By Bert Leeson

3 5 2024

SETTING THE SCENE

• Saint Louis (11-18, 4-12 A-10) welcomes the No. 25 Dayton Flyers (22-6, 12-4 A-10) to Chaifetz Arena on Tuesday for Senior Night. Game time is 8 p.m. (CT) on CBS Sports Network.
• SLU’s Senior Night program will take place after the game. Senior Terrence Hargrove Jr. and team managers Mike Lemp and Michael Malkowiak will be honored. Gibson Jimerson and Michael Meadows Jr. are also in their fifth year but have opted to not go through the senior ceremony since they have already done so.
• Next up, the Bills close out the regular season on Saturday, March 9, at St. Bonaventure. SLU’s first game in the 2024 Atlantic 10 Conference Men’s Basketball Championship will be Tuesday, March 12, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Tuesday’s game will be televised on CBS Sports Network. Carter Blackburn and Chris Walker will be calling the action.
• KMOX 1120 AM will broadcast Tuesday’s game over the radio. Billiken Hall of Famers and longtime SLU men’s basketball radio partners Bob Ramsey and Earl Austin Jr. will the call the action for all SLU games, both at home and on the road.

ABOUT THE BILLIKENS

• Saint Louis has won two of its last three. The Bills are coming off a 94-91 win at Rhode Island on Saturday. Gibson Jimerson led the Billikens with a season-high 30 points.
• Two Billikens achieved milestones on their home court in the Bills’ last home game. Gibson Jimerson became the program’s all-time leader in career 3-pointers (301 and counting…), while Terrence Hargrove Jr. became the 37th Billiken in school history to reach 1,000 career points.
• The Bills are averaging 75.5 ppg in A-10 play. Their 96 points in the win against GW Feb. 24 matched the most they have ever scored in an A-10 home game. The 102 points scored by the Bills at La Salle Feb. 7 were a school record for SLU in A-10 play.
• In addition to becoming SLU’s all-time 3-point leader last Wednesday, Gibson Jimerson broke into SLU’s top-five for career scoring. He’s currently at 1,738 career points.
• Terrence Hargrove Jr. has at least one 3-pointer in 14 consecutive games.
• Stef van Bussel gathered a career-high 10 rebounds and had two big putbacks late in the Rhode Island game.
• Larry Hughes II scored a career-high 17 points in the win at Rhode Island on Saturday.

LAST TIME OUT         

• Gibson Jimerson scored a season-high 30 points to help Saint Louis post a 94-91 win at Rhode Island Saturday in Atlantic 10 Conference men’s basketball action at the Ryan Center.
• The Billikens improved to 11-18 overall and 4-12 in league play with the win. Rhode Island dips to 11-18 and 5-11 in the league.
• Jimerson’s 30 points came on 8-of-18 shooting from the field and 4-of-8 from 3-point range. He was 10-of-12 from the charity stripe. He also dished out three assists and had three steals.
• Larry Hughes II had a career-high 17 points and dished out four assists.
• Sincere Parker returned after a two-game absence due to a foot injury and poured in 16 points. However, he left the game in the second half due to a shoulder injury and did not return.
• Stef van Bussel had 10 rebounds and six points, including four critical points in the final two minutes that helped the Bills seal the win.
• The Billikens shot 54.1 percent from the field and dished out a season-high 19 assists.

ABOUT THE FLYERS   

• The University of Dayton Flyers (Dayton, Ohio) enter Tuesday’s game with a  22-6 overall record and a 12-3 mark in the A-10.
• Dayton has been ranked in the AP Top 25 for the majority of the season, climbing as high as No. 16. The Flyers were tied for second with Loyola Chicago in the A-10 standings entering their matchup with the Ramblers March 1.
• DaRon Holmes II leads the A-10 in scoring (20.0 ppg) and rebounding (8.0 rpg). The A-10 Player of the Year favorite is also a candidate for the Naismith, Wooden and Oscar Robertson Player of the Year awards.
• Nate Santos is second on the Flyers in scoring (11.9 ppg) and rebounding (6.4 rpg).
• Koby Brea leads the NCAA in 3-point field-goal percentage, knocking down 48.8 percent (80-164) from beyond the arc.
• Javon Bennett leads the A-10 in assist-to-turnover ratio.
• Dayton leads the A-10 in scoring defense (65.0 ppg allowed).
• Head coach Anthony Grant is in his seventh season coaching at his alma mater. He is 146-70 at UD, 339-179 in 16 seasons overall.

SERIES HISTORY         

• This is the 72nd meeting in the series. The Flyers are the Bills’ fourth most common opponent.
• The Flyers own a 41-30 advantage in the series. In the last two seasons, the teams have split the season series with each team winning on its home floor.

LAST TIME VS. THE FLYERS   

• Saint Louis fell 70-65 at No. 21 Dayton Jan. 16 at UD Arena.
• Gibson Jimerson (team-high 13 points), Terrence Hargrove Jr. (12) and Bradley Ezewiro (10) all scored in double figures for the Billikens. Ezewiro added a team-high seven rebounds.
• Michael Meadows Jr. posted a season-high eight assists to just one turnover.
• The back-and-forth battle featured six lead changes and two ties. Saint Louis utilized a 14-0 run in the first half and built a six-point lead at one point in the opening half of play. The Billikens led by two, 30-28, at halftime.
• Behind All-American candidate DaRon Holmes II, Dayton rallied in the second half to grab the lead several minutes in, and it didn’t trail again. Holmes finished with a game-high 29 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked four shots.

COURTESY ST. LOUIS ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS