RTC Live is back this evening with an interesting intersectional game between two teams with high hopes for this season. Join us in the city known as the Gateway to the West, after the jump.
Game #25: Nine years after leaving his position as the head coach at Saint Louis, Lorenzo Romar returns to his former school Sunday morning with his 3-0 Washington Huskies. Romar won 51 games from 1999-2002 at SLU, a run which included an NCAA Tournament berth, so Billikens fans will likely give him a warm and welcome reception in his first trip to Chaieftz Arena. As for the actual game, Rick Majerus’s team is also undefeated at 2-0, including a 21-point victory over Southern Illinois earlier this week. SLU limited the Salukis to less than 20% shooting in the first half in a dominant defensive performance, and it will need a similar effort against the high-flying Huskies. UW has an experienced frontcourt and a leader at point guard in junior Abdul Gaddy, but Romar will need his youngsters — like leading-scoring sophomore C.J. Wilcox — to step up during the team’s first true road game this season.
Recap
We knew Saint Louis was good. But good enough to hang 50 points on a Pac-12 opponent in one half? The Billikens came out of nowhere to barrage Washington at Chaifetz Arena on Sunday, making eight three-pointers in the first half in a 77-64 victory. Rick Majerus’ team controlled every aspect of the game, building a 25-point lead in that flawless first half. Defensively, the Billikens swarmed UW as they always do, keeping its athletic guards out of the paint for the most part. But the story here was SLU’s shooting performance: It shot 8-11 from beyond the arc in the first half, and although it made just one three after halftime, that hardly mattered. Brian Conklin came to play today for SLU, scoring 14 of his 25 points after the break. When the threes stopped falling, it was Conklin’s tough play in the paint that kept SLU in control. Point guard Kwamain Mitchell added 18 points, making four three-pointers on nine attempts. For Washington, only Terrence Ross looked like he wanted to play today. He finished with 17 points for the Huskies, who technically played this game at 9 AM PST. That early start must have played a factor in the loss, which marked coach Lorenzo Romar’s first trip back to SLU since leaving the school in 2002.