ROLLA, Mo. – With the conference season beginning to wind down, Missouri S&T's men's basketball team will be in action just once in the upcoming week as the Miners close out their four-game homestand with a visit from Missouri-St. Louis to Gibson Arena on Thursday night.

The Miners and Tritons will face off in their second meeting of the season at 7:30 p.m., with the Miners seeking to get back among the top eight in the Great Lakes Valley Conference's point rating standings and Tritons looking to stay near the top of the standings and remain in a good position to possibly receive an NCAA Division II regional spot over the next month.

Both teams are also coming off losses on Saturday at home, as the Miners fell 86-59 to Southwest Baptist and the Tritons were knocked off by Rockhurst 85-77.  S&T comes into Thursday's game at 13-10 overall and 7-8 in the GLVC, while UMSL is 18-5 and 10-5 in conference play.

The Miners come into the contest with four players still averaging in double figures, led by Julien Smith's (Fort Worth, TX/Northwest) mark of 15.6 points per game that ranks seventh in the GLVC.  He is joined in that quartet by Lovell Williams (Rogers, MN/Maple Grove), who is scoring 15.2 per game (10^th in the GLVC) after pouring in 23 points Saturday; Ikenna Okeke (Bolingbrook, IL/Romeoville) at 15 points per game and Kaden Froebe (Lincoln, IL/Lincoln) at 10.6 points per contest.

Williams continues to rank high in the conference in several other categories as well, where he is third in three-point percentage at 46.7 percent on the year, sixth in field goal percentage at 56.5 percent and assists with 3.8 per game and tied for third in steals with 36.

Okeke is just outside of the top 10 in rebounding with a team-high 6.1 per game and Froebe is second in the GLVC in steals with 39.  Meanwhile, Andrew Young (Ballwin, MO/Marquette) ranks fifth in field goal shooting at 56.8 percent and is third in blocked shots with 24 on the season, while Smith is sixth in three-pointers with 2.3 per game and seventh in steals with 34.

The Miners continue to lead the GLVC in scoring with an average of 81.3 points per game and are second in field goal percentage with a mark of 48.4 percent.

ABOUT MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS: The Tritons opened the season with 12 straight wins and rose to as high as fourth in the national rankings, but have leveled off since as they come into Thursday's contest at 18-5 overall and 10-5 in the GLVC.  UMSL fell out of the national top 25 following an 85-77 loss Saturday to Rockhurst, but still sit second in the conference standings and in the Point Rating System standings to determine the eight playoff participants.

Isaiah Fuller leads the Tritons in scoring with an average of 15.3 points per game, which has him ranked ninth in the GLVC.  He is among three Tritons in double figures along with Bowen Sandquist at 11 points per game and Victory Nwagbaraocha at 10.3 per contest.  Sandquist is the top three-point shooter in the GLVC as he has connected on 73 and is shooting 47.7 percent from long range, while Nwagbaraocha has the GLVC's seventh-best field goal percentage mark at 54.3 percent.

UMSL leads the GLVC in field goal shooting at 49.6 percent and in three-point shooting at 40.3 percent on the season – both figures rank among the top 20 in NCAA Division II -- while also connecting on 76.1 percent of their attempts at the free throw line.