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The Streak Survives

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After two tough wins on the road last week, the Billikens have extended their winning streak to 16 straight games. The streak started on December 3rd when the Billikens beat the Rockhurst University Hawks in a landslide victory of 68-43. Shortly after losing their only two games of the season to Wisconsin and Wichita St., in just a week’s time, if you had told any fan that the team would not lose another game for  more than 70 days they would have thought you were crazy. Fast forwarding to today, the thought of a loss is practically unfathomable to Billiken Nation. Despite all of the close games, and an incredibly minute amount of respect from the media, the Billikens are still going strong and are riding such a large amount of momentum that when combined with our incredible team chemistry, loads of talent, and the amazing coach that is Jim Crews, will make it very difficult for anyone to end that record-setting winning streak.

 

Jordair Jett leads the team to victory with his 25 points; especially with his last second bucket.

Jordair Jett leads the team to victory with his 25 points; specifically with this last second bucket.

The Philadelphia games turned out a bit differently than most would have predicted. SLU took what was predicted to be a close game, at St. Joseph’s, and made it a blowout in a 65-49 win. Just three days later at La Salle, what was supposed to be a blowout, the Billikens only won by 2, 63-61. This win was secured by a last-second dribble drive from Jordair Jett, who finished the game with an outstanding 25 points, to add to his three assists and two steals. You could say that us Billiken fans were nervous, and if you had been watching with the game with me, you would know that is a total understatement! However, a win is a win, and the team will now put all focus towards Saturday’s match-up against the Virginia Commonwealth Rams. One game at a time.

 

While the team was busy preparing for the next game, the fan base was patiently waiting for the release of the AP Poll on Monday morning. After two wins on a tough conference road trip, the Billikens stayed undefeated on the road and in conference play, and moved to 22-2 overall and because of this the fans were very hopeful and wished for the best possible results from the voters. Despite having a perfect week, the Billikens still came up short when they were voted #12 in the nation; just one spot higher than last week. After losses from the #’s 12, 10, 9 and 7, they hoped to move into the Top 10 in the rankings for the first time since the 1960’s. While it is solely a number, it still carries a lot of weight in the eye’s of the public and would have gained a lot of respect for the team; also a lot of hate and disrespect, but that’s inevitable. Looking forward, they have even more motivation (if that’s possible) to win on Saturday and again hope for the best come Monday.

 

Now, focusing on VCU. The Rams are currently trailing the Billikens by 1.5 games in conference play and are looking to close that gap on Saturday. With the two best defenses in the A10 (also two of the best defenses in the nation) going head-to-head it’s sure to be an intense game. Defenses aside, both teams also strive on the offensive side of the court. VCU holds the title for highest scoring offense at 77.3 points per game, led by Treveon Graham at 15.6 ppg. Going up against SLU who has been very efficient on the offensive end themselves, scoring nearly 75 points per game in their last 5 contests. The two teams are both very well rounded and they’re both well coached, but the difference maker will be which team can dominate with their style of play? Will it be VCU’s self-patented “Havoc” defense? Or will it be SLU’s fundamental, slow, team-first style of play that has worked so well? Hopefully the answer to that question will be the latter of the two, we’ll have to wait and see. Hopefully I’ll be writing you all next week about a 23-2 team that just cracked the Top 10, but until then, go Bills!

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