By Paul Gotham
BROOKLYN, NY – For the uninitiated Friday afternoon’s Atlantic 10 quarter-final match between the no. 1 St. Louis Billikens and no. 9 Charlotte 49ers served as revelation.
No sooner was the ball tossed up, and the pressure from the Billikens started.
First possession and SLU’s Kwamain Mitchell denied Denzel Ingram the ball 35 feet from the basket. The result? A steal, a pass to teammate to Dwayne Evans for a layup, foul and a traditional three-point play.
One trip later, Grandy Glaze laid out for a loose ball, tipped the globe ahead to Mitchell who in turn fed Mike McCall, Jr. and on to Rob Loe for another layup.
The Barclays Center clock showed 19:08, and Charlotte needed a timeout to re-group.
The huddle was for not. Evans took an offensive charge on the next Charlotte possession.
SLU’s defense caused five 49er turnovers in the first seven minutes converting those chances into seven points as the Bills doubled Charlotte, 16-8.
“We weren’t gambling with steals, making solid defensive plays,” Evans explained. “That’s what really contributed to the run.”
Playing each possession as if it was the first and last, SLU showed from the opening tip its intentions. There was no waiting. All hands were on deck ready to grab victory.
Twenty minutes gone and Charlotte’s stat line reflected the discomfort created by the Bills. Nine field goals made and 13 turnovers committed and three timeouts called. SLU led 39-28.
SLU took away Charlotte’s perceived advantage in the post. With a physical front line of Chris Braswell (6-9), Willie Clayton (6-8) and Victor Nickerson (6-7) looked to expose SLU’s interior defense.
“They’re very, very physical in size, so the inside game was paramount,” said SLU head coach Jim Crews. “That was a focus of ours. There’s a lot of things that go into that from the perimeter standpoint. It’s not all isolated. Getting guys to catch the ball maybe a little further out so the passes are longer and really have an active hand so the ball doesn’t go in the post and get help side from the back side. So it’s a team thing to take away the post.”
The pressure didn’t stop in the second half. SLU held Charlotte to 10-of-26 from the floor (38.5 percent). Charlotte’s 20 turnovers trumped their 19 field goals made. The Bills converted those miscues into 21 points while holding Charlotte 12 points under their average offensive output en route to a 72-55 triumph.
“That’s what the top teams in the country do defensively,” said Charlotte head coach Alan Major. “They sit on a lot of things. They deny a lot. It makes you feel like you got to do something quicker than you need to.”
Mitchell grabbed four steals on the game bringing his career total to 157, third on the SLU career list.
The 20 turnovers forced marked the fourth time this season SLU’s defense has done that to opponents. The Bills are 4-0 in those games.
St. Louis has won 13 of its last 14, seven of those by double digits and is 19-0 when keeping opponents under 60.
“We’ve got a bunch of guys that are leaders, but we don’t have one or two guys that kind of stand on top of the mountain top and say whatever needs to be said,” Crews noted. “We don’t have those type of personalities…They don’t get real excited. They don’t get real down. They just kind of keep plugging away. That’s a great trait that they have.”
SLU advanced to play Butler in Saturday’s A10 semi-final. The Bills have topped the Bulldogs twice this year: 75-58, January 31st and 65-61 at Butler on February 22nd.
Butler trimmed La Salle, 69-58 to advance to the semis.
A 1:30 p.m. tip time is scheduled from the Barclays Center.
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