Billikens can’t find answers on offense in disheartening home finale

Published Mar. 4, 2015 11:31 p.m. ET

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ST. LOUIS -- Saint Louis' search for reliable offensive weapons continued Wednesday night.

The Billikens brought the energy they needed to compete with St. Bonaventure in their final home game of the season, where they suffered their worst loss in Chaifetz Arena's six-year history last Saturday against a mediocre (at best) George Mason team. But no SLU players even reached 12 points for the second straight game as they faded late in a disheartening 64-48 loss.

"We've had a hard time (getting offensive momentum) because we've been inconsistent individually, which makes us inconsistent collectively," coach Jim Crews said. "Guys just trying to figure it out and sometimes guys just trying to survive."

Ash Yacoubou led the way with 11 points, mostly on strong drives to the basket or fast-break layups. But as usual, the junior struggled when forced into jump shots, missing all three 3-point attempts to fall to 24 percent for the season.

SLU's better 3-point shooters, Austin Gillmann and Marcus Bartley, haven't provided much beyond a long-range threat for the offense. Gillmann scored five points Wednesday and knows how to find space for a decent midrange game as well, but he'll rarely create a shot if he's not open when he catches the basketball.

Finishing near the rim proved problematic for guards Davell Roby and Mike Crawford, though they did well attacking the Bonnies' zone and opening up space for teammates. Even when the Billikens got to the free-throw line, they made just 13 of 22.

Austin McBroom may be this group's most dynamic offensive weapon when he's hitting on all cylinders, which hasn't really come close to happening for some time now. He's shooting just 31 percent over his last 10 games and barely sees the floor anymore, presumably due to attitude issues and poor effort, especially on the defensive end.

That leaves Milik Yarbrough, the leading scorer for the season with 10.4 points per game and a promising freshman with most of the tools needed to be a legitimate threat every night. Poor decision-making holds him back the most, and perhaps he's just not ready to take on the leading role he's had no choice but to accept for a team that lacks options.

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"We executed our offense really well, actually," Crawford said. "We really just didn't make any shots."

Avoiding some of their 15 turnovers would have helped as well, but really, the Billikens just need more players capable of finishing.

3-POINTERS

• Ice cold half. SLU's offense picked up where it left off in last Saturday's embarrassing loss to George Mason.

Bartley's jump shot from the right wing with just under two minutes remaining in the first half snapped a drought of longer than six minutes and gave the Bilikens their first 3-pointer of the game. Before that, Crawford's baseline jumper counted as SLU's only made field goal outside the paint.

Yacoubou drove in for a layup to open the scoring and got to the rim for two points on a fast break later in the half, but even easy looks didn't always go down for the struggling Billikens. With a chance to cut into a 14-7 St. Bonaventure lead, Crawford missed a layup and Yarbrough saw his two-handed dunk putback bounce off the back rim and out.

The Billikens went into halftime shooting just 27.3 percent from the field, tied with the second half of a 51-44 loss to Dayton for their worst half in conference play. Incredibly, they shot 23.8 percent in the first half of a game against North Carolina A&T in November, but still came back to win 57-54.

• Defense steps up. Despite its offensive struggles, SLU found itself down by as few as four in the second half thanks to solid work on the other end.

The Billikens forced 13 turnovers, some of which led to easy opportunities off fast breaks. They held St. Bonaventure to just 40 percent shooting in the first half, the lowest by an opponent since Dayton shot just 32.6 percent for the game in a 51-44 win on Feb. 10.

Crews praised SLU's defensive effort after the game, especially that of Gillmann against St. Bonaventure's 7-foot, 250-pound center, Youssou Ndoye, who finished with five points and five rebounds, well below his averages of 12.1 and 10.4, respectively.

Crawford acknowledged that the Billikens may have had some defensive lapses in a second half that saw the Bonnies shoot 51 percent from the field, but that wasn't the reason SLU came up short.

• Subdued senior send-off. It seemed only fitting that the young Billikens got virtually no contributions from their lone senior in his final home game.

John Manning didn't crack the lineup on senior night, even though he started 21 of SLU's first 26 games. He played only 10 minutes off the bench and made a minimal imprint on the box score with one rebound, one foul and one turnover.

Fellow senior Grandy Glaze was also recognized following the game, even though he missed the entire season with a shoulder injury. The duo enjoyed plenty of success at SLU, appearing in three Sweet 16s and winning two Atlantic 10 titles before a disappointing final year.

"It's been a tough year," Crews told the crowd following the game, adding that both seniors are on track to graduate this spring. "But the transition to bridge that, to go to another championship, to be a part of that and to help build these guys that are behind them into championship-caliber teams is something that we really appreciate."

You can follow Luke Thompson on Twitter @FS_LukeT or email him at lukegthompson87@gmail.com.