ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis men's basketball takes on Drury in a must-win game in its regular season finale this Thursday (Feb. 26) at 7:45 p.m. at the O'Reilly Family Events Center in Springfield, Mo.
The Tritons enter Thursday evening's contest with a record of 16-12 including 10-9 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference but trail Truman State by .03 in the GLVC's Point Rating System (PRS) for the final spot in the GLVC Tournament. UMSL needs to win and hope the Bulldogs lose their final two games of the regular season.
Truman hosts UIndy on Thursday in Kirksville and then travels to Liberty, Mo., on Saturday to take on William Jewell.
The 2026 GLVC Basketball Tournament will be held March 5-8 at the Mark Twain Building on the UMSL campus. Rockhurst, McKendree, Illinois Springfield, William Jewell, UIndy and Missouri S&T have already clinched spots in the tournament. Upper Iowa, Truman State, UMSL and Drury are battling for the final two playoff spots.
The Tritons kept their playoff hopes alive thanks to a 76-55 win over the Cardinals last Saturday in their home regular season finale.
Taye Moore led all scorers with 23 points in the contest while
Demetris Phillips added 17 more.
UMSL has already secured a winning record for the season and looks to extend its streak of qualifying for the conference tournament to eight straight and 16 in the past 17 years.
Moore continues to lead the Tritons in scoring this season with 14.8 points per game while
Jake Hamilton is adding 11.1 points per outing and Phillips is contributing 10.2 points per contest.
Miles Boland leads the team with 4.6 assists per game and is second in the conference in assists per game and total assists (130) and fourth in assist-to-turnover ratio and steals.
About Drury – The Panthers climbed to .500 overall on the season with their 80-56 win over Southwest Baptist last Thursday at the O'Reilly Family Events Center. KeShaun Thomas led the way with 17 points while Zach Howell added 16 more.
The Panthers are 13-13 on the season including 8-10 in the GLVC and need to win its last two games and like UMSL have Truman lose its last two games to snare a spot in the GLVC Tournament.
Howell is one of the top scorers in the GLVC this season averaging 17.6 points per game and is shooting 45.5 percent from the three-point line. Colin Headrick and Thomas are averaging 15.4 and 15.1 points per outing respectively.
Series History – Thursday's game marks the 33rd meeting all-time between the Tritons and Panthers with Drury holding a 21-11 lead in the series. UMSL has won four of the last six meetings including a 66-60 last season at the Mark Twain Building.
