Mason Plays Their Home Conference Opener vs. SLU

By Palmer Johnson

Your George Mason Patriots look to move to 13-2 and 2-0 in conference play against the 7-7 Saint Louis Billikens.

Saint Louis is coming off a seven-point loss at home to Loyola Chicago.

The Billikens are coached by Travis Ford, who’s been there since the 2016-17 season. Before he arrived in St. Louis, he coached Oklahoma State, and before that, A10 member UMass.

Saint Louis is going through a down year due to losing All-Conference point guard Yuri Collins and not having a high-quality veteran option behind him, losing some other key players, and Gibson Jimerson not having a good start to the season.

Saint Louis By The Numbers

Saint Louis is the 202^nd ranked team on KenPom, 2^nd to last in the A10 behind La Salle. They have the 117^th ranked offense and the 303^rd ranked defense.

Travis Ford is having them play a slightly above average tempo, at 69.9 possessions per game, putting them at 148^th.

Saint Louis is a pretty small team, with their average height being 6’4.6, .8 inches below average and a full inch below Mason’s.

On offense, the Billikens get to the line 38.6 times per 100 shots, which is 53^rd in the nation. When they get there, they’re hitting them at a 72.3% rate, above average.

Saint Louis hits their threes at a 36.6% clip, 62^nd in the country. While they do hit them a bunch, their attempt rate is a little below average.

Travis Ford’s squad doesn’t shoot from two too well, only hitting 47.1% of their shots, 270^th.

The Billikens are pretty bad at offensive rebounding, only grabbing 25.6% of them, 288^th in the country. This number is probably skewed since they were dealing with availability issues with their big men early on and had to run with 6’5 Terrence Hargrove at the 5.

Saint Louis scores a lot from the line compared to most teams, with 21.9% of their points coming from free throws, 51^st in the nation.

Wing Gibson Jimerson is having a very down year on the offensive end, shooting 10% lower on twos, 42.5%, and 6% on threes, 33.3%, compared to last year, with a slight increase in volume. Jimerson is averaging 16.3 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 2.2 turnovers.

6’5 forward/wing Terrence Hargrove is really fun. As I mentioned earlier, he was forced to play center when there was nobody else who could, and he did much better than anyone could have imagined. Hargrove is averaging 13.9 points and 6.2 rebounds on 51.9% shooting from the field and 43.5% from three.

With most two-time transfers becoming eligible, forward Bradley Ezewiro, formerly of LSU and Georgetown, has played in their last three games and is averaging 16 points and 8 rebounds on 66.7% shooting.

There is very little chance that they shoot over 40% from two against Mason.

On defense, Saint Louis lets opponents shoot an eFG of 53.6%, 308^th in the country. Opponents are shooting 55.5% from two, 327^th. Not only are opponents not missing shots, they’re taking a lot. The Billikens’ opponents only turn the ball over 15.3% of the time, sub 300 in the country. This is a bad defensive team.

Teams don’t take a lot of threes against them, but I imagine it’s because they know they can get nearly free twos.

Yeah, I can’t really see them stopping Amari Kelly or Keyshawn Hall.

Saint Louis Scouting Report (vs. Loyola Chicago)

Larry Hughes Jr. is a hustler on both ends. He dove for a ball and took out his teammate’s legs, luckily there were no injuries.

Saint Louis struggled on both offense and defense early, as they were down 14-2 at the first media timeout.

Not related to Mason’s opponent, but Miles Rubin is so much fun.

Bradley Ezewiro is huge. He also can get a bit chippy throughout the game.

On offense, the Billikens have a lot of cutting action, but it seems like they’re passing it to the cutter no matter what the defense does, there’s no decision-making.

Mike Meadows, their transfer veteran PG, had an awful, telegraphed pass that turned into an easy steal.

Saint Louis tries to get seven-footer Bruce Zhang to be a distributor, but he isn’t really making any reads. He’s passing it wherever the play says to no matter what is happening around him.

Ford’s guys occasionally sprint when they think they have a transition opportunity after a rebound. They’re willing to take open threes in transition if it is 2 on 1 and the 1 it sitting in the paint.

Zheng and Ezewiro were getting the Draymond Green treatment on the perimeter. Ezewiro banked in a deeeeep mid-range when nobody was within 10 feet of him.

Gibson Jimerson got a little bit hot at some point in this game. A hot Jimerson feels like you’re defending Stephen Curry.

Hargrove is so versatile. He’s one of their best post players while also being one of their best shooters. The forward had a big-time poster near the end to keep Saint Louis in the game.

On defense, the Billikens started out in a pretty normal man look. They kept losing their guys and giving up open threes. Loyola Chicago wasn’t doing anything special.

Hargrove might still be playing center in their starting lineup with Bradley Ezewiro playing the 4. Is Ezewiro that bad defensively that they trust a 6’5 dude over him?

Ford went to his bench quick, bringing in Bruce Zhang before the 16U timeout. He didn’t like the defensive combination of Hargrove and Ezewiro as their big men. Zhang might have hands issues, as he dropped multiple rebounds.

Saint Louis dropped into a zone, early on, as long as Loyola moved the ball around, they were eventually going to get an open shot. Later, they were more aggressive and doubling when non-guards got the ball. It worked better.

In most cases, the Billikens either had to stick to their man or deny passing lanes, they couldn’t do both since they don’t have a lot of length.

Saint Louis doesn’t have the size, outside of Zheng, to defend one-one-one inside. If Amari Kelly and Keyshawn Hall are able to pass out of double teams then Mason will be fine.

The Billikens often lose guys in transition, leading to open shooters. Watch out for Darius Maddox.

Another problem with Saint Louis’ length, they have a tough time stopping entry passes.

More problems with their defense, they kept having late rotations and gave up a bunch of good threes.

Loyola Chicago’s Phillip Alston was too much for the Billikens to handle.

I hope these teams play in the A10 tourney, it’s definitely possible and would be very fun.

What does this mean for Mason?

Saint Louis definitely has some big flaws that Mason should be able to take advantage of. Bruce Zheng is big but seemed too slow for Amari Kelly and not enough of a help defender to stop Hall if he gets past his man.

Polite is going to have to watch out for Larry Hughes, he’s like Ed Reed out there, looking for passing lanes to jump.

Jared Billups and Darius Maddox are going to have to run around like mad men to contain Jimerson. He’s having an off year but he is kind of a Mason killer.

Prediction: Mason wins 80-75. Saint Louis can’t get much going from two but Gibson Jimerson has a crazy day from three and keeps them in it.

It’s the home conference opener, show up and show out, Mason Nation!