SLU’s Terrence Hargrove attempts to block the shot of VCU’s Sean Bairstow during Friday’s NCAA men’s basketball game at Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis. (Photo: Thomas Grove)

NCAA Men’s Basketball	1	2	Final
VCU (17-8, 9-3)	42	53	95
SLU (9-16. 2-10)	35	50	85

Cedric Williams
Senior Editor

ST. LOUIS, MO — Saint Louis University guard Sincere Parker has been on a scoring rampage lately.

In his team’s last three games, Parker has scored 33, 34, and 30 points, in terrifically efficient shooting efforts by the 6-3 junior from Rockford, Ill.

Unfortunately, in two of those games Parker’s efforts were not enough. That included Friday night, when Saint Louis lost to VCU in an Atlantic 10 Conference league game, 95-85, at Chaifetz Arena.

“We couldn’t get stops,” SLU head coach Travis Ford said. “We were either fouling or giving up 3s. And we didn’t rebound. We didn’t have much resistance defensively. I have to find some defensive physicality.”

The Billikens seemed to lack much defensive presence at all, as they allowed VCU to score its most points of the season. In it’s last game, an upset win over No. 18 Dayton, the Rams won 49-47. On Friday, VCU scored 42 points in the first half and 53 points in the second.

“You have to have a defensive presence,” Ford said. “We struggle to pressure the ball because because we get beat. We don’t guard the ball very well right now. We drill it every day. We play one-on-one every day, but when the game starts…

“One of the top things we talked about at halftime was that they made five 3s. On three or four they just looked at us, they were 25 feet out and we were 20, and they just rose up and shot it. We can’t give them comfort 3s. If we took that away, they drove on us.”

VCU made 12 three-pointers in the game, led by emerging star Joe Bamisile, who made five threes and led the Rams with 27 points. Teammate Max Shulga made four threes and scored 26 points.

“It’s the will of wanting to guard, wanting to play defense,” SLU forward Terrence Hargrove Jr. said. “It’s something we have to get better at. Coaches put the blueprint out, and we have to follow it. That’s a problem right now. We don’t want to guard. It’s pretty obvious. It’s just something we have to work on as a team and get better day by day.”

Even with its defensive troubles, Saint Louis managed to stay in the game. Mostly due to the scoring efforts of Parker, who made 10-of-16 shots from the field, including four three-pointers of his own, and six free throws.

Parker also had four steals and two assists, and became the first Billiken player to score 30 points in three straight games since Larry Hughes, Sr. did it in 1998.

Hargrove finished the night with 18 points, while juniors Bradley Ezewiro and Gibson Jimerson scored 13 points apiece.

With the loss, SLU fell to 9-16 on the season and 2-10 in A-10 play, while VCU, which has won nine of its last 10 games, improved to 17-8 overall and 9-3 in the conference.

SLU’s next game will be Tuesday in Pittsburgh, when the team goes on the road to play Duquesne.

VCU 95

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
11	Shulga,Max	*	35	6-11	4-8	10-11	1-5	6	1	3	2	0	1	26
07	Bairstow,Sean	*	35	5-11	1-3	3-4	3-3	6	2	5	5	0	0	14
02	Jackson,Zeb	*	26	3-7	1-3	2-2	0-2	2	4	3	1	1	1	9
13	Kuany,Kuany	*	18	2-5	1-2	2-2	3-0	3	3	0	0	1	1	7
21	Fermin,Christian	*	11	2-2	0-0	0-0	0-2	2	2	0	0	0	0	4
22	Bamisile,Joe		25	7-13	5-9	8-9	0-3	3	4	0	2	1	0	27
10	Lawal,Toibu		25	2-3	0-0	1-2	4-6	10	3	0	0	1	2	5
08	Belle,Michael		13	1-3	0-0	1-1	1-2	3	1	2	1	0	0	3
01	Nelson,Jason		12	0-2	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	3	0	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	2-2	4	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Totals	–	200	28-57	12-26	27-31	14-25	39	21	13	14	4	5	95

SLU 85

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
21	Parker, Sincere	*	36	10-16	4-6	6-9	2-1	3	4	2	2	1	4	30
22	Hargrove Jr., Terrence	*	35	7-15	1-5	3-4	1-3	4	3	0	0	1	0	18
24	Jimerson, Gibson	*	33	4-10	2-6	3-3	1-0	1	0	1	2	0	1	13
03	Ezewiro, Bradley	*	17	2-3	0-0	9-11	1-3	4	4	0	1	1	0	13
02	Hughes II, Larry	*	29	0-5	0-5	0-1	1-3	4	4	5	3	0	4	0
00	Thames, Kellen		17	3-6	1-1	2-2	0-2	2	3	0	1	0	0	9
15	van Bussel, Stef		7	1-2	0-0	0-0	1-0	1	1	1	0	0	0	2
01	Medley, Cian		21	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-2	2	3	5	0	0	0	0
12	Zhang, Bruce		4	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-1	1	1	0	1	0	0	0
04	Curcic, Djordje		1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	1-1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Totals	–	200	27-57	8-23	23-30	8-16	24	23	14	10	3	10	85

2023-24 SLU Billikens Men’s Basketball Schedule

Date	Gametime	At	Opponent	Location	TV	Radio
February 20, 2024 (Tuesday)	6 pm	Away	Duquesne	Pittsburgh, Pa. (UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse)	Bally Sports Midwest	KMOX 1120AM
February 24, 2024 (Saturday)	2 pm	Home	George Washington	Chaifetz Arena	Bally Sports Midwest	KMOX 1120AM
February 28, 2024 (Wednesday)	7 pm	Home	Richmond	Chaifetz Arena	Bally Sports Midwest	KMOX 1120AM
March 2, 2024 (Saturday)	3 pm	Away	Rhode Island	Kingston, R.I. (Ryan Center)	CBSSN	KMOX 1120AM
March 5, 2024 (Tuesday)	8 pm	Home	#16 Dayton	Chaifetz Arena	CBSSN	KMOX 1120AM
March 9, 2024 (Saturday)	11:30 am	Away	St. Bonaventure	St. Bonaventure, N.Y. (Reilly Center)	USA Network	KMOX 1120AM
March 12-17 Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament	TBA	Neutral	TBA	Brooklyn, N.Y. (Barclay’s Center)