In a game reminescent of the mid-1990's where 3-pointers were the order of the day, the Billikens ran and shot their way to an entertaining 76-66 victory over Kennesaw State in the first game of the Chicago Classic at Chaifetz Arena.
SLU (3-0) shot a robust 50 percent on 10 of 20 shooting from behind the arc. Sophomore Kyle Cassity (pictured) and freshman Christian Salecich channeled Scott Highmark and Erwin Claggett with a combined 7 of 12 from long distance.
Cassity hit four of his five treys en route to a career-high 18 points while Salecich hit three of seven to score 15 points. Freshman Justin Jordan also added two 3-pointers for his six points. The 3's were raining in from all over the Chaifetz, much to the delight of the 6,538 who were in attendance.
Showing no signs of letdown from last Wedensday's big victory over Nebraska, the
Billikens raced to a 16-4 lead, mostly on drives to the hoop and layups by Cassity, Salecich and Kwamain Mitchell.
The good times were brought to a sudden halt momentarily as Kennesaw changed defenses and went to a variety of trapping defense in the full and half court. The Owls willed their athleticism on the Bills for the final nine minutes of the half as they forced turnovers with their pressure and punished the Billikens with nine offensive rebounds. The result was a slim 31-28 halftime lead for SLU and a real dogfight on their hands.
Kennesaw has been Division I for four years and can finally play in the Conference tourament (Atlantic Sun). They are pretty good. They have good size, good athleticism and some quick guards and they love to run and shoot. I like their forwards, especially, Markeith Cummings, a 6'6" 220 pound beast of an athlete who is just a redshirt freshman. He will be a snootful in the A-Sun for the next four years. He and senior Jon-Michael Nickerson were a handful in the first half.
Whether we wanted to or not, we had a ball game on our hands and I was a little concerned at halftime.
However, the boys came out of the locker room focused. The second half started in the same manner as the first as the Billikens charged out with an 11-0 run, with two 3-pointers by Salecich and one trey by Cassity keying the run.
Kennesaw managed to reel the Billikens back in to pull within 65-60 with the ball with just over four minutes left. However, SLU got two big stops which led to fast break layups by Conklin and Cassity to give the Bills some breathing room down the stretch.
For the second game in a row, the Billikens exploded in the second half. After scoring 41 points in the second half against Nebraska, they scored 45 against the Owls on 65 percent shooting in the half and 61 percent shooting from the three (8 of13). That was impressive.
The 20 assists was also nice as the ball contined to move for open 3's and when we beat the press, the guys attacked the basket and got some easy scores.
That was when we beat the press. KSU's pressure really caused a lot of problems as the Billikens had 16 turnovers, many coming on wild passes when we got too much in a hurry to make a play. We also had a bad habit of dribbling right into traps on the sidelines, which is a big no-no. That will have to be cleaned up, especially when we see A-10 Conference foes such as Duquesne, Rhode Island and to some extent Dayton, who like to pick teams up in the full court.
Cassity followed up his big effort against Nebraska with another big game with 18 points, four rebounds and two assists in 30 minutes. Salecich added six assists to go with his 16 points.
Willie Reed and Brian Conklin were absent for much of the first half with a combined two points and and five rebounds. By the end of the game, Reed had nine points, 12 rebounds and five blocks while Conklin finished with 11 points and four rebounds. It was nice to see the bigs get busy in the second half.
Kwamain played more of a facilitator role today with six assists. He took only five shots and scoed seven, but he created all kinds of opportunities for his teammates. Many of Christian's and Kyle's open looks came off Kwamain's penetration and kick-outs.
Femi John had another solid effort off the bench with seven points and two rebounds in 16 minutes. Corey Remekun added a deuce on a layup off the press offense while Jon Smith added a free throw.
Although frustrating at times to see us struggle with pressure, it was nice to see the boys shooting the basketball with so much confidence. As I referenced the SLU teams of the mid-90's at the beginning of the report, good shooting can cover up a lot of issues.
Let's home the ball keeps going through the hoop. They will be quite all right with me.
On Tuesday night, SLU resumes action by hosting Mississippi Valley State.
I'll have the preview on Tuesday.
Go Bills.
photo courtesy of www.slu.edu
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