SLU continues their Richmond, VA road trip with a visit to the Robins Center to take on the Richmond Spiders. The Billikens opened their last game — also in Richmond visiting VCU — with a Robbie Avila three, and never led again. The Rams were led by Joe Bamisile‘s 23 points and ran roughshod over the Bills on the offensive glass with an OR% of .500.

The Spiders limp into this one as well. After winning their first two A10 games, they have since dropped three straight with the most recent being a 63-49 loss at St. Bonaventure on Wednesday night. Richmond’s offense has sputtered in the absence of lead guard DeLonnie Hunt, out for the next eight weeks after sustaining a broken foot during the first of those three straight losses.

You can see from above Dusan Neskovic struggled to carry the extra load against the Bonnies, though he did post a career high 28 points in the previous game, an OT home loss to Rhode Island. Richmond is an interesting team — best free throw shooting team in the country, and they rarely turn the ball over. They guard the three-point line, shoot a number of threes themselves but don’t make very many (340th in 3PT% per KenPom).

With Hunt out and Richmond unequipped to hit the offensive glass with the same alacrity as VCU, the Billikens should win and keep pace with VCU and George Mason atop the A-10 standings. Gibson Jimerson has largely struggled against hometown teams Richmond & VCU, particularly in the latter half of his decade-long-seeming career. Look for SLU to lean heavily on Avila and Isaiah Swope pick-and-rolls today, with Kalu Anya restoring order on the defensive boards. We’ll go with 70-63 SLU as our final score.