The men’s basketball game last night was bittersweet.

Yes, it was the first game of Chaifetz Arena’s inaugural season. And yes, the Billikens trumped cross-Compton rival Harris-Stowe State by 46 points, but the bitter part comes with Kevin Lisch’s injury within the first two minutes.

Lisch, one of only four players retained from last season, left the game after just 2:05 of regulation play. At press time, his condition was not known.

“Kevin [Lisch] was taken to the hospital for an X-ray during the game,” head coach Rick Majerus said. “It could be his tailbone, I don’t know. It could be disastrous [for his basketball career], but I’m sure he’s not hurt for life.”

Lisch was shoved out of bounds as he was trying to tip the ball back into bounds. The senior guard landed on his back off the court. Members of the athletic training team had to assist him off the court.

“I thought he was going to hop back up, you know, because he’s tough,” senior guard Tommie Liddell III said. “I’m kind of nervous about [his injury] but hopefully he’ll just need treatment and will be practicing with us.”

Aside from the Lisch injury, the game went fairly well for the Billikens. Freshman forward Willie Reed led the team with 17 points; the team shot 35-74 inside the arc and 12-21 from the line. The game marked the first showing of a team picked to finish seventh in the Atlantic 10 Conference, according preseason polls.

Majerus was cautious to predict a solid season for the Bills. His team comprises nine freshmen, all of which are expected to get a lot of floor time. Against Harris-Stowe, eight of them played, with the exception of Daniel Lisch. The freshmen combined for 159 minutes of play.

“I have never coached a team with this many freshmen,” Majerus said. “This is not where you want to be [as a program]. We might have the youngest team in America.”

The team will get its first real test when it takes on the University of Missouri-St. Louis Nov. 14 at Chaifetz.