SLU basketball goes on road for first time to play Nebraska
The dire predictions SLU coach Rick Majerus had for his team’s first two games didn’t fully materialize. SLU played Kent State tough and lost in overtime in a game they very easily could have won had they been able to shoot free throws a little better or, of course, stop Kent’s Al Fisher.
Then SLU took on an ACC team, Boston College, and despite bad shooting by its two best players, Kevin Lisch and Tommie Liddell, hung close for a long time before pulling away at the end and getting a win. Brian Conklin and Kwamain Mitchell are emerging as freshmen who can contribute from the start at this level, though each still is prone to mistakes.
Now, SLU goes on the road for the first time, to play Nebraska of the Big 12 and Majerus still has his doubts. “Tuesday will be a tough game, very tough,” he said. “With freshmen going on the road for the first time, you don’t want to be doing their laundry the next day, I’ll tell you that.”
The train wreck Majerus forecast for his team hasn’t come yet, and this is the latest chance for it. SLU’s freshmen haven’t played outside of Chaifetz Arena yet, and while Nebraska isn’t the toughest place a team will go play, it won’t be a deserted gym either.
Lisch isn’t concerned.
“We’ll make sure they get to bed,” he said. “We might have to read them a night time story. I think they’ll be fine. They all played AAU basketball where they traveled all the time. It’s not that big a deal.”
Yes, but most AAU games are played in front of no one. There will be between 6,000 and 9,000 fans on hand at the Devaney Center for this one. They have to do something when the football team isn’t doing well.
Nebraska is 3-0, with wins over San Jose State, TCU and Arkansas-Pine Bluff. They’ve been better on defense so far, so there’s the potential for this to be a low-scoring game. Though this could be a game where SLU’s inside game is able to get some easy points.
Nebraska is also short, with only two players over 6-5 who get significant playing time. It’s a game which doesn’t figure to give SLU the matchup problems it had in the BC game, though when Nebraska goes with four guards, it’s presumably quicker. SLU has the potential to do well on the boards. Nebraska’s tallest player is 6-8.
Huskers coach Doc Sadler was not too pleased with his team’s effort against Arkansas Pine Bluff. The team’s stats are here.
Tim, again nothing in the paper about the game. The sports section is the only reason I have the paper delivered.
jerele,
It is pretty sad. From what I understand this decisions is not Tom’s. Why buy the local paper when you are not even going to get real pregame coverage before two games against BCS opponents. Tom did they send you to Lincoln to cover the game or is this going to be like the Pacific game last year?
not a frequent visitor to the sports page, but I do follow Men’s Billikens basketball. Am I missing something, or was there not an article in November 20th edition of PD about the Bills upcoming came w/ BC? THe name of the paper is the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and Mizzou teams and games routinely get more press and coverage than the local Billiken’s team. Do we have to wait for SLU to open a J-school before their Bills get some credible coverage?
It’s a good thing I read this article. Another part of the site has the game on Wednesday.
Z
What a joke the PD has become. One of the biggest names in college coaching works only blocks from the PD’s offices, but yet we can’t even read gameday previews of games against teams from major conferences. Meanwhile, the PD elects to spend resources and print covering “news” about the number of music concerts in Kansas City. It is so sad to see the PD fall from one of the premier newspapers several decades ago to a blend of syndicated columns and meaningless gossip.
Tom, I feel sorry for the challenge you face in your job.
Greetings from Omaha. I’ll be driving to Lincoln shortly. (You can’t fly nonstop from St. Louis to Lincoln, but you can to Omaha and it’s about an hour drive.) But enough about me.
As for other comments:
There was something on the game in the paper this morning, but not a whole lot and if you weren’t paying close attention, I see how you could have missed it. I wrote a snappy paragraph that appeared on Page 2. It’s got a nice gray screen on it.
I sent this reply to a few people who sent me, well, angry e-mails on Saturday (all of which I forwarded to my boss so he’s aware of your feelings): We’re at a time of year where space is tight and the bosses have to make decisions about its judicious use. I don’t make the decisions, so I can’t make any promises, but I hope this will change once we get past the Big 12 football championship. Everyone is affected right now, since Mizzou football is kind of driving the bus. (And the fact we have state high school football finals this week also gets in the way.) We didn’t staff an Illinois basketball game over the weekend and I’m pretty sure we didn’t staff Mizzou’s exhibition game.
In the meantime, we’ll be using the website whenever possible to augment our coverage.
The Pacific game was two years ago, not last year, but I get the point. But also, in the four years I’ve been back on the beat, that’s the only road game we haven’t staffed. But it’s a problem all over. There were no out-of-town reporters for either the Kent State or Boston College games. I saw the UMass reporters when they were playing in Carbondale and they weren’t sure if they’d be back in January when the Minutemen play at SLU. Things are tough all over.
In any case, I’m off to Lincoln!