Every experience matters: Billikens drop hammer on D-II Rockhurst
ST. LOUIS -- You can say this about the 2014-15 Saint Louis Billikens: They beat Rockhurst University by more points than did last season's team.
This season's freshman-heavy Billikens blew out Rockhurst, 80-48, Tuesday night at Chaifetz Arena, a 32-point margin that was seven points greater than the 68-43 victory registered by last year's senior-laden squad.
So can we conclude that this year's team is on a similar road as the Billikens who won the Atlantic 10 regular-season title and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament?
Uh, probably not. SLU coach Jim Crews said the difference in the scores means "ab-so-lute-ly nothing."
He's right, of course, as the Billikens are likely to find out Saturday when they travel to No. 8 Wichita State. Last year's Billikens hung with Wichita State to the end in a 70-65 loss they could have and probably should have won. This year's team would have to play its best game of the season by far to have a chance to hang with the Shockers.
As Crews so aptly put it, this year's team is just starting its journey. Last year's Billikens entered the season as a conference heavyweight and were expected to reach the NCAA Tournament.
"We're not (as far) down the road," he said. "We're on the three-mile mark. Last year was at the 147-mile mark. We're just trying to develop habits, mentality, attitude. We have a lot of teaching moments with everything. "
Even when the freshmen enjoy a strong game -- and most of them have at one time or another -- there's a lesson that often follows.
"Sometimes if you just have a good game early in your career you think, 'I've got it now,'" Crew said. "'I work hard, I had a good game, so this is how it's going to be.' Uh, that's not how it's going to be. There's going to be roadblocks and challenges."
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Against the Division II Hawks (3-3), 6-foot-6 forward Milik Yarbrough was the freshman of the night with 12 points, seven rebounds and a team-best five assists. With a five-for-seven shooting effort from the field, Yarbrough raised his field-goal percentage to a team-best 61.1 for the season, but his deft passing was even more impressive.
Freshman guard Miles Reynolds scored 10 points in the second half and finished with a team-high 14, and yet another freshman, Davell Roby, also reached double figures for the first time with 10 points. Junior Ash Yacoubou made sure it wasn't an all-freshmen show by scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds for SLU's first double-double of the season.
That the freshmen outscored their older teammates 45-35 was not necessarily because Crews saw a game against a lesser opponent as a chance to give the youngsters some experience. Crews might not be going with a 12-man rotation as he did until last week, but he's not basing minutes on age.
"Whomever is playing all right, then we stay with that a little longer now than we were earlier," Crews said.
As they so often have, the Billikens started slowly by missing six of their first seven shots, but forward Reggie Agbeko scored seven points during a 15-2 run that gave his team a 17-7 lead 10 minutes into the game. The Hawks cut the deficit to single digits a couple of times after that, including once early in the second half, but SLU steadily pulled away as the freshmen asserted themselves after the intermission.
The final margin was the largest of the night as well as, for what it's worth, larger than the final score a year ago.
You can follow Stan McNeal on Twitter at @StanMcNeal or email him at stanmcneal@gmail.com.
