Think of it as a halftime. A very long halftime.
St. Louis University faces Virginia Commonwealth in Game 2 of the best-of-three College Basketball Invitational at 7 tonight at Chaifetz Arena. In Game 1 on Monday, SLU got overpowered and overrun by the Rams and lost 68-56 in Richmond, Va. While the Billikens did not look their best in that loss, the good news is that since it's a best-of-three tournament, they get a second chance, this time at home, and this time, they'll know real well what they're adjusting to.
Usually, when a college team has to change what it's doing to adapt to an opponent, it's doing it on the fly, during a timeout or during halftime, but in the CBI, there's a bit more time, though it's happening fast when you factor in travel. SLU looked at film first thing Tuesday morning in Richmond and didn't get back home until Tuesday afternoon for a quick walkthrough, where the Bills put in some changes to the game plan. Coach Rick Majerus said there would only be minor tweaks, such as how the team would handle VCU's pressure. Of course, that was a critical point in Monday's defeat as SLU committed 16 turnovers.
"There's not much time to make adjustments," Majerus said. "We can talk about it and show them some film. Ultimately, there's not a practice to be had. We have depleted numbers. They're that tired. There's not much we can do about that. We've got to come out and try to play through the adversity of such a short roster."
"It's a quick turnaround," guard Kyle Cassity said, "but the coaches were up late last night, and they've got some things we can tweak. Some things we did well, some things we didn't do so well. Hopefully we play better. ... One thing we need to do is get to the rim more, especially after you play extended minutes and lose your legs, we need to do that rather than settle for 3's."
Twenty of SLU's 52 shots on Monday were 3-point attempts.
But while SLU can throw different schemes at VCU, some things ? like the size of SLU center Willie Reed compared to VCU center Larry Sanders ? can't be changed, and that's a problem.
SLU has been down to eight players since Justin Jordan severely dislocated his right thumb, and the bumping Kwamain Mitchell took in Monday's first game ruled him out of practice on Tuesday, though he'll play today.
Majerus will be looking for more energy from this team, and the Chaifetz crowd will no doubt help, but he pointed at several things, namely the turnovers, that an energetic crowd is unlikely to help them with tonight.
"The crowd doesn't govern taking care of the ball," Majerus said. "There are things we can do. We can catch the ball better and pass the ball better."
St. Louis University faces Virginia Commonwealth in Game 2 of the best-of-three College Basketball Invitational at 7 tonight at Chaifetz Arena. In Game 1 on Monday, SLU got overpowered and overrun by the Rams and lost 68-56 in Richmond, Va. While the Billikens did not look their best in that loss, the good news is that since it's a best-of-three tournament, they get a second chance, this time at home, and this time, they'll know real well what they're adjusting to.
Usually, when a college team has to change what it's doing to adapt to an opponent, it's doing it on the fly, during a timeout or during halftime, but in the CBI, there's a bit more time, though it's happening fast when you factor in travel. SLU looked at film first thing Tuesday morning in Richmond and didn't get back home until Tuesday afternoon for a quick walkthrough, where the Bills put in some changes to the game plan. Coach Rick Majerus said there would only be minor tweaks, such as how the team would handle VCU's pressure. Of course, that was a critical point in Monday's defeat as SLU committed 16 turnovers.
"There's not much time to make adjustments," Majerus said. "We can talk about it and show them some film. Ultimately, there's not a practice to be had. We have depleted numbers. They're that tired. There's not much we can do about that. We've got to come out and try to play through the adversity of such a short roster."
"It's a quick turnaround," guard Kyle Cassity said, "but the coaches were up late last night, and they've got some things we can tweak. Some things we did well, some things we didn't do so well. Hopefully we play better. ... One thing we need to do is get to the rim more, especially after you play extended minutes and lose your legs, we need to do that rather than settle for 3's."
Twenty of SLU's 52 shots on Monday were 3-point attempts.
But while SLU can throw different schemes at VCU, some things ? like the size of SLU center Willie Reed compared to VCU center Larry Sanders ? can't be changed, and that's a problem.
SLU has been down to eight players since Justin Jordan severely dislocated his right thumb, and the bumping Kwamain Mitchell took in Monday's first game ruled him out of practice on Tuesday, though he'll play today.
Majerus will be looking for more energy from this team, and the Chaifetz crowd will no doubt help, but he pointed at several things, namely the turnovers, that an energetic crowd is unlikely to help them with tonight.
"The crowd doesn't govern taking care of the ball," Majerus said. "There are things we can do. We can catch the ball better and pass the ball better."
