Getty The Saint Louis Billikens will visit the Fordham Rams.
The Saint Louis Billikens will visit the Fordham Rams for an Atlantic 10 clash at Rose Hill Gymnasium in the Bronx on Tuesday.
The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. ET. While it won’t be broadcast nationally on television anywhere in the US, you can still watch a live stream of the game on your computer, phone or streaming device via ESPN+, the new digital streaming service from ESPN (no cable required) that has exclusive coverage to dozens of college basketball games–and several other sports–every week.
You can sign up for a free seven-day trial of ESPN+ right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via ESPN.com, or on your phone (Android and iPhone compatible), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One or other compatible streaming device via the ESPN app.
If you can’t watch live, all games — including Saint Louis vs Fordham — that are streamed on ESPN+ are also available to be watched afterwards on-demand via ESPN.com or the ESPN app.
Saint Louis vs Fordham Preview
The Billikens opened the season with four straight wins before a 4-4 stretch. But they’ve righted the ship, winning another four in a row, including all three of their Atlantic 10 tests.
On Saturday, they held a 12-point lead over La Salle in the second half before the Pioneers tied things up with just over five minutes remaining. The Billikens outscored their foes 13-6 down the stretch on the road for a 71-64 win.
“I thought our mentality was right the whole night,” Saint Louis head coach Travis Ford said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I didn’t think we played great in stretches.
“But I thought we made a lot of big plays under five minutes. A lot of rebounds, shots, forced turnovers, I just liked the mindset of our basketball team.”
The Billikens went on a 13-0 run in the first half to take a 31-18 lead, but the Explorers’ outside shooting — they went 9-of-20 from downtown — kept them in it.
“We were up 13 and could’ve pushed it to 20,” Saint Louis big man Hasahn French said, per the Post-Dispatch.
“Instead we had some defensive lapses and let them get back into the game.
“We’ve got to learn to step on the gas and make the lead go up. I think we closed it up pretty well. We defended and got some turnovers.”
The sophomore stuffed the stat sheet, scoring 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting to go with 10 boards, four assists, two steals, and a pair of blocks.
The Billikens hold opponents to 62.7 points per game, the 18th-best mark in the nation. But they score just 67.4 points per contest themselves, for 306th out of 353 Division I teams. They shot 41.8 percent from the field and 54.5 percent from the free-throw line on Saturday, turning the ball over 16 times.
“We are who we are,” Ford told the paper.
“If we’re playing hard, aggressive and physical, that’s our identity.
“We have struggles offensively and we don’t have much margin for error, but if we’re in the right frame of mind I like our chances. I’m glad to be 12-4 and 3-0 in conference, but we have a whole lot left.”
The Rams will be looking for their first A-10 win on their fourth try. They fell victim to St. Bonaventure 71-64 on Saturday. After a 31-15 halftime deficit, Fordham trailed by 21 points in the second half, then cut the lead to four.
They got dominated up front — the Bonnies’ three starting frontcourt players combined for 50 points and 26 rebounds. Antwon Portley, a 6’4″ senior guard, led the Rams with five rebounds.
“I was pleased with our second half effort,” Rams head coach Jeff Neubauer said, according to Fordham’s athletics website. “But we had a too long of a defensive lapse in the middle of the game and it was tough for us to recover .”