ST. LOUIS – Some have warned that you have to get up pretty early to beat a college basketball team coached by Rick Majerus.
Sometimes, even that’s not enough.
On Sunday morning, Lorenzo Romar’s Washington Huskies sleepwalked through the first half of a game against the St. Louis Billikens that tipped off at 9 o’clock Pacific time.
By the time the Huskies (3-1) awoke in the second half, they were unable to overcome the 29-point lead St. Louis built early and lost to the Billkens, 77-64 ,in a nonconference contest at Chaifetz Arena.
About the time the Huskies normally might be rolling out of the rack for a communications class, they were getting hammered with a barrage of 3-point baskets by the Billikens (3-0), who netted eight of them on the way to a daunting 50-25 halftime lead.
The Huskies, meanwhile, made only four of their first 19 shots and had big men Darnell Gant and Aziz N’Diaye saddled with foul trouble.
“St. Louis is a very good basketball team,” UW coach Lorenzo Romar said. “They were very efficient on the offensive end.”
Efficient? Majerus’ team committed just eight turnovers while shooting 53 percent from the floor, 43 percent on 3-pointers. They unleashed an inside-outside attack with bulky forward Brian Conklin scoring 25 and speedy guard Kwamain Mitchell adding 18.
“We played right into their hands,” Romar said. “Offensively, we shot the ball quickly. We shot some tentative shots early and they were able to stay in a great rhythm.”
UW looked much more competent in the second half, defending the Billikens’ perimeter shots, and working their own offense better.
Sophomore guard Terrence Ross got the offense in better sync, scoring 10 of his 17 points after intermission. And freshman guard Tony Wroten scored all of his 14 points in the second half.
“It was a great growing-up experience for Tony,” Romar said. “To his credit, he made some adjustments, slowing down, picking his spots. I thought he grew up. It’s a great game for him.”
Majerus, in his fifth season with the Billikens, praised their effort in front of a crowd of 6,717.
“The guys really played their butt off,” Majerus said. “They played very hard. They played very unselfish. … Everyone gave us a lift.”
Romar had warned the Huskies what kind of team St. Louis had.
“I know we came out on the short end, but we couldn’t pick a better game this time of year,” said Romar. “To come out in a hostile environment on the road against a well-coached team, a team that was very deliberate. We learned a lot of lessons. I think this game will help us later on.”
It might help them learn to not schedule games that start at 9 a.m. body time.
“I would love to be able to use that as an excuse,” Romar said of the early wake-up call. “That’s not an excuse; you just come out and you play.”
Romar should be accustomed to seeing the Billikens defeat UW. Romar coached St. Louis three seasons and scored a pair of home-and-home wins over the Huskies in 2001 and ’02. This time, he was on the other end.
Dave Boling; 253-597-8440 dave.boling@thenewstribune.com
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