What Makes SLU Special?
Schertz is a brilliant offensive mind and his players love the freedom of his ‘read and react’ patterns. All five of Saint Louis’ typical starters average double digits in scoring and the top two bench players are producing over eight points per game.
Robbie Avila is the center of the SLU attack, both literally and figuratively. The 6’10 unicorn can and does do everything for this team. A 2024 all-Missouri Valley Conference and 2025 second-team all-Atlantic Ten performer has tallied over 1,600 career points and 500 rebounds.
Avila may be the nation’s best passing big man and the Saint Louis offense runs through him. His assist totals rival that of many point guards and his accuracy from long distance (.484) creates havoc for opposing defenses.
When those offensive mismatches help Billiken players to the free throw line they succeed. SLU ranks amongst the national leaders in free throw percentage (.813).
The Saint Louis offense is converting over 50 percent of its field goal attempts and is tenth nationally in ‘fast break points’. The Billikens rack up twenty points per game off the break.
Avila, Dion Brown and Trey Green are virtually tied for the scoring lead (12.4 ppg). All three are deadly from deep and rarely miss a free throw. Xavier transfer Green was a Big East all-freshman team member. Jones is Boston College transfer who was previously an All-America East Conference performer for University of Maryland-Baltimore County.
Schertz accumulates accomplished and skilled players.
Sophomore Amari McCottry is enjoying a breakout season averaging 11.6 points-per-game. Northern Illinois transfer Quentin Jones is the team’s fifth double-digit scorer (10.8).
Kellen Thames (8.8) and Ishan Sharma (8.4) play massive roles from the Billiken bench. Schertz calls Thames a player that affects winning every time he’s on the floor. The 6’6 Thames is the son of former Missouri star Kelly Thames and is making .721 from the floor and .810 from the free throw line.