Billikids make it a half dozen

Amherst, Mass.- The late-season surge of the Billikens continued on Sunday with an impressive 69-56 victory over Massachusetts in Atlantic 10 action.

The victory is the Billikens' sixth in a row and third road victory in
succession. The Billikens are now 9-3 in A-10 play and 18-8 overall.
Don't look now, but your Billikids are in fourth place by themselves in
league play. As you all know, the top four teams receive a bye through
the first round of the postseason tournament.

After falling behind their previous four opponents by double-digits, the
Billikens put together a solid, focused effort for virtually the entire
game. They built a 12-point lead in the first half, only to see the
Minutemen fight back to cut the lead to 30-29 at halftime.

In the second half, the Minutemen made several runs at the Bills, but
could never take the lead. The kids responded every time with a big play
to keep UMass at bay.

The guys really took care of business today. They played with a lot of
purpose and confidence and had the look of a team that is really trying
to contend for a conference title. Their defensive game-plan against the
Minutemen's dribble-drive motion offense was flawless.

They did a great job of sealing off the drives to the hoop and made the
UMass players take difficult shots in the lane all game long. Meanwhile,
we completely shut down their 3-point attack, which is a huge part of
their offense. UMass came into the game with more than 600 3-point
attempts. We held them to 2 of 11 from long distance, which is par for
the course for SLU.

On offense, everyone got a chance to share in the pie. Kyle Cassity led
the way with 16 points in what was his third consecutive strong outing.
He is attacking the basket with good aggression while stroking the
3-point jumper with confidence. Don't be surprised if Kyle just suddenly
raises up and dunks one when he drives baseline. He's a better athlete
that people think. He just might surprise himself.

Cody Ellis added 14 points, hitting four of eight from 3-point range.
Cody really got us going early with three early long treys. He cooled
off a little bit after that, but his early bombing really spaced the
floor up for Kyle's drives to the hoop and Willie in the low post.

Willie Reed had a big game with 14 points, seven rebounds and four
blocks. Willie was really a dominant factor on defense with his shot
blocking and shot altering. Once again, he got some early touches and
converted some easy baskets in the post. He is starting to come on
strong again.

Kwamain was the fourth Billiken in double figures with 11 points. He
also had four assists. Once again, KM did most of his damage in the
second half with nine points.

Brian Conklin, Cory Remekun and Jon Smith gave us very solid minutes off
the bench. Cory was great with four points and some excellent
rebounding. He hit a 15-foot baseline jumper and scored on a missed
Christian Salecich free throw in the second half; both big buckets. I
was real impressed with Cory's mental attidude. He hadn't seen many
minutes in recent games, but once his number was called today, he was
ready and he produced. Conklin's physical play and intensity really
caught the ire of several UMass players. One of them picked up an
intentional foul by throwing BC to the floor right in front of the
referee.

Another pleasant sight to see was Femi John back in uniform with the
rest of the team. Femi re-injured his knee in Charlotte last month and
hasn't played since. He has practiced on a limited basis during the last
few days and was actually available for the UMass game in an emergency
situation. The coaches are hoping to increase his practice activity a
little bit more in hopes of having him available for live game action
soon. It would be nice to have another body to add to the mix down the
stretch because we have only been going with nine players for quite some
time. Welcome back, Femi.

Once again, it was nice to see the kids take control of a game against a
team that was struggling from start to finish. They played like they
want to stay in this thing for the duration. While many may question
whether they belong with the A-10's elite teams, the kids truly believe
that they do and that is the most important thing.

I think the rest of the league has figured that out too. When you play
solid defense, take care of the basketball, don't beat yourself and get
good quality shots, you are going to be a tough out. Toss in a Hall of
Fame coach who consistently has his team better prepared than a
five-course meal at a five-star restaurant and you have a basketball
team that has arrived on the scene much earlier than any of us had
anticipated. Even at such an early stage in their careers, the kids have
completely bought in to what Rick and the rest of the staff are doing.
And it clearly shows. The Billikids are so premature to this party that
they have to be put in incubators. Who on earth would have thought this
so soon?

The fun is now beginning. Perennial league kingpin Xavier comes to the
house for a big showdown on Wednesday night. As usual, X is big and
strong with great tradition. They will present the most formidable
challenge of the season, but I would not have it any other way.

There is no excuse for not having a complete sellout at the game on
Wednesday. Billiken fans have longed for the day where we could play in
such high-stakes games this late in the season. Now, they are here and
it's time to stand up and be counted. The turnout and performance by the
crowd at Dayton was off the chains. Wonderful. Now, it's time to step it
up one level better than that.

Just like the kids who will have to step it up one more level or two to
have a chance at beating Xavier, the Billiken faithful have to bring it
harder and stronger as well. It's time to test the sturdiness of our $81
million home. Let's see if we can rock the Chaifetz so hard that it
shakes.
And don't forget, Duquesne and Temple come to the house after X, so there
is going to be some exciting basketball up in here, up in here.

Look forward to seeing all of you decked out in white on Wednesday.
Signing off from New England.

Go Bills!