ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T will look to get back on the winning track in Great Lakes Valley Conference play this week as it heads to Indiana for a pair of conference matchups, beginning Thursday at the University of Indianapolis.
The Miners, 7-5 overall and 1-4 in the GLVC, will face the Greyhounds (5-7, 2-2 GLVC) in a 6:45 p.m. (Central time) contest at UIndy's Nicoson Hall, before heading up the interstate to Rensselaer, Ind., for a Saturday afternoon matchup with Saint Joseph's (7-7, 1-3 GLVC).
Thursday's game will mark just the second road game for the Miners in conference play, as S&T will look to snap a four-game losing streak both overall and in conference action. The Miners dropped their first two GLVC outings of 2017 last week at Billy Key Court, losing 83-62 to Lewis and 72-54 to Wisconsin-Parkside, the latter coming despite the Miners holding the nation's top three-point shooting team 17 points below its season average from beyond the arc.
S&T, who comes into Thursday's game averaging 85.3 points per game, was held down last week by both the Flyers and Rangers. Leading scorer
Jalen Myers (Shorewood, IL/Minooka) was held below double figures for the first time this season as he enters the week of play averaging 14.6 points per game.
Myers continues to be one of the top three-point shooters in the GLVC, sitting seventh in the GLVC rankings in that category with an average of 2.8 three-point baskets made per game. He is also hitting 41.8 percent of his long range attempts for a team shooting 38.9 percent from beyond the arc.
The Miners have also been stingy at the three-point line, as they currently rank fourth in NCAA Division II – through Monday's play around the country -- at defending the three with opponents hitting only 28.8 percent of their attempts.
S&T has two other players scoring in double figures in
Randy Holmes (St. Louis, MO/Soldan International Studies), who is averaging 11.2 points a game and has led the Miners in scoring in each of the last two contests and
Telloy Simon (Kitchener, Ont./St. Mary's), who is scoring 10.8 per game and is shooting over 40 percent from three-point range.
Rokas Paulauskas (Talsiai, Lithuania/Hamilton Heights Acad.) continues to lead the Miners in rebounding with 7.3 a game, while
Juwan Miller (Kitchener, Ont./Huron Heights) is the Miners' leading in assists with 55 and steals with 21. Miller is third in the GLVC in assists and fourth in steals, while
Dulan Scott (Chicago, IL/Farragut Academy) is fourth in the conference in field goal percentage at 63.3 percent.
ABOUT UINDY: The Greyhounds -- who have played in the NCAA Division II Tournament in each of the last six years -- got off to a slow start this season, but have won their first two games out of the holiday break to bring marks of 5-7 overall and 2-2 in the GLVC into Thursday's contest.
UIndy picked up road wins at Missouri-St. Louis and Maryville last week largely due to its play on the defensive end of the floor, as it held UMSL to 31.5 percent shooting and then held Maryville to 35.5 percent from the field. Opposing teams have shot 47 percent against UIndy this season, an average that was at 49.6 percent prior to the two wins.
Jesse Kempson, who recorded a double-double in Saturday's win at Maryville, leads the Greyhounds with averages of 15.3 points and 7.1 rebounds per game and is also fourth in the GLVC with 21 blocked shots. The Greyhounds are also getting 12.5 points a game from Eric Davidson -- who leads UIndy with 24 three-point baskets -- and 10.8 a contest from D.J. Davis.
Jimmy King has a team-high 41 assists for UIndy, while Ajay Lawson's 18 steals rank seventh in the conference.
ABOUT SAINT JOSEPH'S: The Pumas picked up their first conference win of the year last Saturday with an overtime victory at Missouri-St. Louis and is 7-7 overall and 1-3 in the GLVC heading into Thursday's game with Drury.
Saint Joseph's ranks second in the GLVC and 12th in NCAA Division II in scoring with an average of 90.5 points per game and has five players averaging in double figures. That group is led by Eric Gillespie, who is averaging 14.1 points a game and who has done a lot of his damage from three-point range, as he has connected 40 times from beyond the arc at a 38.1 percent rate.
As a team, Saint Joseph's is shooting 35.6 percent from three-point land, with most of the work being done by Gillespie, Davious Webster (23 treys) and Davone Daniels (19).
CJ Hardaway is averaging 13.3 points per contest, while Daniels is scoring 11.8 a game. Kindred Williams and Nic Williams are also over 10 points a game for the Pumas.
The top rebounder for Saint Joseph's are Kindred Williams and Nic Jeffers at 5.8 per game, while Hardaway has a team-high 51 assists. Opposing teams have shot 50.4 percent against the Pumas this season.
