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Struggling on offense, SLU decided to go one better on defense and not really play it, a situation that doomed the Billikens in an 88-63 loss to Wichita State that brought a sharp criticism from coach Josh Schertz after the game.

“It was bad offensively, it was pathetic defensively,� he said, adding later, “You win games, you lose games. You should never lose a game in that manner, because you give in, because things get hard, and you shut down. And we did.�

SLU fell to 2-2 while the Shockers improved to 5-0.

“ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ were just dominating us in the paint,â€� said forward Kalu Anya, who had 15 points and nine rebounds, “dominating us in the post, dominating in the glass. All around, honestly, they were dominating us and I think that just shows our lack of competitive effort and a lack of toughness.â€�

Along with all that, Schertz said after the game that guard Josiah Dotzler, a transfer from Creighton, will be out for the rest of the season after tearing both his ACL and MCL in practice Wednesday. Dotzler has had a slow start as he recovered from a foot injury that kept him out right before the start of the season, but he was making a case for more and Schertz said he would have started Friday had he not gotten hurt.

“Got the MRI today,� Schertz said. “Obviously, a tough break for him. He’s playing really good basketball for us. Heart breaks for him. He’s a great kid and it stinks all the way around. But he’s going to be under great care. He obviously has access to great medical care, and keep him involved, and Joe wants to, obviously be around, be involved.�

SLU also was without Robbie Avila, who missed his third game after spraining his ankle in the season opener and who, with games coming up on Monday and Wednesday, might miss both of those.

“I definitely think he’s making progress,� Schertz said. “The swelling is gone, he says he doesn’t have any pain. So those two things are progress. I think the issue is obviously, he’s got to feel like he can jump and move around and do those things. And I think those things still haven’t gotten to a point where he feels like that he’s able to play. I think when that happens, I don’t know. He knows his body better than anybody, make that call as to, hey, I’m ready to go and start contact us. And there’s those benchmarks for contact. Right now, he’s still in a non contact phase.�

Though, as Schertz told his team, Avila returning to the court will not magically fix everything.

“Robbie’s not going to come back and fix what ails us tonight,� Schertz said. “He’s not a savior. He’s not a panacea. Robbie’s sat out for almost 2½ months, between the two ankle sprains and the back injury, he’s been out close to 50-some of the last 70 days, and he’s not been able to do anything, so he’s going to have to get his rhythm and timing back. And the stuff tonight that that we did, no one player is fixing that.�

SLU had a bad shooting night, especially by two of its top offensive players, guards Isaiah Swope and Gibson Jimerson. Swope was 3 of 14 from the field, including 0 of 8 on 3-pointers, and finished with six points. Plus he was 0 for 2 at the free throw line. Jimerson was 1 for 9 from the field, 1 for 7 from 3 and had eight points. That was a big chunk of SLU shooting just 20% on 3-pointers, making just 6 of 30.

Nights like that will happen, but it was the other part that had Schertz upset.

“Not even getting back in transition ‘D’ doesn’t do it,� he said. “Guarding the basketball at the point of attack has nothing to do with it, competing on the glass has nothing to do with anything. They just absolutely drove it down our throats in the second half, and we just had no response. We gave up. So that’s on me to fix. We’ve got some roster things that I don’t know if you can fix, but you can compete and you can play together.

“I thought early on, we did some good things. I thought we were getting the ball in good spots, getting the ball downhill. I thought about midway through the first half, they just started attacking us. Obviously, our ball screen coverage wasn’t really good enough. Our transition defense, second half, was pathetic. I told the guys in there, it’s 100% on me. I put this roster together and so our lack of toughness, the quit that we showed in the second half, that falls all on me. We hit some adversity, we folded and let go of the rope and that’s on coaching. I put the roster together, I’ve allowed it, and so I take full responsibility. That second half was as embarrassing a half as I’ve coached in 17 years of basketball.�

With 3:58 to go in the first half, SLU was up 35-32 and then got outscored two-to-one the rest of the game, 56-28. SLU never made any kind of run the rest of the way.

“I just felt like they were just getting downhill,â€� Anya said. “ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ were just dominating us in the paint, dominating us in the post, dominating in the glass, all around honestly, they were dominating us and I think that just shows our lack of competitive effort and a lack of toughness.â€�

SLU will get a chance to put the pieces back together at 7 p.m. Monday when it faces Quinnipiac at Chaifetz Arena, followed by another home game at 7 p.m. Wednesday with Massachusetts Lowell.

Wichita State 88, SLU 63

SLU

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A F Pt

Anya 29 6-8 3-4 3-9 3 3 15

Jimerson 35 1-9 5-6 1-3 1 0 8

Johnson 25 1-4 0-0 0-2 2 4 3

Swope 33 3-14 0-2 1-5 6 4 6

Thames 34 6-10 2-7 1-8 1 1 15

Hughes 21 4-9 0-0 0-3 0 5 10

McCottry 15 2-3 1-2 0-1 1 4 6

Brockhoff 5 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 0 0

Pikaar 3 0-1 0-0 0-1 1 0 0

Totals 200 23-58 11-21 6-33 16 21 63

Percentages: FG .397, FT .524.

3-Point Goals: 6-30, .200 (Hughes 2-7, Johnson 1-2, McCottry 1-2, Thames 1-3, Jimerson 1-7, Anya 0-1, Swope 0-8).

Team Rebounds: 2. Team Turnovers: None.

Blocked Shots: 1 (Hughes).

Turnovers: 14 (Swope 5, McCottry 3, Thames 3, Anya, Hughes, Jimerson).

Steals: 4 (Anya 2, McCottry, Swope).

WICHITA ST.

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A F Pt

Washington 29 3-9 7-9 2-8 0 1 13

Ballard 16 4-6 0-0 2-7 0 0 8

Beverly 29 4-9 0-0 0-6 2 0 8

Cortes 23 4-6 0-0 0-1 3 4 10

Hill 26 5-16 6-6 0-2 4 2 17

Bosnjak 22 3-4 2-2 1-6 0 4 8

Bell 18 2-7 1-2 0-2 2 4 5

McGinnis 18 4-6 2-2 0-2 1 1 12

Ighovodja 12 2-3 2-2 2-5 0 2 6

Pipkin 3 0-1 1-2 0-2 0 0 1

Bamba 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Thengvall 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Totals 200 31-68 21-25 7-41 12 18 88

Percentages: FG .456, FT .840.

3-Point Goals: 5-22, .227 (Cortes 2-3, McGinnis 2-4, Hill 1-6, Ighovodja 0-1, Pipkin 0-1, Bell 0-2, Beverly 0-2, Washington 0-3).

Team Rebounds: 1. Team Turnovers: None.

Blocked Shots: 1 (Washington).

Turnovers: 7 (Cortes 2, Hill 2, Beverly, Bosnjak, Washington).

Steals: 10 (Bell 2, Beverly 2, Ighovodja 2, Cortes, Hill, McGinnis, Washington).

Saint Louis 37 26 — 63

Wichita St. 40 48 — 88