The Billiken basketball team had a busy fall break. The team played five games in 10 days, four of which were part of the Corpus Christi Classic, winning three over the stretch. SLU’s first game in the Corpus Christi Classic tournament was at Chaifetz, on Nov. 23, against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. SLU fell to the Islanders, 62-56. The Billikens were up 52-49 with 3:18 left, but a 13-4 Islander run gave them the late victory.

The next game in the tournament was against North Carolina A&T, on Nov. 25 where SLU was victorious, 57-54. Freshman guard Miles Reynolds was the key player in this game, with a game and career-high 19 points, 14 of which came from the foul line. Reynolds was cut above his eye late in the first half and received stitches at halftime. However, after returning to the game from his injury, he scored 15 points in the second half and added three steals and two assists on the night to help SLU to a victory. After the game, Reynolds said he had a similar experience in high school, during the Illinois State Tournament, where he was cut in a similar place, received stitches in the middle of the game and then came back and delivered a lights-out performance.

After the A&T win, SLU traveled south to Corpus Christi, Texas, to finish the tournament. Their first opponent down south was Mississippi State on Nov. 28. The Bulldogs defeated the Billikens by their largest deficit this season 75-50. Junior guard Austin McBroom led the team in scoring with 10 points, and junior guard Ash Yacoubou also added eight on 4-of-6 from the field. Mississippi State shot 63.6 percent from the field in the opening half and started the game with three-consecutive 3-pointers to give them a 9-0 advantage out of the gate. They opened the game 11-of-12 from the floor.

SLU came back after the loss against the Bulldogs and played Bradley the following day. The Billikens defeated the Braves 60-57, after a McBroom 3-pointer with seven seconds left sealed the victory. McBroom again led SLU in scoring and had a career night with a career-high 26 points. The game-winning shot was very similar to the shot that won the opening game against Southern Illinois. McBroom hit five other 3-point shots in the game for a total of six, the most in a single game by a Billiken since Kwamain Mitchell hit seven treys in a Jan. 2012 game against Rhode Island. Bradley is a member of the Missouri Valley Conference, and the win was SLU’s third over a Missouri Valley opponent this season.

Freshman Brett Jolly recorded his first career start against the Braves, and freshman Milik Yarbrough went 4-of-4 from the field for 10 points. The win over Bradley gave SLU a 2-2 record overall for the tournament.

SLU returned to Chaifetz Arena on Dec. 2, to play Division II cross-state opponent Rockhurst. SLU was up on the Hawks all game, and the game ended 80-48 in favor of SLU. The 32-point final margin was SLU’s largest lead of the game. Yacoubou recorded his first-ever double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. He achieved his 10 rebounds by midway through the second half.
Another important statistic in the game was fouls. Rockhurst committed 16 fouls in the first half and 27 on the evening. This sent the Billikens to the line 30 times in the game.

Interestingly, Yacoubou and McBroom were not the two players with the most minutes on the evening. Yarbrough and Reynolds saw the most court time with 26 and 25 minutes, respectively. The duo also led the team in scoring, with 14 points from Reynolds and 12 from Yarbrough.

Head coach Jim Crews indicated his pleasure with the strides the team has made so far this season.

“Our guys are down the right road. This year’s team is just at the three-mile marker. Last year’s team was at the 147-mile marker,” Crews said.

Yacoubou echoed Crews’ statements, saying that time is all the young squad needs.

“I feel we’ve made strides and learned from previous games. The more time we spend playing with each other, the better we’re going to get, and the more comfortable we’re going to get,” Yacoubou said.

Next up for the Bills is a road contest against powerhouse Wichita State on Dec. 6. The Shockers have five wins, including their exhibition game, and are coming off a loss to Utah. In their first five games, they scored at least 70 points, and held all of their opponents between 54-57 points. They have twice hit triple digits against opponents, including the exhibition.

SLU’s Yarbrough and Shocker junior guard Fred VanVleet have past connections; the two played for the same AAU club growing up, VanVleet playing on the team one year older. The game begins at 5 p.m. and will be broadcast on Fox Sports Midwest.

As fans at the Nov. 3 exhibition match-up against Harris Stowe saw, this Billiken team and this season are far different from the last. Losing all five starters, the winningest class in SLU history and arguably the most talented, SLU fans have justification behind being skeptical of their team to start the season.

The 2013-14 Billiken squad with seniors Rob Loe, Dwayne Evans, Mike McCall Jr., Jake Barnett, and Atlantic-10 -Player-of-the-Year Jordair Jett,  led SLU to a 27-7 record, a record-setting third straight NCAA Tournament, and a ranking as high as No. 10 in the nation, is definitely not the same as this year’s team. However, though SLU is picked to finish ninth in the Atlantic 10 pre-season poll, fans could be in for a pleasant surprise when they see the team on Nov. 15 against Southern Illinois.

“From this team, I want everybody to realize that this isn’t last year’s team or the team before that, it’s brand new. We’re not looking to emulate the same record or anything like that. It’d be good if we did that, or bettered that, of course, but ultimately we want to get back to the tournament. Definitely getting back to the tournament is the goal for us,” senior forward Grandy Glaze said.

If the Harris Stowe exhibition game is any indication, SLU fans could be in for a pleasant surprise this season.  SLU looked like an offensive force against Harris Stowe, putting up 86 points.  SLU had 11 different scorers in the game, with junior Austin McBroom leading the way with 19 points.

“I think we have a good chance of being pretty good offensively. You’re going to have guys that are up and down; some days they’ll look really good and then the next day you won’t really notice them too much,” head coach Jim Crews said.

One thing to look forward to this season is the appearance of redshirt junior Ash Yacoubou, who sat out all of last season after ransferring from Villanova. The much-talked about guard/forward played 21 minutes in the exhibition and had 16 points, second most on the team behind McBroom in both categories.

A few things that SLU needs to work on this season that could hinder them in upcoming matches is fouling and turnovers. SLU committed 27 fouls in their exhibition game and allowed 19 turnovers.
This season, with the new mix of players, SLU could be a more offensive-minded team that scores more points off of runs, and more quickly overall than in years past, led by the quickness and athleticism of McBroom and Yacoubou. There will also be more than last year’s typical 7-9 players playing in each game. Against Harris Stowe, SLU played every single player on scholarship, and they all had at least 10 minutes or more in the game. No one single player played more than 25 minutes, the average being just above 15 minutes apiece.

Though this season looks a lot different than last’s, SLU will hold the same defensive mindset as in previous years, and continued the “team together” motto started by late head coach Rick Majerus.
“We can’t dwell on being last year’s team. We have to understand that this is the 2014-2015 Billiken’s team, and we need to take it one game at a time and live with the results we get. If we put in the work, we’ll get where we want to be,” Glaze said.

St. Louis was introduced to the SLU men’s basketball team on Nov. 3, 13 players on the roster to be exact. The Billikens took on the Harris Stowe State University Hornets at Chaifetz Arena, in an exhibition game featuring a 30-second shot clock. The Bills came out on top, 89-59.

The Bills jumped out to an early 10-0 lead and were 5 of 7 from the floor in the first four minutes. SLU never looked back, leading all game, with the largest lead of the night being 32 points. 13 different Billikens, and every player on scholarship, saw at least 10 minutes of playing time, a stark contrast to last year’s core group.

Junior guard Austin McBroom led the team in points and minutes, with 19 and 26, respectively. After sitting out the 2013-14 season because he transferred from Villanova, junior guard Ash Yacoubou was second on the team in points, with 16.

Following the game, head coach Jim Crews mentioned he was happy with his team, but that there is still a lot to work on, such as turnovers and fouls; SLU had 19 and 27, respectively.

Courtesy of Saint Louis Athletics

Saturday night was déjà vu for the Billikens men’s soccer team. Just like the previous season, they found themselves playing a Creighton Bluejay team ranked No. 3 in the nation late in nonconference play.  And just like last year, the Billikens came out on top, 1-0. Unlike last year, this win came in a more triumphant fashion, with a golden goal in overtime. The win in Omaha lifts the Billikens to a record of 6-1, for their fourth straight win. The Jays are the second top-five opponent to which Saint Louis has handed its first loss, the first being previous No. 5-ranked Louisville.

The men, who were ranked 15th at the time of the game, jumped up five spots to No. 10 in this week’s National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) poll.
Senior forward Robert Kristo, back after sitting out against Evansville and not starting against the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) due to injury, lifted SLU with a golden goal in the fourth minute of overtime.

Senior midfielder Raymond Lee passed the ball to Kristo for the assist on the goal at the 93:54 mark, his third assist of the season.

Freshman goalkeeper Sascha Otte, who has played every minute of the season thus far, had a career high eight saves in the victory. It was the team’s fourth shutout ofthe season. Coincidentally, last year in the win over Creighton, former goalkeeper Nick Shackelford also posted his fourth shutout of the season over the Jays.

“Obviously [we are], very pleased after this one,” head coach Mike McGinty said. “Creighton is a great team, we knew it was going to be hard. We stuck together and fought hard all night long, and we were rewarded with the win.”

Kristo now leads the team in points, as well as goals scored with eight and four respectively. Kristo now has 74 points in his career at SLU, placing him 17th all time on the record list.

Next on the slate for SLU is Central Arkansas in the homecoming game on Sept. 27. The Billikens will take on the Bears at Hermann Stadium, looking for their 14th straight win at home.

This season, Central Arkansas, members of the Missouri Valley Conference, are 2-4 and on a four-game losing streak, as of press time. Most recently, they lost to UMKC 0-1, a team that SLU beat 2-0 on Sept. 16.

Following play against Central Arkansas, SLU will travel to Bloomington, Ind., to take on the Hoosiers in the last nonconference game of the year. The Hoosiers are 4-1-2 and currently ranked 17th in the NCAA coach’s poll.

SLU opens Atlantic 10 conference play at Hermann Stadium against the St. Bonaventure Bonnies on Oct. 5. SLU was picked as the preseason favorite to win the A-10 conference in a vote by the conference’s head coaches. The Billikens play eight conference games this season, four of them are home contests.

Kristo and Otte are the current A-10 Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week respectively. It is Otte’s second time with this honor this season, and the third Player of the Week award for Kristo in his career.

The Billikens, currently  ranked 15th in the nation, hosted a successful campaign this past week with wins over both Evansville and the University of Missouri-Kansas City at home. The win over UMKC was head coach Mike McGinty’s 50th career win, and the 13th straight win at Hermann Stadium. McGinty reached the 50 win mark in only three seasons at Saint Louis. The two wins improved the team to 5-1 on the season.

On Sept. 13, the men played Evansville at Hermann Stadium and came out on top 3-1. With the loss, Evansville moved to 1-3-1 on the season. The game, which saw no scoring in the first half, saw three goals in the first ten minutes of the second half.

The first goal of the game came from SLU senior midfielder Raymond Lee less than a minute into the second half. Junior midfielder David Graydon quickly added another goal at the 52:09 mark to give SLU a 2-0 advantage.

Evansville’s Charlie Macias quickly sliced into the lead, scoring at the 52:41 mark. Senior defender Anthony Manning finally sealed the game for the Bills in the 76th minute with a header off of a corner kick from Graydon. The three goals were the first of the season for each player for the Billikens.

In addition to Graydon, other Billikens credited with assists in the game were senior midfielders William Hidalgo and Kingsley Bryce, and junior defender Marco Heskamp. Senior forward and Hermann Trophy candidate Robert Kristo sat out due to injury.

Evansville is the second opponent to score on the Bills this season at home. The other team to score on the Bills was Virginia Tech in a game that was decided by the same score.

The Bills handled UMKC by a score of 2-0 when they came to town Sept. 16. The shut out was freshman goalkeeper Sascha Otte’s third shut out of the season. Otte also had four saves on the night.
Bryce found the back of the net in the 27th minute, assisted by Graydon. The assist was Graydon’s fourth this season, which leads the A-10.

Kristo substituted into the game in the second half after sitting out against Evansville with an injury. His presence was felt, as he capped the game with a goal in the 76th minute. The goal was Kristo’s first since the season opener, but third of the season.

Kristo had help on his goal from Lee and junior defender Filip Pavisic, who began the scoring play.

With Bryce scoring, there are now eight different Billikens who account for the ten goals this season.

“Offensively, we did a good job. I would have liked one or two more on the board, but credit goes to their keeper for making a few point blank saves,” McGinty said. “Tomorrow we’ll start looking at Creighton. We are expecting a great match at their place on Saturday night.”

The team’s next game is in Omaha against current No. 3 Creighton on Sept. 20. Following the Creighton game, the team plays Central Arkansas at home on Sept. 27, and then faces No. 14 Indiana on the road on Oct. 1 before starting A-10 play.

Besides SLU, George Mason is the only other A-10 opponent currently ranked. George Mason is 18th this week, after being 22nd the previous week.

Other news from the team this week comes in the form of conference and national praise for junior defender Tyler David. David received weekly accolades from the Atlantic 10 following his play against Evansville and Louisville. David is the current A-10 co-player of the week and he was also named to the National Team of the Week by College Soccer News.

David headed a corner kick by junior defender Marco Heskamp in the goal last week for his first career score the lone goal in the win over Louisville who was ranked No. 5 at the time. The loss was Louisville’s first of the season. David started every game his freshman and sophomore years.

The SLU women’s soccer team was defeated in their only game this week by Murray State 1-0 at home on Sept. 14. The game, which was scoreless until there were 11 minutes left, was the last of three straight home games for the Billikens. The loss moved the Bills to 3-4 on the season.

Pavlina Nepokojova scored her first goal of the season for Murray State, which came in the 79th minute. The goal was unassisted. Both junior Michelle Schwarz and sophomore Kirsten Clemens had looks at the goal late, in the 80th and 87th minutes respectively, but both were denied a score. The late shot was Clemens’ third of the game, leading the team.

Including those two saves, the Murray State goalkeeper had a total of seven saves on the afternoon. Junior goalkeeper Hanna Benben had four total saves in the game.

The Billikens travel to Chicago to play the University of Illinois-Chicago on Friday, Sept. 19. They then will head north to Kalamazoo, Mich. to play Western Michigan on Sept. 21.

The Billikens next home game is against the University of Nebraska-Omaha on Sept. 27. This is the last game before the team begins conference play on Oct. 4. The team will open Atlantic 10 play with three-straight road games. First, the team will play Dayton, then they travel to George Mason for an Oct. 10 match, and lastly to Philadelphia, Penn. to play Saint Joseph’s on Oct. 12.

None of the teams in the A-10 are currently ranked in the NCAA top 25 poll. The only team in SLU’s conference to receive a vote last week was George Mason.