Coach Jim Crews looking for lessons and answers to teach his inexperienced Billiken squad
(photo credit: Snipview.com)
The Saint Louis University Billikens were coming off a big win over the St. Joe’s Hawks winning 68-61. The Billikens also previously had beaten the Fordham Rams the last seven times that the two teams have met. The Billikens sent out a lineup with four freshmen and 1 junior in Ash Yacoubou.
The Bills got off to a terrible start allowing the Rams to take a 12-0 start. At the 15:00 mark, the Bills finally got on the scoreboard thanks to junior Ash Yacoubou who hit a three with a defender in his face.
The Billikens would heavily relay on three to get back into the game. Junior Austin McBroom hit another three to get them back into the game. This sparked a 9-0 run from the Billikens to get them into the game.
During the first half, the Billikens played terrible defense as they failed to guard the ball screen action plays and fouled early and often. The Rams went to the free throw line 15 times and hit 12 of them. The Billikens only went to the line three times and made all three of their attempts. The Bills failed to take care of the basketball turning the ball over 11 times in the first half. With that being said, the “Billikids” were only down by four at the half to a score of 33-29. Junior Austin McBroom shot 3 of 5 from the field including 2-2 from behind the three-point line to lead the Billikens into halftime.
Right after half, the Billikens made a plan to give the ball to freshman Milik Yarbrough who was 0-3 from the field in the first half. Yarbrough got the ball in post and drew a foul and made both free throws. The Billikens would tie the game at 33-33. The Rams would proceed to go a 10-0 run to extend their lead.
The Billikens would make a valiant effort to get back into the game by cutting the lead to 8 with a score of 58-50. The Rams would distance themselves again by going another run by extending their lead to a score of 70-57. The Billikens struggled to find any energy late in the game to make another run and just coasted to a loss. The referees could a very close game and never really allowed the Billikens to play tough defense or any defense at all. The Billikens didn’t play defense as physical as they had in recent games. The Rams had stellar three-point shooting, and the Rams won the game with a final score of 83-65. The Billikens were led by freshman Davell Roby in scoring with 16 points. The Billikens fall to 2-8 in conference play. The Rams grab their first win in conference play this season.
This is a game that still shows that this young Billiken squad that still struggles to find offense on a daily night. Freshman Milik Yarbrough has all of sudden struggled to find his early season success as he finished with game with two points that came off of free throws. One big stat line that tells a big story was that from the free throw line the Rams were 28-37, and the Billikens were just 12-16. Another telling stat was that the Billikens finished the game with 19 turnovers, yet another sign of a young team that doesn’t value the basketball. Giving the other team way too many free throw opportunities and turning the ball over 19 times is where head coach Jim Crews can look for reasons why this team fell to the Rams. The Billikens next game is at home Tuesday night against the Dayton Flyers. Tip-off is at 8:30 pm on CBS Sports Network.
