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Saint Louis University Billikens head coach Travis Ford reacts during the A-10 quarterfinals basketball game on Friday, March 11, 2022 at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
Personal photos and videos to last a lifetime kept St. Louis University basketball players busy for hours. The paella in Spain was a culinary highlight. And the sites in Italy were “mind blowing.”
Those things were at the forefront of a 10-day trip for a group that just happened to be brought together by basketball.
How much the Billikens gained from practices and games during their European tour remains to be seen, but coach Travis Ford said it was clear that the Billikens benefited more defensively than offensively.
The cultural and bonding experiences will endure. Ford and his staff will do their best to apply some basketball lessons learned when the team reconvenes for individual workouts next week.
“They embraced the tours and sightseeing,” Ford said. “Sometimes on these trips it gets old, but they were ready for every one of them we did. They participated and asked questions.
“Basketball wise it was more of a chance for me to see the new guys in the system and for them to get significant minutes. I don’t know how much we got out of it yet (because) we won every game by 30 or 40 points. I know we got more out of it defensively than offensively.”
Ford said the staff is breaking down tape of the games, but the competition was questionable in all three games, making it tough to analyze.
All of the opponents struggled to defend the Billikens, who averaged 97 points with Gibson Jimerson leading the team in scoring. Point guard Yuri Collins was able to pick apart defenses for quick scores, allowing SLU to play little of its offense.
Ford went into the trip with grand plans. He had developed a shooting lineup, a defensive lineup, a physical lineup. He wanted to play two big men together. Most of that wasn’t employed because of the way games played out.
“We didn’t get to run our offense because we created so quickly,” he said. “Teams didn’t know how to guard us. But we kind of know who we are, especially the top seven or eight guys. If we were a rebuilding team, we’d probably want better competition. No one got hurt and everyone got to play.”
There were some things that stood out for Ford.
Javonte Perkins, who is coming off an an ACL injury, looked good and played a lot of minutes without problems in the first two games before seeing only five minutes in the finale. Javon Pickett showed great rebounding potential despite missing the middle game with turf toe.
Sincere Parker has defensive work to do but his shot-blocking ability was a revelation. Kellen Thames showed signs of being a high-level defender. And Thames, Fred Thatch Jr. and Perkins will fill the minutes at point guard when Collins is resting.
Parker also was the team’s second-leading scorer, although stat keeping was sketchy.
“We knew he could score, and he’s not just a shooter but can score a lot of ways,” Ford said. “The other thing we saw was his blocked shots. He blocked a ton at the rim and really rebounds. He has extremely long arms. He had three or four dunks. He’s deceptively athletic. Now the other side of the ball, he’s got to get better defensively.”
Ford said he likes the idea of the big man combination of Francis Okoro and Jake Forrester. But Forrester missed the first game, and the two were not used simultaneously during the other two games.
So, not all of the combinations he wanted could be used. That went for defense as well as offense. The Billikens held the three opponents to an average of 55 points, but no one knows what, if anything, that means at this point. Ford said he believes SLU can be an elite defensive team.
“I think we can with the addition of Javon Pickett, who’s a really good defender,” he said. “Jake is a good defender. Kellen is elite and can be a game-changer. There are lineups we can play that will be very strong defensively.”
The group spent more time sightseeing and eating than playing basketball on the trip, which is allowed once every four years.
The lone travel glitch was a delayed flight from Spain to Italy, forcing the team to go directly from the airport to a gym for a game. Better now than in January.
The paella in Spain was made by the team under the guidance of chefs. The Billikens toured the usual historic sites, including the Forum, the Colosseum and The Vatican.
Upon returning, Ford gave the team two weeks to rest before things get more serious. He’s been away but isn’t so sure they’re taking much of a break.
“I’m letting them re-charge their batteries on their onw,” he said. “But they’re in the gym every day from what I understand. That’s just kind of this group.”
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Stu Durando is the SLU beat writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
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