SETTING THE SCENE
The UMSL men's basketball team opens the 2015 Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament on Sunday as the No. 8 seed, hosting No. 9 seed William Jewell. The winner advances to the quarterfinals on Thursday at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo., where the remainder of the tournament will be played March 5-8.

UMSL IN THE GLVC TOURNAMENT
UMSL is 2-9 in GLVC Tournament games. The Tritons are playing their second straight first round game at home as the No. 8 seed and defeated No. 9 Missouri S&T, 103-79, last season.

UMSL and William Jewell have never met in the GLVC Tournament.

EARLIER THIS SEASON VS. WILLIAM JEWELL
William Jewell used a late 7-0 run and outscored the Tritons, 14-6, over the final 4:38 en route to a 69-60 victory in Liberty, Mo., on January 31. The Cardinals also secured the win by going 8-of-10 at the free throw line in the final 1:17, finishing 23-of-30 at the charity stripe. UMSL was 11-of-17 at the line. Senior Tylor Wimbish scored a game-high 22 points, while senior Aareon Smith finished with 10 points and 14 rebounds. UMSL made just one of its first 10 shots in shooting 39.6 percent and were 7-of-19 (36.8 percent) from three-point range. The Tritons were 6-of-10 from beyond the arc in the first half, but went just 1-of-8 in the final 20 minutes. William Jewell took a 33-30 lead into halftime before UMSL outscored the Cardinals, 11-4, in the first six minutes of the second half.

THE REST OF THE GLVC TOURNAMENT FIELD
Other first round games include No. 12 Illinois Springfield at No. 5 Lewis, No. 11 Maryville at No. 6 Southern Indiana and No. 10 Quincy at No. 7 Truman State. The top four seeds - No. 1 Bellarmine, No. 2 Drury, No. 3 UW-Parkside and No. 4 Indianapolis all received first round byes.

SIZING UP THE TRITONS
UMSL closed out the regular season on Thursday night with an 81-67 home loss to Maryville, giving the Tritons an 18-10 overall record, including a 10-8 GLVC mark.

UMSL has notched 18 wins for the first time since 2011-12 (19-9) and just the second time since the 1990-91 team went 22-6.

HOME SWEET HOME
UMSL is 10-4 at home this season and owns an all-time record of 363-214 (.629) in its home facility - the Mark Twain Building. In two years under second-year head coach Bob Sundvold are 22-7 at home, including 11-7 in GLVC play.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Senior Aareon Smith averages team-bests of 17.2 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, which included 18.4 points and 9.9 rebounds per game in GLVC play. Smith has tallied three straight 20-plus scoring games and is averaging 30.7 points per game during that stretch. Senior Tylor Wimbish follows with 13.0 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, while junior Derek Williams leads the squad with 2.6 assists per game. Junior Brandon Marquardt owns team-highs of 24 steals and 48 three-pointers made, while junior Kevin Swanson is shooting 53.1 percent from the field and has a team-best 17 blocks.

TRITON TIDBITS
- Senior Aareon Smith currently ranks 15th on the career scoring charts with 1,040 points. He is also fourth in program history with 351 career made free throws and is sixth with 458 free throws attempted. His career average at the charity stripe of 76.6 ranks ninth all-time.
- Smith's 178 free throws made and 217 free throw attempts this season are both fourth on the single season charts.
- Aareon Smith ranks  ninth all-time in career rebounds with 630, while his 264 this season puts him seventh on the single season charts.
- Senior Tylor Wimbish is shooting 57.2 percent from the field in his two-year career, which is the fifth-best average in program history.

FROM THREE-POINT RANGE
- The Tritons have netted 233 three-pointers, an average of 8.3 per game, which is fourth in the GLVC.
- The 233 three-pointers is a new single season record, betting the previous mark of 228, set in 2012-13.
- UMSL is shooting a league-best 39.9 percent from long range, which ranks 20th in NCAA II.
- UMSL has netted double-figure three-pointers 10 different times this season, which is the second most in a season.
- Six different players have made at least 20 three-pointers this season.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
William Jewell enters GLVC Tournament play on a three-game winning streak and an overall record of 13-13. The Cardinals posted a 9-9 mark in league games. William Jewell is 4-7 on the road and has four players averaging double figures, including D'Vante Mosby who averages 12.8 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. Jordan Lewis owns 57 three-pointers and a team-best 13.4 points per game. The Cardinals are 14th in three-point shooting percentage (32.9) in the league, but top the conference in three-point defense percentage (32.6).

SERIES HISTORY
The Tritons are 10-6 against William Jewell, including 3-3 in GLVC play. UMSL is also 3-1 all-time against the Cardinals at home and defeated William Jewell, 68-64, last season in the last meeting in St. Louis.

LOOKING AHEAD
GLVC Tournament play continues with men's quarterfinal round games on Thursday, March 5. Following Sunday's four first-round contests, the winners will be reseeded Nos. 5-8 and placed against the tournament's top four seeds. At that time, times for the four quarterfinals will also be announced. Top-seeded Bellarmine earns the right to determine its 12-2:30-6-8:30 p.m. CT start time on Friday, while No. 2 Drury will then select between the two remaining times in the opposite session. The No. 3 and 4 seeds will then be slotted accordingly.