First off, a short apology on not having any player quotes in this morning’s game story. This happens when Majerus keeps the team in the room for a long time after a game. He was in there with them for close to an hour after the loss, and then he comes out to talk to me. But while we’re talking, the players, who have been sitting around for an hour, get dressed,  head to the bus and get out of there, leaving me empty-handed.

At one point against Duquesne, SLU trailed by 32. They never trailed by that much in the GW game. The only time they’ve been that far behind this season was at Kent State, where they trailed by 42.

If you’re searching for silver linings amid the dark clouds, SLU has yet to lose three straight games this season. This is their third two-game losing streak.

Three of SLU’s fourth-worst defensive games, at least in terms of points scored by the opponent, have been in the past six games.

Interestingly, if SLU had beaten St. Bonaventure, they still would have been the No. 9 seed. The difference is they would have faced La Salle instead of Dayton. If I were SLU, I’d rather be playing La Salle than Dayton.

Three of SLU’s past four opponents have shot 50 percent or better from the field. SLU can’t afford that.

Duquesne got 40 of its 85 points — almost half — in the paint. And they got 23 points off turnovers.

Duquesne did get only four offensive rebounds. That’s one of the lowest numbers for a SLU foe this season.

In the past two games, Liddell has made 3 of 21 shots. That’s 14 percent. If you throw out 3-pointers, in the past two games he’s 0 for 15.

I don’t know if they showed this on TV, but after Barry Eberhardt fouled out, he spent much of the remainder of the game sitting next to Majerus, who was pointing out things to him the rest of the way.

Luke Meyer is the only player to start every SLU game this season.

Bryce Husak played two minutes in the first half, eight in the game, and by the second half, Majerus was using Adam Knollmeyer instead of Husak. As best as I can tell, this is the first time Knollmeyer has played more minutes in a game this season than Husak. Knollmeyer played 13 on Saturday, Husak 8.

In SLU’s three most recent losses, it has shot worse in the second than the first.

An hour or so before the St. Bonaventure game, Earl Austin and I had lunch and discussed whether or not SLU could get in the NIT. I think that’s pretty much out of the question now unless SLU beats Xavier and gets to the conference final. Even the Majerus name won’t help if SLU is 16-15. And if only three A-10 schools get in the NCAAs, you have to wonder how deep would they go in the league. To the No. 9 seed? I think not.

From Majerus:

We get beat in one-on-one situations in the first half. They just take Dwayne off the dribble, Tommie off the dribble. Kevin has three unforced turnovers (in the first half). We have turnovers of not catching the ball. (Were the turnovers because of a lack of effort, I asked.) I don’t know about effort. I went down to the trainer and asked him if (Lisch’s) hand was hurt and I asked (Kevin) if his hand was hurt and he said it wasn’t. He just turned the ball over. We have difficulty we have all year scoring at times. We missed like eight layups. We have problems. We’re undersized.”

 More to come, probably at a point where I can stay awake.