No, it wasn’t pretty…but a 10 point win is a 10 point win. Ol’ number 5 from the Bluegrass state has all new rotations, a new starting lineup, and what people in some parts call…a bench! These are all new developments here in the STL and it’s gonna take 6-10 games for Ford to figure out the players…and more importantly, the players to figure out each other. So…let’s review your 1-0 St. Louis University Billikens.
The Ugly
Last season the Billikens did three things alarmingly bad. Turn the ball over, shot bad from three, and shot poorly from the stripe. Last night, the folks at the Chaifetz Arena were treated to an encore performance. The Bills turned the ball over 14 times, shot 4-25 from three (16.0%), and 19-33 from the free-throw line (57.6%). That’s a lot of points given away and left on the floor. What is Coach Ford’s planned path to correction? We’ll have to wait and see…
The Curious
Couple weird happenings last night. Let’s start with Hashan French. He is a 6’8’ mountain of a man. Agile, athletic, and can finish with authority on the break and in traffic. Last night he shot 100% from the floor…on 1-1 shooting. Meanwhile, the fellas jacked up 25 threes and missed 21 of them. If they work just 5 of those into French this is a 16-20 point win instead of a 10 point nail biter. He did however grab 12 boards and secure the much sought after rebound chain.
Second, Jordan Goodwin played some uncharacteristically sloppy ball. This season he has to adjust to playing off the ball more with Isabell handling most of the point guard duty. J Good had 5 turns and shot 5-9 from the charity stripe. Knowing the kid, he’ll clean this up quick and be back to his usual dominate self. It may take 3-4 more games, but it’ll happen.
The Good
Tramaine Isabell can straight fill it up. After 21 a game last season at Drexel he dropped 18 in his Bills debut, despite going 0-6 from deep. He’ll start dropping treys and taking better care of the ball to become the true floor general the squad needs.
Javon Bess is better than last season. In ‘17-‘18 JB was SLU’s most consistent and best player. He continued that trend on election night. He poured in 18 points on 6-11 shooting, 2-6 on a much improved jumper from deep, 5 boards, 3 dimes, and 3 steals with only 1 turnover. With Bess setting a calm and consistent tone, the squad will soon follow suit.
What’s Next?
SLU stays at home this week for a Friday matchup against the Troy Trojans. Troy is fresh off of a 95-60 throttling of that basketball powerhouse Fort Valley State. Look, SLU is going to win, but it’s how they win. Will they clean up the turnovers, will they sink the free throws, will they know when to fall out of love with the three and in love with Hashan French two hand throw downs? Let’s head down to the Jewel of Midtown on Friday night and find out.
Until then… long live Travis Ford around the back and behind the head….
