SETTING THE SCENE

• Saint Louis (7-7, 0-1 A-10) continues Atlantic 10 Conference play on Saturday when it heads to Fairfax, Virginia, to meet the George Mason Patriots (12-2, 1-0 A-10). Tipoff at EagleBank Arena is slated for 1 p.m. (CST).
• Saturday's game will be televised on USA Network, the second game of an A-10 tripleheader on the network. Steve Schlanger and Tim McCormick have the call.
• 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 (7-7, 0-1 A-10) will be looking to bounce back after opening their A-10 season with an 80-73 home loss against Loyola Chicago on Wednesday.
• Bradley Ezewiro is three games into his Billiken career and is averaging 16.0 points and 8.0 rebounds. He posted his first career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds against Loyola Chicago. Ezewiro became eligible on Dec. 15 with the rest of the NCAA's two-time transfers.
• Gibson Jimerson (16.3 ppg) has led the Bills in scoring in eight games and four out of the last five. He is 17 points away from surpassing Tommie Liddell III for eighth on SLU's all-time list.
• Over the last four games, Terrence Hargrove Jr. has shot 70 percent from the field (21-30) and 69.2 percent from 3-point range (9-13). He is averaging 14.5 ppg over that four-game span.
• Against Loyola Chicago, Larry Hughes II buried three treys, collected a career-high six rebounds and posted three steals.
• Michael Meadows Jr. is second in the A-10 and 33rd in the NCAA with a 3.0 assist-to-turnover ratio.
• SLU has already had six different starting lineup combinations this season, tied for the most in the Travis Ford era (2021-22).
• This is SLU's 19th season as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Billikens have a 163-136 mark in A-10 regular-season games. SLU has won two A-10 regular-season crowns (2013 and 2014) and two A-10 tournament titles (2013 and 2019). SLU head coach Travis Ford is 98-69 in A-10 regular-season games – 31-17 in three years at UMass (2005-08) and 67-52 in eight years at SLU (2016-24).

• Saint Louis overcame a large first-half deficit and pulled even with Loyola Chicago in the second half, but the visiting Ramblers escaped Chaifetz Arena with an 80-73 victory Wednesday night in the Atlantic 10 Conference opener for both teams.
• SLU slipped to 7-7 overall, while Loyola improved to 9-5 with its third straight win.
• Gibson Jimerson led the Billiken scoring effort with 19 points, followed by Terrence Hargrove Jr. with 18 and Bradley Ezewiro with 13.
• Ezewiro added a game- and career-high 10 rebounds for his first career double-double, while Larry Hughes II (career high) and Kellen Thames grabbed six boards apiece as Saint Louis gained a 44-30 edge on the glass including a season-high 19 offensive caroms.
• Michael Meadows Jr. had five assists, and Hughes matched his career best of three steals.

• George Mason (12-2, 1-0 A-10) is one of the surprise teams in the Atlantic 10 Conference early on. Picked to finish 10th in the league in the A-10 preseason poll, the Patriots own a league-high 12 wins and are in the top 100 in the NET (66) and KenPom (91) to begin conference play.
• The Patriots defeated La Salle 77-62 in the A-10 opener on Jan. 3 at Gola Arena.
• UNLV transfer Keyshawn Hall leads George Mason with 16.9 points and a league-leading 9.8 rebounds. He collected his league-leading eighth double-double of the season against La Salle, pouring in 27 points and snagging 13 rebounds in a full 40 minutes. It was among the top performances in the A-10 on opening night.
• Virginia Tech transfer Darius Maddox scores 13.7 ppg and has drilled a team-best 30 3-pointers. He connects on 43.5 percent from beyond the arc as well. Maddox is seventh in the NCAA among all active Division I players in career 3FG% (.429).
• Amari Kelly, a transfer from UNC Wilmington, is third on the Patriot with 12.2 ppg and second with 6.6 rpg. He has a team-high 19 blocked shots.
• The Patriots are one of the top shooting and rebounding teams in the A-10. They lead the conference in rebound margin (+7.1) and are second in rebounds per game (39.2). Mason ranks second in the league in FG% (.482).
• Defensively, George Mason ranks third in the A-10 in scoring defense, yielding 65.4 ppg.
• Tony Skinn is in his first season as head coach at his alma mater after being an assistant coach at Maryland, Ohio State, Seton Hall and Louisiana Tech. Skinn was a key starter on the 2006 George Mason Final Four team and is one of the players in George Mason history.

• Saint Louis leads the all-time series against George Mason 11-4. The series began when George Mason joined the Atlantic 10 in 2013-14.
• SLU has won five straight in the series, including both games last year.
• There have been several thrilling games in the series. In 2021-22, the Bills won a double-overtime thriller at EagleBank Arena that saw Yuri Collins go for a career-high 35 points with five steals, five rebounds and 13 assists. He also recorded the game-winning layup as time expired in double OT.
• In fact, five games against George Mason have gone to overtime in the series, including two in double OT that SLU won at the buzzer. In addition to Collins' last second bucket two years ago, Mike Crawford had a buzzer beater when SLU knocked off the Patriots in double overtime during the 2016-17 season at Chaifetz Arena.
• George Mason's last win in the series was during the 2017-18 season in Fairfax. SLU owns a 5-2 record against George Mason in games played at EagleBank Arena.