SLU Men’s Basketball caught fire when students returned to campus, posting wins against A-10 foes Duquesne and UMass before falling in a tight contest against VCU.

The first game of the new semester brought Duquesne to Chaifetz Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 17. It was a night of records, with senior guard Davell Roby scoring his 1,000th career point and freshman guard Jordan Goodwin posting the first triple-double in program history. The 76-63 win was also the 1400th win for the program.

A pair of early treys gave Duquesne a 6-2 lead in the opening three minutes, but SLU rallied with an 8-0 run to lead 16-7 with 11:45 to play in the first half. A 7-0 run late in the first half gave SLU its largest lead of the first half, 29-16, at the 3:35 mark. Duquesne jumped back within nine points, but a trey from redshirt senior guard Aaron Hines in the closing seconds gave SLU a 34-22 lead at the half.

In the second half, SLU led by as much as 23 points twice, before a Duquesne rally cut into the large lead. However, the Billikens hung on in just the second A-10 win of the season.

Roby said that he knew he would make it into the 1,000-point club, but that it was “going to take forever until I hit the second shot.”

Goodwin felt that he was going to get a triple-double that night, even putting it on Snapchat. He was also ready to “go brag to [his] teammates about the triple-double” after the game.

Roby was very confident in Goodwin, predicting that “Goodwin’s going to get another [double-double].”

In addition to the huge offensive spurt, the Billikens played one of their best defensive games up to that point. Head coach Travis Ford thought “it was an aggressive defense tonight.” This defense got Duquesne out of rhythm, which Ford said led to “a lot of good stops.”

The Billikens next traveled to Amherst, facing UMass on Saturday, Jan. 20. This game was a homecoming for Ford, who coached the Minutemen from 2005-2008. Despite the recent decision that one player would be suspended for a year and a half, two for two years, and another expelled from SLU, the Billikens played some of the best basketball this season, giving up a season-low 47 points in the 66-47 win.

SLU never trailed in the game, leading by 11 at the half, and went on a 16-0 run in the second half to easily blow out the Minutemen for the first road win of the season.

Goodwin (19 points, 10 rebounds) and freshman forward Hasahn French (12 points, 10 rebounds) both posted double-doubles, the first pair of freshmen at SLU to record double-doubles in the same game.

SLU next hosted VCU at Chaifetz Arena on Tuesday, Jan. 23. SLU took an early lead and held it for the bulk of the game, but a few VCU runs cut into SLU’s lead. VCU forced overtime with a 61-61 tie and went on a 6-0 run in overtime to seal the 75-74 loss for SLU.

SLU led by as much as 10 in the first half, but VCU went on a 6-4 run to cut the SLU lead to just five points at the half.

SLU caught fire early in the second half, scoring nine early points in the first five minutes. SLU went cold and VCU took advantage, sending the game to overtime with a last-second trey.

In overtime, SLU failed to answer a 6-0 VCU run, leading to the loss.

An emotional Ford really felt the sting of SLU’s fatigue in overtime: “We didn’t show our identity the last 10-12 minutes of the game.”

SLU stays home, hosting conference rival Dayton at Chaifetz Arena on Saturday, Jan. 27. This game is a Saturday afternoon battle with tipoff set for 3 p.m.