Israeli newcomer has been a surprise for St. Louis

ST. LOUIS -- A 6-9 sophomore from Israel could be the key to ironing out the bumps at Saint Louis.

Heading into their Conference USA opener tonight against No. 13 Marquette (8-3), the Billikens have been a confounding team of ups and downs. They lost their first two home games against beatable opponents.

They followed up with impressive home victories over Dayton and Southern Illinois, scored only 12 points in a dismal first half at Butler, and never had a chance in a 17-point loss at Kansas State last week. On Saturday, only two days later, they had their most complete effort by far in whipping -- by 30 points -- a West Virginia team that had beaten ranked Florida.

A key to Saturday's victory for Saint Louis (6-5) was Izik Ohanon, who had 18 points on 8-for-9 shooting, hit a 3-pointer and showed athletic moves inside. Ohanon has been with the team for only three games after serving an eight-game suspension at the start of the season for playing on a professional team while in the Army.

Surprising opponents

"One factor we didn't count on was Ohanon," West Virginia coach John Beilein said. "He threw a monkey wrench into what we wanted to do. He just killed our zone."

He also surprised his coach. Brad Soderberg didn't know quite what to expect from Ohanon, who arrived on campus as something of an unknown quantity.

Before inviting Ohanon to visit the school, Soderberg had only seen him play on videotape.

"I saw glimpses, and yet he wasn't one of the main players on the professional team he played for in Jerusalem," Soderberg said. "He wasn't logging a lot of minutes and you didn't have a lot to go on."

Ohanon was allowed to play in Saint Louis' two exhibitions, and still Soderberg didn't know what to think.

He convinced his coach during the game at Kansas State, where Soderberg called him the "one bright spot," and he was just getting warmed up. He excelled in all areas against West Virginia.

"He's got the ability to make shots, he can do stuff off the dribble, he can pass it and he can rebound," Soderberg said. "What more can you ask for? And on top of it he's 6-9."

Quickly, Ohanon's carved out a huge spot. He has come off the bench the first three games, but he played 22 minutes on Saturday.

"I really feel very comfortable," Ohanon said. "The guys aren't selfish and have really made me feel like part of the team."

The going will get tougher in conference play, but he's not lacking in confidence.

"I'm not surprised at my performance," he said. "I know what I can do and I'm very pleased that I've worked my way into the rotation.

"Sometimes you just have to play just to get used to playing in games again."

Ohanon has already proven to his coach he can play effective perimeter defense. He's had his problems in practice, but not in games.

"I've been on him because he gets picked a lot and guys get wide-open jump shots on him," Soderberg said. "But in the three games he's played there's only one or two occasions where I was discouraged by what he did. He has proven me wrong."

Bills improve overall

The Ohanon factor coupled with the resounding victory over West Virginia has the Billikens confident heading into conference play. Soderberg began his post-game remarks by giving his players "a collective round of applause" for shaking off the Kansas State loss so quickly.

"We really laid an egg in Manhattan," Soderberg said. "I challenged them to just put that game behind them as quickly as possible and let me deal with where we need to make corrections.

"I'm so impressed with how resilient they are."