GAME NOTES: Winners of three straight, the Saint Louis Billikens close out 2014 with a meeting against Vanderbilt in non-conference action at Chaifetz Arena on Wednesday afternoon.

Since losing back-to-back games to nationally-ranked Wichita State and South Dakota State earlier this month, the Billikens have rattled off three straight victories, albeit against some weak competition. The team followed up wins over SIUE and Texas-Pan American with a narrow 58-55 triumph over Vermont 10 days ago.

The Billikens have one more game during their current six-game homestand, kicking off the Atlantic 10 Conference portion of the schedule versus Rhode Island on Saturday.

As for the Commodores, they too have gotten off to a favorable start in 2014-15 as they take aim at their ninth win of the season. However, since opening 5-1 the program has dropped two of the last five by a combined eight points against Baylor and Georgia Tech. On the heels of the setback versus the Yellow Jackets, Vandy has gotten back into the win column with a 79-50 rout of Penn at home on Dec. 22.

Vandy leads the all-time series by a 5-4 margin, although the Billikens captured a 57-49 victory in the most recent matchup at Memorial Gym nearly one year ago to the day.

Shooting 57.1 percent from the field and forcing 17 turnovers, the Commodores made it look easy against Penn three days before Christmas. The Quakers were dominated on the glass, 39-24, and also were held to only 34.5 percent shooting from the floor by a Vanderbilt squad that saw James Siakam scored a game-high 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the floor, while grabbing eight rebounds. Wade Baldwin IV and Damian Jones pitched in with 16 and 15 points, respectively.

For the third time in the last four games and the sixth time overall the Commodores shot at least 50 percent from the field and are now hitting their attempts at an impressive 51.1 percent clip. Vandy is also connecting on 39.3 percent behind the 3-point line, considerably better than the competition at only 29.2 percent as they prepare for the meeting against the Billikens.

Jones leads a trio of double-digit scorers with his 16.5 ppg, adding a team- best 7.1 rpg and 19 blocked shots in an effort to disguise the fact that he has issued only nine assists in 11 contests. Riley LaChance and Siakam account for 12.5 and 10.4 ppg, respectively, while Baldwin IV (8.4 ppg) makes up for some of what Jones lacks with his 53 dishes, matched by Shelton Mitchell who has come of the bench five times.

Against Vermont, the Billikens had their hands full and barely squeaked into the win column. Malik Yarbrough and Ash Yacoubou both tallied 10 points for the hosts, combining to shoot a mere 8-of-27 from the floor, while the former also cleared 13 rebounds and handed out six assists. Saint Louis managed to get away with only 4-of-9 shooting behind the 3-point line and 8-of-14 at the charity stripe, partly due to a 36-22 advantage on the glass.

Based on how the team performed against the Catamounts, it should not come as a surprise that points are quite hard to come by for the Billikens and their opponents again this season. Austin McBroom is the lone double-digit scorer for the group and he barely qualifies for the classification with his 10.9 ppg. McBroom has knocked down 25-of-51 (.490) beyond the arc while the rest of his teammates are only 35-of-126 on the perimeter.

Both of these squads have had some easy targets on the schedule to this point, so it might be difficult to figure out just how good they might be. Although, this meeting should provide a bit of clarity, at least for the Billikens who should slip by on the strength of their defense.