Saint Louis (9-9, 1-4 A-10) vs. #16/16 VCU (15-3, 5-0 A-10)
Friday, Jan. 30 :: 6 p.m. (CT) :: Chaifetz Arena (10,600)
TV: ESPN2 / Armed Forces Network (Bob Picozzi, Jon Crispin)
Radio: 101 ESPN/Listen Online (Bob Ramsey, Earl Austin Jr.)
Online: Live Stats | WatchESPN
Game Notes: SLU
SETTING THE SCENE
Saint Louis welcomes No. 16/16 VCU to Chaifetz Arena for the annual Billiken Blizzard game on Friday. Game time is scheduled for 6 p.m. Free Billiken Blizzard white T-shirts will be located on the seats as fans enter the arena. An exchange station will be set up in the concourse for fans wishing to exchange for a different size. All fans are encouraged to WEAR WHITE.
FOLLOWING THE ACTION
Friday's game will be televised nationally on ESPN2. Bob Picozzi and Jon Crispin are on the call. Additionally, the broadcast will air overseas on the Armed Forces Network.
The radio broadcast will air on 101 ESPN (101.1 FM). As always, Billiken Hall of Famer Bob Ramsey provides the play-by-play, while St. Louis American Sports Editor and all-around hoops expert Earl Austin Jr. handles the analysis.
The game will also be available on WatchESPN. Live streams of all the WatchESPN Networks are available at no additional cost to fans who receive ESPN as part of their TV subscription through participating TV providers.
NOTABLES
Saint Louis (9-9, 1-4 A-10) continues Atlantic 10 Conference play tonight when it hosts VCU (15-3, 5-0 A-10) at Chaifetz Arena.
The Billikens are coming off a 61-45 defeat at Dayton. The Billikens lone A-10 win came against Duquesne at Chaifetz Arena, a 78-69 win on Jan. 14.
Milik Yarbrough, who was named A-10 Player of the Week on Jan. 12, leads the team in scoring with 10.3 ppg and is 11th in the A-10 with 15.2 ppg in A-10 games. Yarbrough is eighth in the league in shooting percentage (.540) in all games.
Ash Yacoubou averages 10.0 ppg and leads the team with 5.2 rpg. He has led the Billikens in scoring in each of the last two contests.
Austin McBroom is third on the team in scoring with 8.9 ppg. He connects on 46.3 percent (31-for-67) of his 3-point attempts, which is third in the A-10.
Billiken head coach Jim Crews is in his third season at the helm. The back-to-back A-10 Coach of the Year is 64-23 in three seasons at Saint Louis, 418-371 in 27 years overall.
SLU is on a five-game losing streak against ranked foes. The last time SLU defeated a ranked opponent was March 17, 2013, against #25 VCU in the A-10 Championship title game.
Six of the Billikens' eight victories have come while holding the opposition to fewer than 60 points. SLU has won 66 games in a row when holding its opponents to 60 or fewer points.
Saint Louis is in its 10th season of Atlantic 10 Conference play. The Billikens have captured the Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season title outright the last two years.
Saint Louis has advanced to the NCAA Tournament the last three years, a school record. Additionally, the Billikens are one of 10 programs in the nation that have advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament in each of the last three seasons.
Up next, the Billikens travel to George Mason (6-11, 1-4 A-10 entering Saturday's game vs. Davidson) on Thursday, Jan. 29. The 6 p.m. (CT) game will be televised on FSMW+.
RECAPPING THE DAYTON GAME
Saint Louis dropped an Atlantic 10 Conference game at Dayton by the score of 61-45 on Saturday.
Saint Louis dipped to 9-9 overall and 1-4 in the A-10, while Dayton improved to 15-2 and 5-0 in league play.
Ash Yacoubou led the Billikens with 12 points. He shot 5-of-10 from the field and pulled down five rebounds, dished out three assists and recorded two steals.
Mike Crawford hit a pair of 3-pointers in the first half and finished with 10 points. Marcus Bartley buried two treys en route to six points. Reggie Agbeko tied Yacoubou for the team lead with five rebounds.
Dayton, which extended its winning streak to eight games, was led by Kendall Pollard's 20 points. Dyshawn Pierre had a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
BILLIKENS VS. RANKED OPPONENTS (AP poll only...)
SLU has dropped its last five meetings against ranked opponents. The last win against a ranked opponent came on March 17, 2013, a 62-56 win against No. 25 VCU in the A-10 Championship title game.
Against ranked opponents at Chaifetz Arena, the Billikens are 4-3. The last SLU win against a ranked foe at Chaifetz came during the 2012-13 season, a 76-62 win against No. 24 VCU on Feb. 19, 2013.
YARBROUGH LEADING THE TEAM IN SCORING
Freshman forward Milik Yarbrough leads the Billikens in scoring with 10.3 ppg. He is also second on the squad with 4.9 rpg.
In A-10 games only, Yarbrough averages 15.2 ppg, which is 11th in the conference.
Yarbrough's 11 field goals made at George Washington are the most by an A-10 player in league play this season.
In all games, Yarbrough is eighth in the Atlantic 10 with a 54 percent (74-137) shooting mark from the field.
YARBROUGH NAMED A-10 ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Freshman forward Milik Yarbrough was named the Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball Rookie of the Week on Jan. 12.
Yarbrough averaged 22.0 ppg in a pair of games to earn the honor. Against George Washington on Jan. 6, he poured in a career-high 26 points on 11-of-18 shooting from the field. Yarbrough also corralled six rebounds against the Colonials. Against Davidson on Jan. 10, he scored a team-leading 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
ROBY COMING ON STRONG
Freshman guard Davell Roby has scored in double-figures in three of the Billikens' last four games.
Against George Washington, he connected on a career-high four 3-pointers en route to a career-best 14 points.
Roby followed that performance with an 11-point effort at Davidson.
In the last four games, Roby has hit 14-of-25 shots from the field (..560) and is averaging 10.0 ppg.
CRAWFORD IN DOUBLE FIGURES
Sophomore guard Mike Crawford has averaged 12 ppg over the last two contests. He is 8-for-15 (.533) from the field during that stretch.
Crawford's 14 points against were the second-most points scored in his career and the most he has scored in a league game.
YACOUBOU CONTRIBUTING IN FIRST YEAR WITH BILLIKENS
Junior guard Ash Yacoubou is the only Billiken who has started every game.
The Villanova transfer, whom SLU head coach Jim Crews lauded for his work ethic and attitude during his redshirt season a year ago, has led the Billikens on the boards in 10 games.
Yacoubou, who scored a career-high 18 points against Duquesne, has also led the team in scoring six times this season. For the year, he is second in scoring with 10.0 ppg and is first on the squad with 5.2 rpg.
Yacoubou posted his second double-double of the season with 18 points and 10 boards against Duquesne. His other double-double came against Rockhurst on Dec. 2 - 11 points and 10 rebounds.
The last SLU guard to lead the Billikens in rebounding was Tommie Liddell III in 2008-09.
MCBROOM GOES THE DYNAMITE
Junior guard Austin McBroom has hit big shots for the Billikens in his career.
McBroom, who scored a career-high 26 points against Bradley, hit the game-winning 3-pointer against the Braves with seven seconds remaining.
It was McBroom's 3-pointer with less than three minutes remaining against North Carolina A&T that completed a comeback and put the Billikens ahead for good.
Against Southern Illinois in the season opener, McBroom posted 24 points thanks in part to five treys. His biggest shot of the night came with 10 seconds remaining when he buried the go-ahead three.
Last season, McBroom hit a big shot late in a game at Duquesne. With the Billikens trailing by one with less than a minute left, he buried a three from the right side to give SLU the lead for good.
SLU's leading returning scorer from a year ago (7.3 ppg), McBroom is third on the Billikens with 9.5 ppg. He is third in the A-10 in 3-point field-goal percentage (.477).
BLOCK PARTY
Senior center John Manning leads the Billikens and is ninth in the A-10 with 1.3 blocks per game.
Manning tied his career high with four blocks against Rhode Island.
Manning has 70 blocks for his career. He needs six more to crack the Billikens' top 10 all-time.
SCOUTING VCU
Located in Richmond, Va., Virginia Commonwealth University enters tonight's game ranked 16th in the AP Top 25 and USA Today coaches' polls.
VCU (15-3 overall, 5-0 Atlantic 10) has won 10 games in a row. Tonight's game completes a three-game road swing for the Rams. Previously, they defeated Rhode Island (65-60) in Kingston and Duquesne (70-64) in Pittsburgh.
Treveon Graham, who missed the Duquesne game with an ankle injury, is third in the A-10 with 17.1 ppg. Graham's .456 shooting percentage from 3-point range is fourth in the league.
Melvin Johnson is second on the Rams with 13.9 ppg. Briante Weber (7.6 ppg) has a nation-leading 68 steals and is on the cusp of becoming the NCAA's all-time leader. He needs just 21 more steals to surpass John Linehan (Providence, 1998-2002), who holds the career NCAA record with 385 steals.
The Rams entered the week second in the A-10 in scoring offense (75.7 ppg), first in steals (10.6 spg) and second in assists (14.8 apg). In league games only, VCU has pumped in an A-10 leading 74 ppg.
VCU has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last four years. The Rams appeared in the NCAA Final Four in 2011.
Head coach Shaka Smart is in his sixth season at VCU with a 152-49 record. Previously, he served as an assistant coach at California (Pa.), Dayton, Akron, Clemson and Florida.
The series is tied 3-3. SLU had won three in a row before VCU defeated the Billikens in the last outing, 67-56, in Richmond. Saint Louis has won the previous two meetings at Chaifetz Arena. The Billikens and Rams met in the 2013 A-10 Championship title game in Brooklyn, N.Y., with SLU winning 62-56.
