SETTING THE SCENE

• Saint Louis (8-9, 1-3 A-10) wraps up a two-game road swing on Friday night when it faces the VCU Rams (10-7, 2-2 A-10) at the Siegel Center. Game time is 6 p.m. (CST).
• Friday's game will be televised nationally on ESPN2. Mike Corey and Dalen Cuff have the call as part of the A-10/ESPN Friday Night Showcase.
• 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.

• The Billikens (8-9, 1-3 A-10) continue their difficult road swing Friday at VCU, where they have never won. The Billikens are coming off a hard-fought 70-65 loss at No. 21 Dayton on Tuesday night.
• Gibson Jimerson, a Richmond native, leads the Billikens and is seventh in the A-10 in scoring with 16.9 ppg. He has been SLU's top scorer in each of the last four games and seven of the last eight. Jimerson ranks seventh on SLU's all-time scoring list and second in career 3s in Billiken history.
• Bradley Ezewiro is averaging 14.3 points and 7.5 rebounds. He has scored in double figures in all six of his games this year and has led the team in rebounding in five straight. Ezewiro became eligible on Dec. 15 with the rest of the NCAA's two-time transfers.
• Michael Meadows Jr. dished out eight assists to just one turnover at Dayton. He leads the Atlantic 10 in assist/turnover ratio (3.31). Fellow PG Cian Medley leads SLU with 52 assists.
• Sincere Parker is progressing after missing 11 games with a broken foot. He has played the last two games and is coming off nine points in 16 minutes at Dayton. 
• SLU is 21st in the NCAA and third in the A-10 in team 3FG% (.384).
• SLU has already had seven different starting lineup combinations this season, the most in the Travis Ford era.
• The Billikens are 164-138 in A-10 regular-season games. Travis Ford needs one more A-10 win for 100 in his career.

• Saint Louis fell 70-65 at No. 21 Dayton on Tuesday night in Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball action at UD Arena.
• SLU dipped to 8-9 overall and 1-3 in league play. Dayton (14-2) won its 11th in a row and kept pace with Richmond for first place in the A-10 with a 4-0 A-10 mark. The Flyers also extended their winning streak to 10 against the Bills 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. Sincere Parker played his most substantial minutes since breaking his foot on Nov. 16, scoring nine points and grabbing five rebounds.
• 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.

• The Virginia Commonwealth University Rams (Richmond, Va.) enter Friday's game 10-7 overall and 2-2 in Atlantic 10 Conference play.
• Both of the Rams' victories in league play (at George Mason, at La Salle) have come on the road. VCU's A-10 losses (St. Bonaventure, George Washington) have come on its home floor at the Siegel Center.
• VCU won the A-10 Championship last year, but its roster features a new coach in Ryan Odom and eight newcomers. VCU replaced its top seven scorers from last year's squad.
• Utah State transfer Max Shulga leads the Rams with 15.2 ppg, while Michigan transfer Zeb Jackson scores 12.4 ppg. Utah State transfer Sean Bairstow averages 11.8 points and a team-leading 4.5 assists for the Rams.
• Odom was hired at VCU this offseason after Mike Rhoades was named head coach at Penn State. Odom led Utah State to the NCAA Tournament last year. He also guided UMBC to the NCAA Tournament in 2018, when the 16th-seeded Retrievers famously defeated No. 1 seed Virginia in the first round.

• The Rams and Billikens are meeting for the 20th time.
• VCU leads the all-time series 14-5 and won all three games last season – 73-65 at Chaifetz Arena, 79-67 at the Siegel Center, and 90-78 in the A-10 Championship semifinals.
• SLU is 0-8 all-time at the Siegel Center.
• The Billikens and Rams play again next month when VCU visits Chaifetz Arena for an A-10/ESPN Friday Night Showcase game on Feb. 16.