Saint Louis @ SIU 12/2/23 2:30 PM ESPN+

SIU tries to bounce-back from their MVC-opening loss with a home game against Saint Louis on Saturday.

Meet the Billikens:

It's been a struggle so far this season for SLU, they're at #170 in KenPom right now which is their lowest mark since Travis Ford's first season in 2016-17 (#273).  

Ford is in his 4th stop as a D1 head coach and 5th stop overall. He spent 3 years at NAIA Campbellsville in Kentucky before bouncing up to Eastern Kentucky, where he built them up to an Ohio Valley Championship winning team in his 5th season.  He then ended up at UMass where he peaked them out at NIT Runner Up in his 3rd season there.  Ford got the job at Oklahoma State and had success getting them to the NCAA Tournament (5 births in his 8 seasons) and was able to recruit players like Marcus Smart there but he was only able to win 1 NCAA Tournament game there in that span (as an 8 seed against 9 seed Tennessee in his first season there).  He got fired from Oklahoma State after a 12-20, 3-15 Big 12 8th season there and found his way to Saint Louis.  Ford inherited a dumpster fire at SLU leftover from 2 disastrous years of Jim Crews and was able to build the Billikens up to an NCAA Tournament team in his 3rd season but that's been their peak so far under Ford in his 8 seasons there and you have to think he's going to have to start turning it around sooner rather than later to keep his job long-term there.

Saint Louis were picked 6th of 15 in the preseason Atlantic 10 media poll coming into the season.  The Billikens don't have any bad losses on their schedule yet this season but they also lack any good wins.  Their highest ranked win by KenPom this season is against #184 Wyoming in their MTE and their worst loss by KenPom is a loss in that MTE to #120 Vermont.  They struggled against #302 Dartmouth at home, beating them by just 1 point.

The Billikens like to push the tempo as they're 53rd in the country in average possession length on the offensive end (15.9 seconds) and 60th in the country in adjusted tempo (71.7).  On the offensive end, Saint Louis is 60th in the country in 3 point % (37.2%).  The Billikens have been really good at limiting turnovers this season, they're 15th in the country in steal % on the offensive end (6.0%) and 16th in the country in turnover % (13.2%).  Their struggles on the offensive end come from a lack of offensive rebounding and 2 point %.  SLU is 349th in the country in offensive rebounding % (19.9%) and 336th in the country in 2 point % (43.2%).

On the defensive side, the Billikens are 52nd in the country in 3 point % against (28.2%) but they've struggled defending inside the paint as they're 307th in the country in 2 point % against (56.0%).  58.3% of points scored against Saint Louis is coming from 2 points which is 32nd in the country.

Saint Louis was delivered a big blow earlier this season when 6-3 Junior Sincere Parker broke his foot.  Parker was the Billikens leader in possessions, shots and scoring at the time of the injury.

In the absence of Parker, 6-5 Senior Terrence Hargrove has carried a lot of the load.  Hargrove was a 3 star recruit out of East St. Louis High School and chose Saint Louis over offers from Colorado, Missouri, Kansas, and Wisconsin.  Hargrove has played 120 career games and counting at Saint Louis and has started 40 of them.  Hargrove is the team leader in rebounding this season averaging 5.9 rebounds per game and 2nd on the team in scoring, averaging 15.5 points per game.  Hargrove is 497th in the country in effective field goal % (52.9%) and 452nd in the country in true shooting % (57.4%) as well as 483rd in the country in defensive rebounding % (17.7%).

The leading scorer on the Billikens is 6-5 Junior Gibson Jimerson averaging 15.6 points per game.  Jimerson was a 3 star recruit out of Montverde Academy in Florida and chose Saint Louis over offers from Cincinnati and Kansas State among others.  Jimerson has started 91 of 107 career games with the Billikens and has been a weapon from 3 point throughout his career.  In his 2021-22 season, Jimerson went 84-203 from 3 (41.4%) which was 104th in the country.  This season has been a struggle though for Jimerson from 3, he's just 12-41 on the year (29.3%).  Jimerson has been good at getting to the free throw line (252nd in the country in free throw rate) and when he gets there, he's been making his free throws (59th in the country in free throw %, 37-40 for 92.5%).  Coming into the season, Jimerson was named to the All-Atlantic 10 First Team.

6-4 Sophomore Larry Hughes II has been the Billikens best deep threat so far this season.  Hughes was a 3 star recruit out of Christian Brothers College in St. Louis and chose the Billikens over interest from Butler, Kansas State, and Wisconsin.  Hughes is the son of the former Billikens great and 13-year NBA player.  Hughes is 11-27 from 3 this season (40.7%) good for 307th in the country.  He's also 158th in the country in steal % (3.8%).

Other players of note include 6-2 Senior Michael Meadows.  Meadows spent 2 years at Eastern Washington and 2 years at Portland before transferring over to Saint Louis.  He's currently 282nd in the country in assist rate (23.3%).  6-5 Sophomore Kellen Thames is 78th in the country in steal % (4.4%).  

Links:

SIU Game Notes

Saint Louis Game Notes

Billikens Message Board