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St. Louis University coach Josh Schertz could see this one coming.

On Friday night, his team practiced at the Smith Center at George Washington University before the Billikens’ game on Saturday. It did not go well.

“Just not dialed in to what we’re doing,� he said. “Attention to detail, physicality. The scout team, who’s running George Washington’s stuff, obviously not nearly as well or as athletically, was kicking our butt. We lost to the scout team. Trying to guard their stuff, we couldn’t keep below a point per possession. And we weren’t very sharp offensively against what they were going to do. There was nothing (Friday) that would give you confidence that you’re going to play well.�

On Saturday afternoon, that was borne out as SLU (12-8, 5-2) dozed through the first half, trailing by 14 points at the half and making 31% of its shots, and 14.3% of its 3s. SLU eventually found its game, but it came up a minute or so short and lost to George Washington 67-61. It was not a great start to tough string of games that continues with Atlantic 10 Conference-leading Virginia Commonwealth on Tuesday night at Chaifetz Arena.

“We lacked physicality,� Schertz said. “Got dominated early in the post, drives, offensive rebounding, I thought we were super tentative on the offensive end. Credit them, we thought they were ready to play. We were playing a good team that was going to be desperate on their own floor, and the level of intensity, the level of competitiveness, the level of physicality was going to be super high, and we weren’t ready to match it in any way.�

“I think we just had a slow start,� said SLU guard Gibson Jimerson. “We were giving up a lot of offensive rebounds. Obviously, shots weren’t going in, so I think we kind of let that affect our defense a little bit. We had some live ball turnovers that they were able to capitalize on and score. Just not a lot went our way early on and that kind of bled over into the rest of the half.�

While SLU had won its previous two games, its offense has hit a serious bump in the road. SLU’s 43.9% shooting on Saturday was its fifth-poorest figure this season, but the best in the past three games after shooting 41.5% against Richmond and 42.4 against La Salle. The Billikens have shot 21.5% or worse on 3s in each of their past three games.

The numbers say Jimerson, Isaiah Swope and Robbie Avila usually will do better than that, but right now they have all gone cold at once. And with those three accounting for about two-thirds of SLU’s offense, that puts the team in a tough spot.

Avila, who led SLU in scoring with 13 points, was 0 for 3 on 3s. Jimerson, who had 12 points, was 2 for 9 on 3s, and Swope, who spent seven minutes on the bench in the first half with three fouls, had 11 points on 3 of 9 3-point shooting. The looks were there and some shots went in and out, but whatever the cause the shots are not dropping for SLU.

“It’s happened every year I’ve been a coach,� Schertz said, “and usually for some reason around this time. … I think you just got to keep trusting those guys to continue to generate open ones. You got to trust those guys to take ones. I thought there was a few times we could have taken more 2s where we had layups and we were trying to throw it out, so I would like to see us be more aggressive, but if the defense is going to collapse and give guys wide open paint-to-great 3s, you got to shoot them, and you got to shoot them with confidence, and that’s whoever’s out there.

“And you got to trust you’re going to make them. And if you don’t, good teams find a way to win anyway, because if we take better care of the ball, if we’re more locked in defensively the first 25 minutes, we’re gonna win this game 61-54 and it’s like with La Salle, everybody goes, ‘Oh, that’s an ugly win.’ But at the end of the day, those ugly wins show that we’re valuing the right things. A game like today, we weren’t good enough the first 25 minutes.�

Jimerson, who has made more 3-pointers than anyone in Atlantic 10 history, has made just 6 of his 34 3-point attempts over the past four games. After playing the full 40 minutes the previous four games, he got some bench time in the first half amid his slow start.

“Just one of those stretches,� said Jimerson, who doesn’t think his extensive playing time is part of the problem. “I think it’s some of my shots have been a little bit short, and just working to correct that a little bit. But shooting kind of ebbs and flows. Some games, you shoot great. For me, I just stay consistent with what I’m doing. I’m not going to just get in the gym and shoot a 1,000 shots like that. Doesn’t make any sense. I wouldn’t do that if I went 8 for 8. So just stay consistent, and we’ll be fine.�

SLU trailed by 14 points at the half and it wasn’t until there was 2:31 to play that it was able to get GW’s lead under 10 points and keep it there. A 3 by Kobe Johnson, who had 11 points, with 1:28 to go cut the Revolutionaries’ lead to six, and Jimerson hit a 3 with 38.9 seconds left as part of a 10-2 run to make it a 3-point game. GW’s Christian Jones missed the front end of a one-and-one with 22 seconds left to give SLU a chance to tie the game, but Swope missed a 3 with 11 seconds left and GW (14-6, 3-4) made the one free throw it needed to close out the game.

“We had a one-possession game,� Jimerson said. “Swope had a great look at a 3 to tie it and it didn't go down. When we're locked in like that, defensively they barely scored over 30 points in the second half. When we're doing that, we're a tough team. Previous games, we were hanging our hat on our defensive end, and we got a little away from that first half.�

“I thought Isaiah got a pretty good look,� Schertz said, “looked like it was going in. And you tie that game with 12, 13, seconds to go, and you get a chance to go to overtime and you have momentum, who knows what happens? But the basketball gods, the karma for what we did (Friday), and the first 25, 30 minutes, didn't allow it.�