WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. — I really shouldn’t be here right now, but, for the second straight weekend, I’m stranded on the road on a Sunday night. Last week, my flight out of Richmond was cancelled, keeping me in Virginia overnight. This time, my flight from Hartford to Philadelphia was delayed, which was going to make me miss my connection back to St. Louis, so here I am, one more night on the road. I’m not liking these Sunday afternoon road games.

But enough about me.

The most points allowed by SLU this season:

88 — Massachusetts

81 — Kent State

74 — La Salle

So that number is way above what they usually do. UMass scored more points off SLU in the first half — 41 — than SLU allowed GW in the whole game on Wednesday — 38.

This was just the third game all season where SLU never led. The others were Pitt and the first George Washington game.

SLU lost despite shooting 46.2 percent from the field, its best number since shooting 63 percent against La Salle. (That’s also the last time I was able to get out of a road city the night of a day game.)

In the past two games, SLU is 24 of 48 on 3-pointers. That’s 50 percent.

This number didn’t hit me until later, but UMass outrebounded SLU by 14, a pretty big number. UMass got 10 offensive rebounds.

SLU had 38 points off the bench (only the Houston Baptist game had more), driven by Brown and Eckerle having 32.

If one stat shows the difference in the game, it’s that UMass went from  being 2 for 21 on 3’s to 11 for 23 on 3’s. That’s nine 27 points right there in a game decided by 11. (Thanks to reader Jackson.) UMass actually had the same number of points in the paint in the two games, 30, but the timing of them, combined with the offensive rebounds, made them much more damaging.

In his past two games, Liddell is 4 for 15 and has three rebounds.

Lisch has 75 points in the past four games, but he had just one rebound, his fewest since Long Beach State. He had his consecutive free throw streak snapped at 16, then made seven straight.

Barry Eberhardt may not be a good match for UMass. He has played just eight minutes in each of the games.

Luke Meyer is four for 16 in the past three games.

I haven’t run the plus-minus yet, but this has to be one of Paul Eckerle’s best games. 4 of 7 shooting, 2 for 3 on 3’s, three free throws, and I think he did a good job, relatively speaking, on defense. He played a career high 31 minutes. I’m not sure what SLU would be doing without him, though I guess we’d be seeing a lot more of Marcus Relphorde and Anthony Mitchell.

Adam Knollmeyer did a pretty good job in his five minutes, scoring two points and grabbing a rebound.

Marcus Relphorde got a few minutes in the second half when Majerus needed someone to give his short squad a breather. He had an offensive rebound, one of the few positive stats he’s had in recent games.

Big game for Danny Brown, making six of 10 shots, 4 of 7 3’s, and 8 rebounds. He also had two assists and played a season-high 30 minutes.

Bob Donato, one of the refs on Sunday, was the ref who called the controversial foul on Villanova with .1 seconds to go last week against Georgetown.

My day:

My rental car came with a navigational system, so I punched in the address for church this morning. It told me to get on I-91 and drive two miles, get off, make a left, and another left, get back on I-91 going the other direction, get off at the same place I got on, and turn right. I literally ended up 50 feet from where I started, though it took me four miles to get there. Other than that, it worked fine.

I made a pit stop on the way to Amherst at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, about halfway between Hartford and Amherst. SLU shows up a few times in the museum. There’s a picture of Dick Boushka and Ed Hickey after an NIT game win, and an action shot of Ed Macauley. (Ed’s also in the Hall of Fame on the top floor.) A small display in the media section shows, if I was reading it right, the first-ever AP basketball poll, in which SLU was No. 1. Lorenzo Romar shows up sitting next to Jim Harrick in a UCLA picture.

I’ve now been to three of the four major halls: Baseball, basketball and hockey. It’s probably a byproduct of the sport itself, but the range of stuff in Springfield seems more limited than the other halls. There are basketballs in various states of deflation, jerseys, shoes, socks — Pete Maravich’s — and more jerseys. If you’re a basketball fan and you’re in the area, it’s probably worth a stop. And on the bottom  floor, they’ve got a full basketball court and a rack of ball to shoot around.

 These things change all the time now, but SLU is tied for eighth at the moment and would be the No. 9 seed in the conference tournament if it started today. (I’ve got a new obsession!) SLU would play Dayton in the first round, with the winner playing Xavier. Charlotte would play UMass, with the winner playing St. Joseph’s. Duquesne would be playing La Salle, which has fallen to the No. 11 seed pretty fast, with the winner facing Temple. Richmond would face Fordham,  with the winner playing Rhode Island.

Here’s a key result to remember for tiebreaking purposes: Temple beat Xavier. In the case of a multiple tie, that will usually give Temple the edge.

Two games tonight: Xavier at Rhode Island, La Salle at St. Joe’s. A win for Rhode Island would probably assure them an at-large bid.

After beating Charlotte on Sunday, Fordham wil bring a two-game winning streak into Scottrade on Wednesday.

SLU needs two wins in its final five games to assure itself of finishing at least .500 for the season.

But hey, I won the writers pool at the game!