ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis men's basketball team looks to break its three-game slide when it visits Maryville this Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Moloney Arena.
The Tritons enter Thursday's game with a record of 18-7, 10-7 GLVC while the Saints are 14-11, 7-10 GLVC.
Last Time Out – UMSL saw its slide reach three straight with a 69-58 loss at Drury last Saturday afternoon. The Tritons led by as many as 11 in the first half and led by eight midway through the second frame but were unable to close it out.
Victor Nwagbaraocha led four UMSL players in double figures with 16 points.
Race for the Postseason – With the two losses last week the Tritons find themselves third in the GLVC's Point Rating System that determines the eight teams for the GLVC Tournament March 2-5 at Hyland Arena in St. Charles, Mo. Second-sixth is tightly contested as William Jewell, UMSL, Rockhurst, Quincy and Southwest Baptist are separated by 0.12 points. The Tritons trail the Cardinals by just 0.03 points but only have 0.03-point lead over Rockhurst for fourth.
Conference Rankings – UMSL remains the top shooting in the conference connecting on over 49 percent of its attempts and over 40 percent of its three-point attempts. The Tritons are also fourth in the GLVC in scoring averaging 76.3 points per contest and third in scoring defense giving up 67.1 points per outing.
Isaiah Fuller is ninth in the league in scoring at 15.2 points per contest while
Bowen Sandquist leads the conference in three-point goals made with 3.08 per game and is second in three-point field goal percentage at 46.1 percent.
Drew Cisse is second in blocked shots with 1.16 per contest.
About Maryville – The Saints enter Thursday's contest having lost two of their last three games after splitting last weekend. They began the week with a 74-57 win at Drury last Thursday before losing at Southwest Baptist 87-66 on Saturday afternoon. Trey Redd tallied a season-high 14 points while Dewayne Vass finished with 13 points and five assists for Maryville against the Bearcats. The Saints couldn't overcome SBU's torrid shooting as it hit 15 three-pointers in the contest.
Series History – UMSL leads the all-time series against Maryville 25-6 and has won the last seven meetings including an 88-81 decision last month at the Mark Twain Building.
