On any other night had the Saint Louis University men’s basketball team gone on an eleven-minute drought of scoring, they would have lost. Look no further than the Jan. 29 52-46 loss at George Washington when the Billikens shot under 30 percent from the field in the second half.
But this was not a normal night, and an eleven-minute absence of baskets was not enough to derail SLU from a 69-53 win over Massachusetts. The win ended a two-game losing streak and advanced the Billikens to 8-13 overall and 3-5 in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
Freshman guard Mike McCall led four Billikens in double figures with 17 points. Kyle Cassity scored 11 points on three 3-pointers and a pair of free throws, while Cody Ellis and Rob Loe chipped in 10 points apiece.
“The real reason we won is because we defended well, and we took care of the ball,” SLU head coach Rick Majerus said. “We were fortunate that some shots dropped. The guys did a great job of playing with each other, supporting each other … and adapting to changing defensive assignments.”
The Billikens committed just seven turnovers and recorded 17 assists. The SLU defense forced 13 UMass turnovers, which turned into 16 points.
SLU also made a season-high 10 three-point attempts.
Perhaps what was most remarkable about an otherwise unremarkable win was how the Billikens held on despite hitting just eight field goals in the second half.
With an eight-point lead at half, SLU had to hold off a feisty, but short-lived, UMass run to start the second half. Two field goals from Cory Remekun and a three from Ellis ensured that the Billikens would lead by at least 10 for the remainder of the game. SLU then did something it has not done all season.
They won the game from the free-throw line.
The Minutemen sent SLU to the line 23 times in the second half, and the Billikens capitalized, sinking 20 shots and coasting to victory.
“Coach [Porter] Moser says the characteristic of a good team is when you have them down, you step on them and throttle them,” Cassity said. “We did that tonight, and it helped that we made some shots.”
Majerus acknowledged that SLU’s shooting woes are “concerning” but attributed them, not to bad looks, but rather too much effort.
“We squeeze the trigger too hard sometimes, and part of that is youth and inexperience,” he said. “They try so hard to be successful that it becomes counter-productive … It’s a nice problem to have … [but] we hit some baskets and that gave us confidence. It’s a funny thing, confidence.”
SLU may need more than confidence soon; on Saturday, Feb. 5, the Billikens travel to Xavier, who lost their first A-10 match on Wednesday, Feb. 2 to Charlotte. The game tips at 10 a.m. CDT on ESPNU.
