SLU’s Kellen Thames continues to bring spark despite cramps

“Listen, I tell him every day,” guard Isaiah Swope said, “if I could be like anybody, I want to be like Kellen. … I think every time he comes in the game, like it’s a different energy and a different presence that is felt when he is on the floor.”

The only problem is that the Billikens can only get so much of it.

Thames has been limited most of the season by full-body cramps, and two months since they first arrived, they haven’t gone away. He has still regularly needed intravenous fluids after games and has still at times been unable to play late in games because his body won’t let him. There have been tests, there have been theories, but so far there has not been a definitive solution that would allow him to play the 30 minutes he played at the start of the season instead of the 10 to 12 minutes per . match he plays. now.

“We’ve attacked it in a lot of different ways,” he said Tuesday on the eve of SLU’s matchup with La Salle at Chaifetz Arena. “I’m just still trying to find research on what we can do to help it. Still in that phase right now, but we’ve definitely gone a lot from ground zero. I’d say it’s just trying to continue, just trying to find more things we can do to help. That’s pretty much where we are right now, but I can say we’ve definitely taken a big leap from zero.”

The challenge for SLU coach Josh Schertz now has been to make the most of the limited time available from Thames. He played almost 14 minutes against St. Bonaventure, where he scored seven points (including a reverse dunk/lay-in off an alley-oop pass from Swope) with five rebounds and gave the team a needed spark in the second half to push away from the Bonnies. (“I thought it was his best,” Schertz said.) On Saturday at Richmond, he had four points and four rebounds in nine minutes.

“Anything with Kellen is a bonus,” Schertz said. “His situation is tough, mainly for him because he’s obviously capable of so much more. And we saw that early in the year. … I try to keep his playing to no more than three minutes or so at a time. Sometimes I get upset because there are no set pieces and it just goes on and on and I can tell he is getting tired.

“We have an agreement, which I don’t know that he always abides by, that he must tell me if he feels it sooner. But I never try to cuddle him for more than three minutes at a time, just to let his body go like four minutes max. And then we talk to each other during the game.

“He said to me last game, ‘I need one’ and we got him out and I want him to tell me that. The goal is to help him play as much as possible. So if we can get him out before he hits the point of no return, then hopefully he can come out and do the things he needs to try to get back in. I think we both learn a little while we’re going.”

“It can be tough as a competitor,” Thames said. “You want to be out there as long as possible to do your best for the team. But whatever I give, I’m just blessed enough to be out there to just give what I can give for this team and that’s it , I will continue to do. … Whatever time I get, I will always try to make the most of it. So I just look at it that way, 15, 10, five, regardless. I’ll just try to do what I can do with what I’m given.”

In the first four games of the season, Thames averaged 14.8 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, playing about 30 minutes. Since then, he’s averaged 4.2 points and 2.1 rebounds in about 12 minutes per game. match.

“I feel like I bring a lot of energy,” he said. “I feel like I bring a lot to this team, a lot of the guys feel the energy when I come into the game and I feel like that’s something I know I can always bring no matter what situation I’m going through. or how the situation is at the time. So I just understand that. I just have to keep that energy, have a smile on my face and they always want to lift the team.

“I really just go with the same mindset that I go into any fight. Just have the same routine, the same focus, whatever my body lets me go, I just let it be. Don’t go in with that mindset , I play this amount because it determines how long I’m able to be out there.”

With the season past the halfway point, Schertz has accepted that this is the new normal for Thames.

“His minutes are going to fluctuate,” Schertz said, “but they’re going to fluctuate in a range probably seven to eight to 12 to 13, whatever his body can handle. And we don’t know that going into the game and he doesn’t either, so we just try to play it by ear every day. He’s a great teammate. He’s all about winning good person like you at all able to train. And positive and uplifting.”

Thames is confident an answer will be found, that he will be able to play the minutes he wants, the minutes SLU would love to have him play.

“Sure,” he said. “We’ll get there. I’m certainly optimistic about that, and I’m sure the medical staff and the medical team will help me get there.”