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Gibson Jimerson is going to have just about ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ University scoring record when he finishes his career this season, but there are some other numbers that won’t get anywhere close to setting records but say a lot about his season.

It’s not unexpected that Jimerson leads SLU in scoring (18.8 points per game) and 3-point shooting (41.7%) this season, but he’s third on the team in rebounding, averaging 4.3 per game, behind only Kalu Anya (9.7) and Robbie Avila (6.3). Last season, he was sixth on the team at 2.9 per game.

“The rebounding thing has been huge for me,� Jimerson said. “I think in the past it was always like just box out. Don’t let your guy get it. Now I’m flying in there and getting rebounds. For us to be where we want to be as a team, we have to have all of our guys defending. Your best players are two-way players. So just having that consistent effort on the defensive end, that care, is something for me that’s been huge. I’m enjoying it, man. It’s been fun. I think it’s fun defending like that, and kind of brings that competitor out in you, which is what you want.�

The more well-rounded Jimerson and his SLU teammates get their biggest test of the season on Tuesday when they face Virginia Commonwealth in Richmond, Virginia, Jimerson’s hometown. SLU sits atop the Atlantic 10, but VCU (12-4, 2-1) is one game back. SLU (10-6, 3-0 and winners of four in a row) has never won at VCU’s Siegel Center in nine tries, and this, along with SLU’s trip to Dayton on March 4, loom as the two toughest games on the regular-season schedule.

SLU will then stay in Virginia and play Richmond on Saturday, making this a weeklong stay for Jimerson in his hometown. His parents both went to VCU and he went to basketball camps there when Anthony Grant was the coach, but neither VCU nor Richmond offered him a scholarship out of high school.

“I think they had guys in my position or whatever,� Jimerson said, “but yeah, I didn’t get love from the hometown team. Worked out pretty well.�

Jimerson, named the A-10’s player of the week on Monday, has had five rebounds or more in six of SLU’s games this season, with a high of eight against Fordham and seven twice. He had 33 points against Fordham and had a shot at his first career double-double. Last season, he averaged 2.9 rebounds per game.

Coach Josh Schertz wanted Jimerson to bring more than just offense to the team, and he has done that.

“What he’s done defensively is buy in on the glass,� Schertz said. “He’s one of the guys. And I think it’s really been across the board because I’d say Robbie’s as well and Kobe (Johnson) and Kalu, the commitment to the invisible things that drive winning, like that commitment level has ramped up significantly for all those guys, which is why they’re doing more diving on the floor, or our ball screen coverage is better. Or our ball pressure has been better, or we’re getting more deflections, or our transition defense has been exponentially better. Things that inside the game, you’re statting them, but they are things that drive winning.

“And so Gibson’s commitment there, and his ability, his box-outs, his ability to crack guys and go get rebounds, or just box his guy and not allow a rebound, I think across the board, those guys have done that, but his floor game has improved dramatically. And that’s just nothing other than him being him being committed to winning.�

The defensive expectations for Jimerson have grown under Schertz.

“Before, it was more probably just don’t let your guy score and don’t let your guy get the rebound or whatever,� Jimerson said. “It was more individual, I think. A guy like me that’s like not considered an elite defender, that’s kind of how you grow up defending. And I think for me and the team, our team defense has gotten so much better.

“We’re helping each other. Guy gets beat, we’re rotating. Our rotations are really, really good right now. So just being more aware of that and helping everybody. There are times when I need help as well, so just relying on the guys for that.�

This is only the second time in Jimerson’s lengthy SLU career that the team has played both VCU and Richmond on the road in the same season and the first time they’ve been scheduled in the same week, which allows him more time at home. But if teammates are looking for recommendations for things to do during their week in Richmond, Jimerson thinks he might not be the guy to ask.

“Someone was asking,â€� he said, “I was like, ‘Man, I haven’t been back in so long. I might not be the person to ask anymore.’ We have a day off; I’ll probably go home a little bit and see everybody. There’s some malls and stuff. But I mean, I’m sure a lot of the guys will want to relax a little bit, maybe get some food or something. But it’s funny. I’m not the person to consult about that anymore. Yes, I can help you probably more in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ now, but it’ll be good to see everybody and be back in where I grew up.â€�

Notes

• Schertz seems resigned that Kellen Thames will play 12 to 15 minutes a game because of his cramping issues. He played 13:49 against St. Bonaventure and wasn’t able to return at the end of the game because his cramping, which began to bother him in late November, had returned.

“I don’t see it being worse, but I don’t see it getting any better in the near future,� Schertz said. “I just think it’s going to be stable. And when stable means like the other night he played 14 minutes, and that was great, before his body kind of shut down, and some nights will be eight minutes, and sometimes it’d be 10 but unless there’s a dramatic change. I don’t see it being 20 to 30 minutes. I think it’s going to be in that range, short doses.�

• Forward AJ Casey will take a medical redshirt and sit out the rest of the season, leaving him with two years of eligibility remaining. Casey, a transfer from Miami, has played only three games, first because of an ankle injury and recently a back injury.

Schertz said Casey needs rest and rehab to get back in game shape, which wouldn’t be sooner than March. Casey joins Josiah Dotzler on the medical redshirt list for this season.