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By Doug Harris,
Staff Writer
Updated 11:42 PM Saturday, February 4, 2012
SAINT LOUIS — The University of Dayton basketball team may have shown more toughness and a greater commitment to defense, but that wasn’t enough to avoid a 58-50 setback to Saint Louis on Saturday for a fourth straight defeat — its longest streak since a seven-game skid in 2005-06.
“Our intensity was better, we played harder, but a loss is still a loss,” said senior forward Luke Fabrizius, who tied his career high with nine rebounds. “We have a long way to go.”
The Flyers trailed 31-25 at halftime, their fewest points since scoring 22 against Florida International on Dec. 17. They were 7-for-29 from the field, which matched their worst shooting half of the year.
The Billikens are first in the A-10 and eighth nationally in points allowed at 57.3 per game.
“I thought Saint Louis was fabulous on defense,” UD coach Archie Miller said. “Every time you play Saint Louis, that game is going to be a grind. You’ve got to be willing to play through a lot of bumps and bruises and calls and no-calls. You have to be willing to hang in there. For the most part, I think we did enough to win the game defensively, and it just came back to them (being better).”
After giving up 50 second-half points to St. Joe’s and getting bludgeoned defensively after that by Rhode Island (an 86-81 loss) and Duquesne (an 83-73 defeat), the Flyers gave Saint Louis’ offense a tough time.
Asked how he was handling the victory drought, Miller said: “I’m fine. I’m proud of our kids. There’s a couple games over the last couple weeks you probably don’t feel as good about. But (you’re OK) if you lose a game like this and you go down and you’re exhausted and your kids fight and they rebound and play hard.
“At the end of the day, I know if we prepare and we compete and we practice like this — this is more like what we were (14) days ago when we played Xavier. The other stuff in between, I don’t know what that is. But we’ve done our best to get it out of our system. Like I told the team, it’s an eight-game season. We have the back eight (in the Atlantic 10), and we’re 0-1. We have to find a way to get one.”
Clanking away: Although they were shooting a respectable 70.9 percent from the free-throw line, the Billikens have been inconsistent this season and went 18-for-31 against the Flyers.
“I told the guys afterward, ‘If you really took it upon yourself to be a good foul shooter, you’d come in and shoot extra,’ ” coach Rick Majerus said.
Lineup shift: The Flyers went back to Paul Williams at shooting guard after starting Josh Parker there against Duquesne on Wednesday. Williams was 2-for-23 from the field in his previous three games. The 6-4 senior had seven points on 1-for-8 shooting against the Billikens.
Dayton has seven games left in the Atlantic 10, including four on the road, before the conference tourney:
Saturday at Fordham The Rams (9-13) have two league wins this season after notching just one in the previous two years
Feb. 15 Charlotte The 49ers (11-11), coached by ex-Ohio State assistant Alan Major, already have one more win than last year.
Feb. 18 at Xavier The Musketeers (15-8) haven’t lost at home to the Flyers since 1981.
Feb. 22 at Duquesne The Dukes (14-9) have already beaten the Flyers this season at UD.
Feb. 25 UMass The Minutemen (17-6) are one of the surprises in the A-10 this season.
Feb. 29 at Richmond The Spiders (12-12) are rebuilding after a Sweet 16 run last season.
March 3 George Washington The Colonials (8-15) have a new coach and are just 1-8 on the road.
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