WHAT'S ON TAP?

• Saint Louis plays its first of two straight at Chaifetz Arena on Wednesday when it hosts the Fordham Rams in a 7 p.m. tip. The game will be televised on FanDuel Sports Network.
• Wednesday's game features the Atlantic 10 Conference's top offense (Saint Louis, 92.8 ppg) against the league's top defense (Fordham, 63.9 ppg allowed).
• Richmond is the Billikens' opponent on Saturday in a 3 p.m. tip at Chaifetz Arena. That game will be televised on CBS Sports Network, and the popular Royal Banks of Missouri Great Baby Race will take place at halftime.

FOLLOWING THE ACTION

• Wednesday's game will be televised nationally on FanDuel Sports Network. Tom Ackerman, Troy Robertson and Tamar Sher are on the call. 
• 104.1 FM / 1120 AM KMOX is 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. Billiken Basketball sends a special salute to Rammer, who is in his 40th season as the radio voice of SLU hoops, and Austin who is in year No. 35. The duo were recently honored with the Burnes-Broeg at the Missouri Athletic Club's Jack Buck Awards.

NEWS & NOTES

• Saint Louis has won nine straight and is on the cusp of the AP Top 25 as the first team RV. SLU is 22nd in the NCAA NET rankings.
• The Billikens have won 14 games in a row at Chaifetz Arena dating back to last year, the longest streak in arena history.
• Eight Billikens have led the team in scoring this year, tied for the second most in the country.
• The Billikens are 10th in the nation in scoring offense with 92.8 ppg. Their +25.4 scoring margin is third nationally. SLU is ninth in the NCAA in assists per game (19.3).
• Opponents shoot just 35.7 percent against them, second in the NCAA. SLU's 3FG% defense (.271) is fourth nationally. 
• SLU is one of the top rebounding teams in the NCAA, ranking fifth in rebounds per game (43.8) and fourth in rebound margin (+13.0). The Bills have yet to be out-rebounded in a game.
• The Billikens are off to their best start since 1993-94. That team got to 19-1 before suffering its second loss of the year. The 1947-48 and 1948-49 Billiken squads were 16-1 before their second losses of the season.
• Robbie Avila leads the Billikens in scoring with 12.9 ppg. He leads all centers in NCAA Division I with 3.8 assists/game. 
• Dion Brown (11.9 ppg) has a team-high 6.3 rpg. 
• Trey Green (10.9 ppg) leads the league in 3FG% (.448) and is fourth in the A-10 with 2.69 3s per game. 
• Quentin Jones (10.8 ppg) enters the Fordham game needing five points for 1,000 in his career.
• Kellen Thames (9.9 ppg) averaged 13.0 ppg and 7.5 rpg last week while shooting 71.4 percent (10-14) from the field.
• Robbie Avila has been named to preseason Watch Lists for the Naismith Trophy, Oscar Robertson Trophy, Wooden Award and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award. 
• Billiken head coach Josh Schertz is in his 18th season as a collegiate head coach. His .778 winning percentage ranks No. 7 among active coaches in the NCAA.

ABOUT FORDHAM

• The Fordham Rams enter Wednesday's game 10-7 overall and 1-3 in Atlantic 10 Conference play. The Rams are coming off an 81-77 victory at St. Bonaventure the last time out. 
• Fordham features the league leaders in scoring (Dey-Dey Reaves), rebounding (Rikus Schulte) and assists (Christian Henry).
• Dey-Dey Reaves scored a career-high 31 points to lead the Rams to the win over the Bonnies. He was 9-for-17 from the field and a perfect 12—for-12 from the charity stripe. For the season, he leads the A-10 with 17.4 ppg.
• The Rams also feature the league's top rebounder in Rikus Schulte. He averages a double-double on the season with 11.8 ppg and 10.1 rpg. 
• Christian Henry scores 11.7 ppg and leads the Atlantic 10 with 5.7 apg.
• The Rams are big in the front court, one of the reasons why they are second in the A-10 to the Billikens in rebounding. Fordham leads the league in offensive rebounding, pulling down 13.4 per game.
• Fordham is tops in the league in scoring defense as it yields just 63.9 ppg, No. 12 nationally.
• Head coach Mike Magpayo is in his first season in the Bronx. The 2023 Big West Coach of the Year came to Fordham this offseason after serving as head coach at the University of California, Riverside for the past five years. SLU's first four games in A-10 play are against first-year coaches at their institutions (Saint Joseph's, VCU, La Salle, Fordham). 

SERIES HISTORY

• Saint Louis leads the all-time series 16-5. SLU snapped a two-game winning streak for Fordham with a win in the Bronx last year.
• Fordham won the last meeting that was played at Chaifetz Arena on Feb. 3, 2024. That was the Rams' only win in St. Louis (1-9).