The Running of the Bills

The hot shooting of the Billikens continued on Tuesday night in their 75-39 victory over Mississippi Valley State in the second game of the Chicago Invitational Challenge at the Chaifetz Arena.
For the second consecutive game, the Billikens set a Chaifetz Arena record for most 3-pointers made in a game. The Bills made 10 of 20 from 3-point land against Kennesaw State last Sunday.
SLU followed up that shooting performance by making 12 3-pointers on Tuesday night, on 44 percent shooting from long distance.
Several players got in on the 3-point shooting parade. Justin Jordan hit four 3-pointers off the bench. Christian Salecich was three for seven, Kyle Cassity was two for four while Femi John was two for six. Kwamain Mitchell also added a trey in the second half.
As, the Billikens got off to a quick start making six of their first seven shots. However, their early offense came from inside the paint. Kyle Cassity scored on a driving left-handed layup to open the scoring, then Willie Reed (pictured)took over with three consecutive hoops from in close, including a beautiful jump hook on the baseline.
Mississippi Valley State battled back to make it somewhat competitive at halftime as the Bills led 31-24. The Delta Devils went to a zone and our shooting went cold and they got back in the game. Luckily, we re-discovered our 6'9" athlete in the middle and started to throw him the ball again and Willie responded with a few late hoops to provide a little breathing room at the half.
The Bills exploded in the second half with another offensive barrage as they outscored the Delta Devils 44-15. SLU shot 61 percent from the field in the second half and 66 percent from 3-point range on 8 of 12 shooting from behind the arc.
For the game, SLU shot 52 percent from the field, 44 percent from 3-point range and 70 percent from the free-throw line. The solid defense continued on the other end as the Bills limited Valley to 27 percent shooting from the field.
Reed led four Billiken players in double figures with 17 points. The maturity of his low-post game continues to be astounding. Willie arrived on campus as a dunker who can run and throw down alley oops. Now, he is gradually evolving into a legitmate low-post threat. On Tuesday night, he showed a variety of moves from the baseline jump hook, to the spin move. He even passed cross-court out of a double-team to a wide open Kwamain for the 3-pointer.
As a former low-post player myself, it's beautiful to watch Willie's evolution. He made eight of his nine field goal attempts and none of them were dunks. That's good.
Salecich added 14 points, Jordan scored a season-high 12 points off the bench while Cassity added 10 onts. Kwamain played the consummate point guard role again with nine points, six assists, five steals and no turnovers. Femi was solid off the bench again with six points and four rebounds.
The balanced scoring is nice to see because everyone is looking for the open man and delivering it to a teammate who has a chance to do something with the ball. We had 19 assists and only eight turnovers. The highlight of the game was a Kwamain push up court, with a no-look pass to Christian, who delivered his own no-look shovel pass to a streaking Brian for an easy layup.
After that play, I blurted out on the radio broadcast, "It's the running of the Bills!"
There were also plays when all five players touched the ball in a matter of only seconds before someone had a wide-open shot. Such ball movement on offense can be breathtaking. The Billikids have bought into this already and they are still puppies. Just wait until they are grown men who are playing with such savvy. Kyle had five assists and Christian dropped three dimes in addition to Kwamain's six.
Our only bugaboo on Tuesday night was fouls. We fouled early and often. Brian Conklin picked up his first foul on an illegal screen 12 seconds into the game and Willie picked up a foul less than a minute later. Brian picked up a second foul two minutes into the contest and had to sit the rest of the half. He had trouble getting into a rhythm because he sat so long.
Rebounding contines to be a challenge at times, especially when we have to go to a small lineup with four guards. MVSU was able to grab 12 offensive rebounds and convert many into easy baskets. Not having Brian in the game for such a long stretch really comprises us down low because he is so physical.
We committed a total of 11 fouls in the first half with Brian, Willie, Kwamain and Corey Remekun each getting two. Kwamain got his third right at the beginning of the second half and Corey fouled out in 11 minutes. Corey was doing good job of battling for low-post position on defense and going after the ball aggressively. He's getting better in his limited time.
Oh well, it's good to be 4-0 for the first time since Larry the Legend wowed us on a nightly basis. This team is still young and a work in progress and there is so much work that needs to be done to improve, but I think you can get a little excited at some of the seeds that are being planted here. Not only for the rest of the season, but for the future.
Starting with Iowa State on Friday, we're going to have our mettle tested in the next couple of weeks, and I think that's good. To tell you the truth, I think the boys are hankering for a little more competition, which we will surely see in Chicago this weekend.
I'll have a preview of the Iowa State game as well as a look at Notre Dame and Northwestern coming up.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone and Go Bills.
I'll see you in Chi-Town.