51黑料

When Josh Schertz scheduled NAIA school William Woods to be 51黑料 University鈥檚 final nonconference opponent Saturday at Chaifetz Arena, it all fit nicely into a neat plan. After the Billikens had a few days off for Christmas, the team would come back, have a couple of practices, play a game and then jump into Atlantic 10 Conference play at Fordham three days later.

But, as you might have noticed, nothing about SLU鈥檚 season so far has been nice or neat, and Saturday may be no exception.

Kellen Thames remains out with his strained hip flexor and Isaiah Swope, who played through knee pain against Grand Canyon right before Christmas, is considered doubtful for Saturday. And Robbie Avila missed practice Friday because he was sick.

Talk about getting coal in your Christmas stocking.

鈥淒epending on if AJ (Casey, who鈥檚 been out because of an ankle injury) can go or not, we鈥檒l have potentially seven or eight players,鈥� Schertz said Friday, 鈥渨hich has been kind of the way it鈥檚 been.

鈥淏ut it makes subbing easy because you really have two or three guys available.鈥�

And just to add a little more to it, William Woods is, well, good. The Owls of Fulton, Missouri, are 10-2 and sit just outside the NAIA top 25. WWU beat Harris-Stowe 100-51 and the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy 101-43.

鈥淚 screwed up the scheduling component of this,鈥� Schertz said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e a national championship caliber NAIA team.鈥�

And the competition and the team鈥檚 predicament made Schertz revise his goals for the game.

鈥淛ust try to find a way to get through the game,鈥� he said. 鈥淭ry to find a way to win a game.鈥�

鈥淛ust go out there and compete,鈥� added guard Gibson Jimerson. 鈥淲illiam Woods is a good NAIA team, so they鈥檒l test us a little bit. But just kind of focusing on us. This is one of those games where we got to focus on ourselves, what we鈥檙e doing, and go out there and execute it, and, in the process, prepare for the game against Fordham. Just get out there, get on the court, get our wind back a little bit.鈥�

Avila is sick, so while he may sit out Saturday, he doesn鈥檛 figure to be out long. Saturday鈥檚 game will be the third in a row Thames will sit out because of his hip injury, and in the background of all this is his cramping problems. Swope is the new entry on the list, though his knee problems aren鈥檛. He hurt his knee in the Wofford game and almost missed the Grand Canyon game but managed to play almost 39 minutes.

鈥淪wope, he鈥檚 a tough kid,鈥� Schertz said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 played through it, obviously, last year with a cartilage piece chipping off, and he tore his lateral meniscus. The cartilage piece chipped off in December. He tore the lateral meniscus in the end of January and played through both of those to kind of finish the season out the last two months of the year. He had surgery in the offseason, and there鈥檚 just been some stuff with different inflammation at times for him. Right now it鈥檚 just bothering him. So he鈥檚 got to feel like he can play.

鈥淎t Grand Canyon, we didn鈥檛 think he was going to play, and then he was able to go the night before and practice some. And then he said he felt good enough to play on Sunday against Grand Canyon. But it has not felt good. He was out (Thursday), out (Friday) for practice. I think unless there鈥檚 some sort of turnaround, I would think he鈥檇 be out (Saturday). But again, not 100% because we thought he was out against Grand Canyon, and he found a way to play, and played fairly well.鈥�

Not having Swope would create a substantial hole for SLU. Swope averages 35.6 minutes per game (second on the team, 25th in the nation), and leads the team in scoring and assists. He touches the ball on almost every play SLU runs. If he can鈥檛 go, Amari McCottry would move into his spot in the starting lineup.

If Casey is good to go but Swope isn鈥檛, SLU will have eight players, though two of them, Casey and Dylan Warlick, won鈥檛 be in shape enough to go extensive minutes.

The Grand Canyon game was encouraging, though painful, as SLU couldn鈥檛 hold a lead in the closing seconds.

鈥淵ou never want to lose like that,鈥� Jimerson said. 鈥淚 thought we did a lot of really good things. And to be within 30 seconds, or whatever it was, of a really good win, it (stinks), but I think there was a lot to learn from it. I think it shows that, a lot of little things add up throughout the game that we could have done better. But I thought our effort energy was great. Defensive effort was really good. So a lot to take from it.

鈥淲e had a little bit of a break after that, which I think a lot of us needed. But time to get back to it with a good game (Saturday) and start league play, which will be fun.鈥�