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St. Louis University’s opponent on Monday night, Jackson State, came into the game 0-7. In the NCAA’s NET rankings that came out Monday morning, Jackson State was 349th out of 364 teams. And SLU went out and played like this was going to be a gimme.

“I think that they thought,� SLU coach Josh Schertz said, “this was kind of game where we could walk out, get in between the lines and Jackson State was going to roll over and we were going to do whatever we wanted. I think they were surprised to find out that Jackson State did not get that memo.�

Seven minutes into the game, SLU fell behind and stayed there for the next 25 minutes. It wasn’t until there was 4:38 left in the game that SLU took the lead for good, SLU outscored Jackson State 11-2 over that span to avoid become the first team to lose to the Tigers this season, winning 74-66 at Chaifetz Arena.

Gibson Jimerson scored 21 points, 19 of them in the second half, to move 12 points away from breaking the school record for career points. Isaiah Swope had 18 points and seven assists, and either scored or had the assist on 15 of the team’s final 19 points. Robbie Avila had 15 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and five turnovers as he looked like a candidate for the first quadruple double in SLU history.

“We didn't come out ready to play,� Jimerson said. “We had to focus as a team. We picked our energy up, which at this point that shouldn't be the case. We need to come out ready to go, no matter who we're playing or what the circumstances are.�

It was a slightly reversed version of the Wichita State game, where SLU was in the game at halftime but let its defense and its effort get washed away when its shots weren’t dropping in the second half. This time, it was the start that was a mess, with 13 turnovers in the first half. It was so bad that Schertz said that Jackson State deserved to win the game. After a halftime that Schertz described as “exciting for everybody involved,� SLU did what it was supposed to do in the game and took control, though for the second game in a row SLU had to deal with a team that hit a lot of 3’s in the second half to make overtaking them harder.

“Jackson State actually thought this was a real game,� Schertz said, “and they were going to come out and compete and then once that message was transmitted to our guys, that they’re actually playing to win, then our guys collectively decided we should probably try to play hard too and try to win and the second half we did that. … I think certainly they punched us in the mouth and it was a little bit different because we came out and we did actually buckle down and play (in the second half) but either one is unacceptable. You can’t not be ready to play and you certainly can’t let go of the rope when things get hard. Two different issues but neither are what you would want.�

“We just didn't come out ready,� said forward Kalu Anya, who had 11 rebounds, putting him in double figures for the third straight game, “and we were just lackadaisical, lazy on our passes, and they disrupted us offensively and defensively. We just picked up in the second half. We just started playing our game. We started competing on defense, started playing our offense, and that’s what led to the win. We gotta start from the jump. You can't come out into games like that. Unacceptable.�

SLU trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half and was down by five at the break. In addition to the 13 turnovers, SLU made just 3 of 12 free throws in the half (which Schertz said was the least of the team’s problems).

“The halftime adjustment was did we want to play,� Schertz said. “It wasn’t really a schematic. The adjustment was in the competitiveness and how hard we were playing on both ends of the floor and then being more solid with the ball. I told them it was like Harlem Globetrotters meets Bad News Bears. We were trying to make such remarkably hard passes and hard shots. … Those are shots that you would try in H-O-R-S-E if you were feeling frisky, not shots to try in a college basketball game when you’re actually playing to win. Everything was high degree of difficulty. We had easy plays to make and they were forcing us into crowds to make those decisions, we were rotating and taking ball side away, it was the same defense that they ran the second half that we got the ball to guys and got wide open 3s and drives. It was no different in the second half, their defense was the same, just our willingness and ability to get the ball. Again, we have some guys who are just obsessed with degree of difficulty, you’d think it was gymnastics where they scored you based on it’s a 3-point shot, but because it was hard, we’ll give you 7.9 on that and you don’t. You have to be obsessed with degree of simplicity in basketball. It’s a game of simplicity. We have to be more simple. Make easy plays for each other, Make the game for easier for each other instead of making it harder.�

That’s what SLU did in the second half, when it shot 57.1 percent from the field, 41 percent on 3’s and committed just two turnovers. SLU caught up, the lead bounced back and forth a few times before SLU closed out the win. Jimerson, Swope and Avila played the entire second half.

“We won the game because we have better players and those players decided in the second half that they were going to compete,� Schertz said.

SLU was at its best when Kellen Thames was on the court, but one problem is he can’t be there very much right now. Thames played just three minutes in the second half of SLU’s past two games because of severe cramps which have required IV fluids. Thames’ practice time has been restricted as the team searches for a solution and so his playing time is restricted too. Thames played 15 minutes total on Monday, never more than four minutes in one stretch. Schertz said it will be a gradual progression while the search goes on but that Thames didn’t need any postgame treatment.

Freshman Amari McCottry moved into Thames’ starting spot and finished with five points and six rebounds. He played just 4½ minutes in the second half, getting subbed out at the first media timeout and never returning. McCottry had a brace on his knee at the end of the game, but Schertz said it wasn't a problem. “He had something with his knee, but he’s fine,� Schertz said. “It was a game where late I gave Kellen some minutes then I wanted to close with Kobe (Johnson) because we thought he could provide some solid defense. But Amari’s fine.�