BELLEVILLE — Joe Muniz knew E.J. Liddell would be able to hold his own for Belleville West last season, even if he was just a freshman. The Maroons’ first summer league game against Cahokia proved to the Belleville West coach just how relentless his young, 6-foot-7 forward was.
That Liddell would average 17.3 points and 5.9 rebounds per game as a freshman in the Southwestern Conference? Yeah, Muniz didn’t expect that.
“I knew he’d be one of our better players, but I didn’t know he’d have the impact he’d have at that age,” Muniz said. “To be honest, you don’t want to put a whole lot of freshmen in positions to fail.