 Billikens Play Samford in Lone Game This Week
Dec. 9, 2008
December 8, 2008 Contact: Chuck Yahng Billikens Play Samford in Lone Game This Week Prep for Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Classic THIS WEEK: Due to final exams, the Saint Louis Billikens (3-4) play only once this week as they host Samford Saturday, Dec. 13, in a 4 p.m. contest at Chaifetz Arena. ABOUT SAMFORD: The Bulldogs are 3-3, 0-1 in the Southern Conference after opening league play with a 66-59 loss at Georgia Southern. Samford has dropped two straight games. Junior forward Bryan Friday leads the team in scoring at 10.2 ppg, and Josh Bedwell adds 9.7 ppg. Guard Trey Montgomery averages a team-best 6.2 rpg. The Bulldogs shoot 43.9 percent from the field, 34.9 percent from the 3-point arc and 58.5 percent from the free-throw line. Head coach Jimmy Tillette is 182-148 in his 12th season at Samford. The Billikens won the only previous meeting 70-68 in St. Louis Dec. 20, 1993. LOOKING AHEAD: The Billikens take part in the Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Classic with four games in six days. SLU begins the tourney by hosting USC Upstate Wednesday, Dec. 17, and Liberty Friday, Dec. 19, at Chaifetz Arena. The Billikens then head to Las Vegas where they will play DePaul Monday, Dec. 22, at 7 p.m. (CT) and either Creighton or Fresno State Tuesday, Dec. 23. ON THE AIR: Billiken basketball can be heard this season on FM 101.1 WMVN. Bob Ramsey, who has served as the "Voice of the Billikens" for the past 22 years, will again provide the play-by-play. Earl Austin Jr., sports editor of the St. Louis American, is in his 18th year in the analyst's role. TICKET INFO: Season and individual tickets can be purchased online at www.slubillikens.com or www.metrotix.com, by phone at (314) 534-1111 or toll free at (800) 293-5949, and at the Chaifetz Arena Ticket Office. BILLIKEN ALL-ACCESS: All Billiken regular-season home games this season are video streamed live through Billiken All-Access at www.slubillikens.com. Subscriptions are available for $79.95 annually or $9.95 a month. GameTracker is again available free of charge in 2008-09.
NEW GAME TIMES: Game times which were TBA have now been finalized. The Jan. 17 game versus George Washington will be an 8 p.m. tip. February 4 versus Duquesne will start at 6 p.m., and the game against Charlotte on Feb. 11 has been moved to 8 p.m. to accommodate television. The Feb. 21 game versus Dayton will start at 7 p.m. LAST WEEK: The Billikens closed out a three-game road swing on Tuesday when they fell 64-48 at Southern Illinois. Kevin Lisch led the team with 13 points, while Tommie Liddell III added 12. The Billikens shot 52.9 percent in the second half but were never able to grab the lead. On Saturday, SLU roared out to a 21-5 lead and cruised to a 55-37 win over Savannah State. The Billikens held the Tigers to 31.3 percent shooting, the lowest clip by a SLU opponent this season. Lisch led the team with 14 points and tied a career high with five steals. Barry Eberhart tied his career best with nine rebounds. BILLIKEN BITS: In the latest A-10 statistical report, the Billikens lead the league in free-throw percentage at 73.2 percent, and are second in the league in 3-point field goal percentage defense at 28.4 percent. In addition, SLU is second in scoring defense at 56.1 ppg. Individually, Kevin Lisch is 11th in scoring at 14.2 ppg, first in free-throw shooting at 90.0 percent and tied for fifth in steals at 2.0. Tommie Liddell III is ninth in rebounding at 7.0 rpg, and Kwamain Mitchell is eighth in assists at 4.0 apg. CLIMBING THE CHARTS: Kevin Lisch is just 23 points away from moving past Marque Perry (1,358) for 10th place on the all-time SLU scoring chart. In addition, Tommie Liddell III has amassed 1,293 points (14th place) and is climbing towards the top 10, too. CHAIFETZ ARENA: This is the inaugural season for the Billikens in Chaifetz (SHAY-fetz) Arena. The $81 million arena has a seating capacity of 10,600 and is located on the SLU campus along Laclede Avenue west of Compton Avenue. Chaifetz Arena functions as a true multipurpose campus events center, hosting a myriad of SLU events including men's and women's basketball, volleyball, commencement, cultural events, conferences and conventions. The arena houses the department of athletics offices as well as Chaifetz Pavilion, a practice facility for the basketball teams and the home facility for the volleyball team. The building is named for Dr. Richard A. Chaifetz, who donated a $12 million naming gift to the University. Dr. Chaifetz is a 1975 SLU grad and is chairman and CEO of ComPsych Corporation. HEAD COACH Rick Majerus: Rick Majerus is in his second season as head coach of the Billikens with a 19-19 record. He has a 22-year career mark of 441-166 and has never had a losing season. Majerus has taken 11 teams to the NCAA Tournament and four to the NIT. At the start of the 2008-09 season, his .730 career winning percentage ranked 12th among active coaches. RETURNING VETERANS: Four letterwinnners return to the men's squad, led by the senior guard tandem of Kevin Lisch (Belleville, Ill. / Althoff) and Tommie Liddell III (East St. Louis, Ill. / Hargrave Military). Lisch led the 2007-08 team with 14.6 ppg, 63 3-pointers and 97 assists, while Liddell added 12.3 ppg and is the squad's leading returning rebounder at 4.3 rpg. Senior forward Barry Eberhardt (Inkster, Mich. / Coffeyville CC) returns after averaging 6.0 points and 3.9 boards. Sophomore guard Paul Eckerle (Washington, Mo. / St. Francis Borgia) played in all 31 games and sank 22 3-pointers en route to 3.8 ppg as a freshman. FRESH FACES: The Billikens brought in the largest freshman class in school history with eight talented newcomers. The class was ranked in the top 40 nationally by recruiting service Scout.com, and Rivals.com considered SLU's class the second best in the A-10. PRESEASON AWARDS: The Atlantic 10 Conference announced that Saint Louis University senior guards Kevin Lisch and Tommie Liddell III were named to the league's preseason men's basketball All-Conference teams. In a poll of the league's coaches, Lisch was named to the first team and the All-Defensive squad, while Liddell was selected to the second team. LAST YEAR: In their first year under head coach Rick Majerus, the Billikens posted a 16-15 overall mark, 7-9 in the Atlantic 10. Kevin Lisch earned third-team All-Conference and All-Defensive team honors. ACADEMIC AWARDS: Kevin Lisch, a potential Academic All-American, was named to the A-10 Academic All-Conference team in 2007-08. He also will look to become the third straight Billiken to be selected to the NACDA I-AAA Scholar-Athlete team after Luke Meyer was honored following the past two seasons. |
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