Gibson Jimerson set SLU’s career scoring record on Thursday night, but other than that, it was a totally forgettable evening for the Billikens, who got clobbered by San Francisco 78-61 at War Memorial Gym in San Francisco.
SLU (5-3) trailed by four at the half, but USF (7-2), which will likely be the best team on SLU's nonconference schedule, started the second half with a 24-2 run to blow the game wide open. SLU missed its first eight 3-point shots in the second half. SLU never got closer than 13 points the rest of the game.
Jimerson scored on a wide-open backdoor layup off a pass from Robbie Avila with 8:45 to go in the second half for his 1,973rd point with SLU, one more than Anthony Bonner had from 1986 to 1990.
St. Louis University’s Gibson Jimerson connects for a three-pointer in the second half against Jackson State at Chaifetz Arena on Monday, Dec. 2, 2024.
From now on, every point by Jimerson will extend that record, which, given the situations around it, may never be broken. Jimerson is in his sixth season at SLU, playing 10 games before getting a medical redshirt in his first season and then receiving an extra year of eligibility because of COVID. At his current pace, he should score at least another 300 points if he stays healthy. Jimerson finished with 16 points, putting the current SLU record at 1,977 points.
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But that will be the only lasting good memory from this game, as SLU got whacked to start the second half as USF hit shot after shot and SLU didn't. With a short bench because of an injury to Larry Hughes II suffered in practice on Wednesday, Isaiah Swope fouled out in 31 minutes of playing time. He had eight points on 4 of 10 shooting, including 0 for 4 on 3-pointers. Avila had 13 points with five assists and five turnovers.
For most of the game, coach Josh Schertz used just seven players, eventually bringing Kilian Brockhoff in during the second half.
SLU trailed by as many as 13 points in first half before closing it with a 12-3 run to trail 33-29. SLU made 7 of its past 9 shots, which got it to 40.6 percent for the half, which shows how low the Billikens were shooting before that. Avila had nine points on 4 of 10 shooting and Swope had six points on 3 of 9 shooting. Jimerson had five points, all in those last 12 points of the half.
Kellen Thames was back in the starting lineup after coming off the bench against Jackson State. His minutes were restricted in that game — he played 15 minutes — because of his recurrent cramping problem that caused him to leave the two previous games early. Schertz said after the Jackson State game that there had been no further problems for Thames in that game. Thames played 13 minutes in the first half, and Schertz used only two players off the bench, Kobe Johnson and Amari McCottry, but Thames played only two minutes in the second half.
