No. 19 Saint Louis will be in search of a bit more edge as it tries to continue its Atlantic 10 Conference dominance at home against La Salle on Saturday.
Saint Louis (22-1, 10-0 Atlantic 10) will face struggling La Salle (7-16, 3-7) after it dodged defeat at Davidson on Tuesday night. The Billikens rallied from 13 points down in the first half to earn a 91-82 victory.
“We’ve certainly taken punches, and we know we’re going to take more,” Billikens head coach Josh Schertz said. “You can’t have a glass jaw and be a championship team. You know you’re going to get stood up, you’re going to get knocked down, but you build the muscle of getting back up. We’re building a muscle of resilience.”
The Billikens enjoyed a NET ranking of 15 this week. While any regular-season loss may diminish that ranking and cost them a place in the Associated Press Top 25, their real chance at making the NCAA Tournament will likely come in the conference tournament.
The Atlantic 10 sent just one team to the NCAA Tournament in each of the past two seasons, although that doesn’t lessen the importance of the regular season.
Schertz runs a nine-player rotation with six averaging double-figure points. The Billikens have multiple long-range shooters, giving the team plenty of scoring threats while creating a defensive nightmare.
Ishan Sharma poured in 29 points in a 35-point victory at St. Bonaventure two weeks ago. Trey Green scored 23 in victories over George Washington and Dayton at home last week. It was Brady Dunlap’s turn at Davidson, where he scored 22.
“It’s incredible,” Schertz said. “They really pull for each other. They want to be great themselves, but they’re not so small that their success would take the shine away from the other one. That doesn’t threaten them.
“When Ish did what he did against Dayton (18 points) and Brady wasn’t great (no shot attempts), Brady was incredibly happy. He was frustrated in his own situation, but he was incredibly happy for Ish.”
La Salle has struggled with injuries this season as 11 players have combined to miss 98 games. Forwards Jerome Brewer Jr. and Josiah Harris did not play at Loyola on Tuesday during a 71-61 loss.
Stepping up in their absence, Explorers guard Jaden Johnson played 37 minutes against the Ramblers and produced season highs with 16 points and eight assists.
Brewer and Harris combined for 34 points when La Salle lost to Saint Louis 84-72 at home on Jan. 10. The Billikens shot 10-of-23 (43%) from 3-point range.
La Salle coach Darris Nichols was frustrated with his team’s 3-point defense during the Explorers’ subsequent 67-58 loss to Saint Joseph’s at home on Jan. 31.
“The whole game plan was not to let them get 3s off,” Norris said. “They got 32 off. They made 10-for-20 at halftime. We didn’t execute the game plan.”
The Explorers allowed Loyola to launch 30 shots from 3-point range Tuesday and 10 were successful.
Defending the perimeter will be vital against the Billikens, who are shooting 40.7% from beyond the arc. That ranked fourth in Division I through Thursday’s games.
