It’s times like these when coach Brad Soderberg longs for the consistency of the 2005-2006 basketball season. Last year, the Billikens alternated wins and losses for what seemed like as long as it took A.C. Green to join the ranks of thousands of college students. But, it was inconsistency that Soderberg could count on.
This year, however, the Billikens have been startlingly inconsistent, and that showed with their most recent loss to the University of Rhode Island Rams on Wednesday night.
The Billikens beat the Rams in St. Louis 62-58 on Jan. 10, but when they traveled to Kingston, R.I., they could not repeat the same result. The Rams took the Bills to task in an 83-67 victory. The Bills were paced by Tommie Liddell, who has struggled as of late, and his 23 points.
Liddell had the hot-hand for the Billikens. He shot 8-12 from the field and 3-4 from behind the three-point line. Liddell also had five rebounds for the Bills.
The Billikens held the game close early on, but Rhode Island went on an 18-2 run in the final minutes of the first half, which proved to be insurmountable for the Billikens. After early shooting troubles, the resilient Billikens came back to within 23-21 with seven minutes remaining. Then, the Rams went on a tear and the Bills seemed to have no answer for their potent offense and stifling defense. The Rams’ run took the score to 41-23 at the half.
The Billikens came out firing in the second half and scored 44 points, but their defense was not up to the task as they allowed Rhode Island to net 42 points of their own.
The Bills and Rams each finished with 27 rebounds, and the difference in the game came down to the Rams shooting 50 percent from behind the three-point line. Also, the Billikens managed only 10 assists compared to 16 turnovers, which is not a recipe for victory at the Division I level of college basketball.
Luke Meyer was solid for the Bills, as per usual, with 13 points, and sophomore guard Kevin Lisch had 10 points to round out all the Billikens in double digits.
Noticeably absent was senior center Ian Vouyoukas, who had almost as many fouls as he did rebounds (four versus five). Vouyoukas only had seven points, and was limited to 24 minutes due to foul trouble. Vouyoukas, who declared for last year’s NBA draft but came back to improve, among many things, his athleticism, has been awfully quiet for most of the season. Vouyoukas was supposed to lead the Bills, but instead has seemed lost on the court, and has reverted back to his form of excessive fouling that plagued him his sophomore year.
The Billikens hope to get back on the winning track on Saturday against La Salle at the Scottrade Center at 7 p.m. The Bills are looking to establish some momentum heading into the conference tournament, and they only have five more games to do it.
