SETTING THE SCENE

• Saint Louis (5-3) plays its first road game of the season Saturday afternoon when it heads to Carbondale to face the Southern Illinois Salukis (4-2) at the Banterra Center. Game time is 2:30 p.m.
• Saturday's game at Southern Illinois will not be televised. It will be streamed live on ESPN+.
• KMOX 1120 AM serves as the Home for Billiken Basketball on 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.

• Saturday's game is the start of a rare non-conference road swing for the Bills, as they travel next to Des Moines to face Drake on Wednesday, Dec. 6. This is the first time since the 2013-14 season that SLU will be playing consecutive road games during the non-conference slate.
• Gibson Jimerson has posted season-high scoring totals in each of the last two games, scoring 28 points against Utah State after tallying 23 against Dartmouth. For the year, he scores 15.6 ppg.
• Terrence Hargrove Jr. is third on the team in scoring (15.5 ppg) and tops in rebounding (5.9 rpg). He has scored in double figures in four straight.
• Michael Meadows Jr. leads the Atlantic 10 and ranks 14th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.67). Cian Medley has 10 assists to just one turnover in the last three games combined. 
• Kellen Thames has recorded at least one steal in every game and ranks third in the A-10 with 13 on the year.
• Leading scorer Sincere Parker (17.3 ppg) is out 4-6 weeks after suffering a foot injury against Wyoming on Nov. 16.
• As a team, the Billikens lead the A-10 in free-throws made per game (18.1), 3-point field goal percentage (.386) and fastbreak points (14.6 per game).
• Both Saint Louis and Southern Illinois benefit from the charity stripe as both lead their league in FTs made per game.

• Southern Illinois enters Saturday's game with a 4-2 overall record. The Salukis have already started Missouri Valley Conference play and are coming off a 77-48 loss in their MVC opener Tuesday at Indiana State.
• Xavier Johnson leads Southern Illinois with 21.8 ppg. He also dished out a team-best 28 assists and leads the Salukis with eight steals.
• Jovan Stulic has come off the bench to average 9.2 ppg, second on the squad. Clarence Rupert is the Salukis' top rebounder at 7.3 rpg.
• Trent Brown is SIU's top 3-point shooter in both makes (15) and percentage (.536).
• Last season, Southern Illinois went 23-10 and 14-6 in MVC play. The Salukis fell to Drake in the semifinals of the MVC Tournament.
• Head coach Bryan Mullins is in his fifth season at his alma mater with a 71-57 record.

• Saint Louis leads the all-time series against the Salukis 33-27.
• This will be the 61st meeting between the Billikens and Salukis, tying SIU for eighth among SLU's most common opponents.
• Southern Illinois leads 17-8 in games played in Carbondale, including a two-game win streak on its home court. The last time the Billikens won at the Banterra Center was Nov. 16, 2013, a 76-67 triumph.
• Southern Illinois is the Billikens' most common non-conference opponent. The Bills and Salukis were never in the Missouri Valley Conference at the same time despite both programs' long history in the league. SIU joined the MVC in 1975-76, two years after Saint Louis left the MVC to eventually join the Metro Conference.

• The Billikens head to Des Moines to take on Drake University on Wednesday, Dec. 6. The Bulldogs are 6-1 overall and 1-0 in MVC play heading into Saturday's conference game at home against Missouri State.