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The beauty of St. Louis University having three players averaging more than 16.5 points per game, the only team in the nation that can say that, is that it would provide protection, that if one of them had a bad night, there would still be two others to keep the offense going.

On Friday, SLU went 0 for 3. With Gibson Jimerson on the bench with an ankle injury for almost all of the second half and Robbie Avila and Isaiah Swope making only limited contributions, SLU didn’t have the offense, or for that matter, the defense, to keep up with St. Joseph’s. SLU lost 76-63 at Hagan Arena in Philadelphia, a scoreline with both a big margin of defeat and a big number of points allowed.

“Our offense just wasn’t good enough,� SLU coach Josh Schertz said, “we didn’t have enough firepower, didn’t have enough guys playing well. … Not good enough.

“I thought the defense tonight was more of what we looked like at Illinois State (when SLU gave up 81 points), and then it's been what we've been. We weren't nearly competitive enough on that end of the floor.�

The loss dropped the Billikens to 14-10 overall, 7-4 in the Atlantic 10 and cost them a chance to widen their lead on fourth-place Dayton, which lost to VCU on Friday. SLU faces league-leading George Mason on Tuesday at Chaifetz Arena.

SLU lost Jimerson about two minutes into the second half when he slipped and fell in front of the SLU bench and appeared to twist his right ankle. He had his shoe off and got the ankle retaped on a table outside the team locker room, but he took a seat at the end of the bench instead of returning to action.

Schertz said it was “too early to tell� the severity of Jimerson’s condition, but noted that Jimerson is not a player to sit out. “He’s as tough as they come,� he said. “So him not being able to come back in says it’s not something that would be like a mild ankle sprain.�

Playing without Jimerson, SLU’s all-time leading scorer, is something the team hasn’t done much of this season. He's among the national leaders in minutes played and has been on the bench just 4 minutes and 43 seconds in the previous eight games. Jimerson finished with eight points in 22 minutes and was 0 for four on 3s, snapping a 37-game run of making at least one 3-point shot.

SLU has already lost Josiah Dotzler and AJ Casey to season-ending injuries, and it would be no surprise if Kellen Thames joined that club as he missed his fourth game in a row. Add in Larry Hughes II transferring and that would make five scholarship players not in action.

“Five guys out and then Robbie and Swope, a lot of pressure on those guys,� Schertz said. “They’re both in a funk in terms of their play, four for 19 combined and eight turnovers tonight. There’s no easy answers. We’re continuing to look at it. We’re trying to work to do different things to get those guys in positions (to score).�

They couldn’t do it on Friday. On the same day Avila was named one of 10 finalists for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award as the nation’s top center, he had his third straight game in single digits, with nine points on two for 11 shooting, with five of the points coming at the free throw line. He also had five rebounds and three turnovers. Over his past three games, Avila has 19 points. Over his past four games, he has 20 turnovers.

Swope, meanwhile, had six points on two of eight shooting, five rebounds, tied with Avila for the most on the team — “Any game you play that Isaiah Swope is your leading rebounder is probably not going to be good,� Schertz said — and five turnovers.

“I thought (Avila) was more aggressive tonight,� Schertz said. “I thought he got downhill a little more. He's struggling to finish. Doesn't look like he has the same lift. He's a little tentative shooting the basketball, which, I don't know I've got to figure that out. But, he got 11 shots and seven free throws, and did some good things. Again, his effort level is good. Swope's effort level is good. Those guys aren't playing bad because they're not trying hard, they're playing bad because they're playing bad.�

And then there was the case of the vanishing Kalu Anya. The forward had a team-high 11 points in the first half with three rebounds. In the second half, he played 8:30, and not only didn’t score, he didn’t take a shot, and had no rebounds either. He played just 97 seconds in the last 13 minutes of the game.

“Kalu started off great and then lost steam,� Schertz said. “Obviously we’re going to ride with him but other guys got to get opportunities as well.�

Dylan Warlick got most of Jimerson’s time, playing 23 minutes but scoring only two points. Max Pikaar got Anya’s time and had six points in 11½ minutes in his best game as a Billiken, but Amari McCottry, the star of Tuesday in Amherst, Massachusetts, “wasn’t ready to go,� Schertz said, “I don’t know what the reasons are there, but he wasn’t great,� and played just five minutes.

SLU was up 30-20 with 4:56 to go in the first half and looked to be in good shape and then didn’t score the rest of the half and went into intermission down 32-30.

“We had a few turnovers that caused a few transitions to them,� said guard Kobe Johnson, who had a career-high 21 points. “Those guys were hitting shots, and I felt like we should have taken care of the ball a little bit better and just cracking the boards a little bit.�

The 12-0 run for St. Joseph’s that ended the first half continued with a 14-4 run to start the second half which put SLU down 12 inside the first five minutes. SLU managed to cut the lead to two and St. Joseph's missed two shots, but got the rebounds on both and finally hit a 3. SLU was down four with 5:53 to go and had a chance to cut the lead again but Avila didn’t get the roll on a layin and then a 3 by St. Joseph’s took the lead back to five and SLU wasn’t heard from again. “Daggers,� said Schertz of St. Joseph’s late 3s.

“It's pretty frustrating,� Johnson said. “Would have been a good win on the road. Nobody wants to lose, especially going out that way with players going down and things like that. It's a pretty tough loss.�