From the moment he got off a plane from Australia and jumped into the lineup at Saint Louis University, Cody Ellis has been a shooter.
The problem at SLU is that while being a shooter is nice, how much you play is going to depend on how well you play defense.
Which is why, when you look at a SLU boxscore and see Ellis playing 20, 23, even 32 minutes, it's clear that something has happened. Ellis is playing defense well enough to pass the scrutiny of coach Rick Majerus.
Ellis' defense has drawn praise from Majerus throughout the season, and it drew it again on Wednesday night when SLU pulled out a 72-60 win over Saint Joseph's thanks to Ellis' five second-half 3-pointers, all in a span of a little over 5 minutes. He finished with 20 points, matching his career high.
"This for Cody was an unbelievable game," Majerus said, "because his defense was good. It wasn't the six of nine 3's, though without those shots we don't win. It was his defense."
Ellis' defense has gotten better because he is in the best shape he's been in since coming to America. He didn't get to America until January of his freshman season because his arrival was held up by the NCAA Clearinghouse. Then in the offseason before his sophomore season, he got mononucleosis, then burned his hand in a Fourth of July sparkler accident. He wasn't able to spend time in the weight room working out.
But after his sophomore season ended early when he dislocated his shoulder in January of 2011, he was able to spend a long offseason working out, and he's shown substantial improvements in his quickness and his vertical leap.
All that has translated into better defense, which has translated into more minutes. And since Ellis is not afraid to shoot, when he gets hot, it can translate into a lot of points.
Sophomore F Dwayne Evans had nine rebounds against Saint Joseph's, missing by one a fourth straight double-figure rebounding game. But he got those rebounds in just 17 minutes because foul trouble kept him on the bench in large stretches of the second half.
Just a couple weeks ago, junior C Cory Remekun looked as though he was headed nowhere this season after some games where he would come in, play a few minutes, pick up a few fouls, give up a few baskets, and head back to the bench. In the past few situations, however, where he's matched up well against the opposition -- basically against teams with athletic big men -- he's made a positive impact. He played nine minutes against SJU, a long shift for Remekun, and drew praise from coach Rick Majerus after the game for his defensive play. SJU center C.J. Aiken, who Remekun guarded at times, had a rough game, making just three of nine shots.
BY THE NUMBERS:63.0 -- Saint Louis held its first nine A-10 foes to an average of just 63 points a game. Those opponents include four of the top five scoring teams in the league: Massachusetts, Temple, Dayton, and Xavier.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Spoonhour was a great guy, great coach, terrific competitor. Authenticity and genuineness were his trademark. He really cared about his players as people." -- Coach Rick Majerus, on former Saint Louis coach Charlie Spoonhour, who died Feb. 1 at age 72.
The Explorers start four guards and like to keep the defensiveness intensity up. Senior G Earl Pettis is their most consistent scorer, averaging over 17 points a game in conference play through Feb. 5. He and Ramon Galloway will test the Billikens on the perimeter.
Winning on the road is tough for most teams, but it's been especially hazardous for SLU, which has won just one road nonconference game in Rick Majerus' five seasons as coach. The team does better on the road in league play, and its win over Saint Joseph's was its third win in the past four road games, with another win coming at Xavier, the toughest place in the league to play.
The key for SLU has been resilience, and playing from ahead. In both the Xavier and SJU games, SLU opened up big leagues, and even though they eventually lost double-digit leads in both games, they responded when caught and were able to pull back ahead. Much of it is confidence that comes from having done it a few times but a big part is the team leadership from seniors Brian Conklin and Kyle Cassity and junior Kwamain Mitchell. SLU can now put players on the court in late-game situations who have gone through this before, and those experiences have filtered down to the sophomores on the team.
