Bucknor and Kevin Steenberge. The 6-foot-7 Bucknor is averaging 12.4 points per game, while the 6-foot-11 Steenberge is averaging 9.3 points per game.

The Spiders top the A-10 in scoring defense, allowing only 53 points per game.

Contact reporter Steve Korte at [email protected] or 239-2522.