2025–26 Saint Louis Billikens men's basketball team

2025–26 Saint Louis Billikens men's basketball
2025–26 Saint Louis Billikens men's basketball
A-10 regular-season co-champions
NCAA tournament, Second Round
Conference	Atlantic 10 Conference
Record	29–6 (15–3 A–10)
Head coach	Josh Schertz (2nd season);
Assistant coaches	Zak Boisvert; Antone Gray; Corey Tate; Rob Gardiner; Phil Gaetano;
Home arena	Chaifetz Arena

2025–26 Atlantic 10 men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Saint Louis	15	–	3	.833	29	–	6	.829
VCU †	15	–	3	.833	28	–	8	.778
Saint Joseph's	13	–	5	.722	24	–	12	.667
Dayton	12	–	6	.667	25	–	11	.694
George Mason	11	–	7	.611	23	–	10	.697
Davidson	10	–	8	.556	20	–	14	.588
Duquesne	9	–	9	.500	18	–	15	.545
Fordham	8	–	10	.444	17	–	15	.531
George Washington	8	–	10	.444	19	–	16	.543
Rhode Island	7	–	11	.389	16	–	16	.500
Richmond	5	–	13	.278	15	–	17	.469
La Salle	5	–	13	.278	9	–	23	.281
St. Bonaventure	4	–	14	.222	17	–	17	.500
Loyola Chicago	4	–	14	.222	9	–	24	.273

† 2026 A-10 tournament winner As of March 24, 2026 Rankings from AP Poll

The 2025–26 Saint Louis Billikens men's basketball team represented Saint Louis University during the 2025–26 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Billikens, led by second-year head coach Josh Schertz, played their home games at Chaifetz Arena as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Previous season

The Billikens finished the 2024–25 season with a 19–15 record, going 11–7 in Atlantic 10 conference play and finishing in 5th place.^[1] The team won their first Atlantic 10 tournament game against Davidson 83–75 in the second round,^[2] before losing to Loyola Chicago 72–64 in the quarterfinals.^[3] The Billikens were invited to the NIT,^[4] where they lost to Arkansas State 103–78 in the first round.^[5]

Preseason

On September 30, 2025, the Atlantic 10 Conference released their preseason poll. Saint Louis was picked to finish second in the conference, while receiving eleven first-place votes.^[6]

Preseason rankings

Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll
Place	Team	Votes
1	VCU	342 (11)
2	Saint Louis	341 (11)
3	Dayton	321 (3)
4	George Washington	296
5	Loyola Chicago	286 (2)
6	George Mason	254
7	Saint Joseph's	195
8	St. Bonaventure	185
9	Duquesne	155
10	Richmond	142
11	Davidson	107
12	Rhode Island	102
13	La Salle	56
14	Fordham	53
(#) first-place votes

Source:^[6]

Preseason All-Atlantic 10 Teams

Preseason All-Atlantic 10 Teams
Team	Player	Year	Position
First	Robbie Avila	Senior	Center

Source:^[6]

Roster

2025–26 Saint Louis Billikens men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	0	Kellen Thames	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	RS Jr	Pattonville High School	St. Louis, Missouri
G	1	Quentin Jones	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Jr	Northern Illinois	Chicago, Illinois
F	2	Badara Diakite	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Fr	South Kent School	Bamako, Mali
G	3	Trey Green	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	160 lb (73 kg)	RS So	Xavier	Charlotte, North Carolina
G	4	Amari McCottry	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	So	St. Thomas More High School	Milwaukee, Wisconsin
G	5	Jaden Schertz (W)	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	Jr	Indiana State	Harrogate, Tennessee
F	6	Kalu Anya	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	Sr	Brown	Worcester, Massachusetts
F	9	Ishan Sharma	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	So	Virginia	Milton, Ontario
F	11	Brady Dunlap	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	RS So	St. John's	Studio City, California
G	12	Isaac Holmes (W)	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Jr	Apex High School	Apex, North Carolina
G	13	Dion Brown	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Sr	Boston College	Great Barrington, Massachusetts
G	14	Luke Laczkowski	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Fr	St. Mark's School of Texas	Dallas, Texas
F	15	Jax Kerr	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Fr	Owasso High School	Muskogee, Oklahoma
C	21	Robbie Avila	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	240 lb (109 kg)	Sr	Indiana State	Oak Forest, Illinois
G/F	24	Cam Hutson	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Fr	East Lansing High School	East Lansing, Michigan
F	25	Paul Otieno	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	Sr	Quinnipiac	Nairobi, Kenya

Head coach

Josh Schertz (Florida Atlantic)

Assistant coach(es)

Zak Boisvert (Fordham)
Antone Gray (Rhode Island College)
Corey Tate (Missouri)
Rob Gardiner (Wright State)
Phil Gaetano (Sacred Heart)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster
Last update: December 7, 2025

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
October 23, 2025* 7:00 p.m.		at Bradley	W 98–77	–	19 – Thames	8 – Thames	– – –	Carver Arena Peoria, IL
Non-conference regular season
November 3, 2025* 7:00 p.m., FDMWX/ESPN+		Southeast Missouri State	W 92–67	1–0	18 – Avila	11 – Brown	3 – Thames	Chaifetz Arena (5,364) St. Louis, MO
November 6, 2025* 7:00 p.m., FDMWX/ESPN+		Chicago State	W 108–86	2–0	16 – Sharma	6 – Green	3 – Thames	Chaifetz Arena (3,522) St. Louis, MO
November 10, 2025* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		Lindenwood	W 109–66	3–0	23 – McCottry	9 – McCottry	4 – Jones	Chaifetz Arena (3,710) St. Louis, MO
November 15, 2025* 7:00 p.m., FDMW/ESPN+		Grand Canyon	W 78–64	4–0	20 – McCottry	15 – Brown	4 – McCottry	Chaifetz Arena (6,105) St. Louis, MO
November 21, 2025* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		Purdue Fort Wayne Acrisure Series campus game	W 91–60	5–0	21 – Brown	10 – McCottry	5 – Avila	Chaifetz Arena (4,359) St. Louis, MO
November 27, 2025* 6:00 p.m., CBSSN		vs. Santa Clara Acrisure Invitational semifinal	W 71–70	6–0	21 – Green	8 – Thames	5 – Avila	Acrisure Arena Palm Desert, CA
November 28, 2025* 6:00 p.m., TruTV		vs. Stanford Acrisure Invitational championship	L 77–78	6–1	15 – Green	8 – Avila	5 – McCottry	Acrisure Arena Palm Desert, CA
December 2, 2025* 9:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Loyola Marymount	W 91–70	7–1	23 – Green	11 – Thames	7 – Jones	Gersten Pavilion (908) Los Angeles, CA
December 7, 2025* 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		Central Michigan	W 107−65	8−1	19 – Jones	6 – Sharma	5 – McCottry	Chaifetz Arena (4,446) St. Louis, MO
December 13, 2025* 7:00 p.m., FDMW/ESPN+		San Francisco	W 85−75	9−1	18 – McCottry	11 – Brown	4 – Jones	Chaifetz Arena (5,814) St. Louis, MO
December 17, 2025* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		Bethune–Cookman	W 112−53	10−1	19 – Green	9 – Kerr	5 – Brown	Chaifetz Arena (4,097) St. Louis, MO
December 21, 2025* 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		New Hampshire	W 93−79	11−1	18 – Tied	9 – Brown	6 – Avila	Chaifetz Arena (5,908) St. Louis, MO
December 28, 2025* 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		Principia College (D-III)	W 114−33	12−1	15 – Brown	11 – Thames	5 – Sharma	Chaifetz Arena (5,274) St. Louis, MO
Atlantic 10 regular season
December 31, 2025 3:00 p.m., FDMW/ESPN+		Saint Joseph's	W 102−79	13−1 (1–0)	20 – Avila	6 – Tied	8 – Avila	Chaifetz Arena (9,218) St. Louis, MO
January 7, 2026 6:00 p.m., CBSSN		at VCU	W 71−62	14−1 (2–0)	18 – Thames	10 – Thames	3 – Thames	Siegel Center (7,637) Richmond, VA
January 10, 2026 3:00 p.m., USA		at La Salle	W 84−72	15−1 (3–0)	18 – Avila	6 – Tied	5 – McCottry	John Glaser Arena (1,045) Philadelphia, PA
January 14, 2026 7:00 p.m., FDMW/ESPN+		Fordham	W 78−56	16−1 (4–0)	16 – Thames	8 – McCottry	5 – Avila	Chaifetz Arena (6,620) St. Louis, MO
January 17, 2026 3:00 p.m., CBSSN		Richmond	W 88−63	17−1 (5–0)	16 – Thames	8 – Brown	5 – Sharma	Chaifetz Arena (9,266) St. Louis, MO
January 20, 2026 6:00 p.m., ESPN+	No. 24	at Duquesne	W 81−77	18−1 (6–0)	14 – Tied	7 – McCottry	6 – Avila	UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse (2,266) Pittsburgh, PA
January 23, 2026 4:30 p.m., ESPN2	No. 24	at St. Bonaventure	W 97−62	19−1 (7–0)	29 – Sharma	7 – Otieno	5 – Avila	Reilly Center (4,023) St. Bonaventure, NY
January 27, 2026 7:00 p.m., FDMWX/ESPN+	No. 21	George Washington	W 79−76	20−1 (8–0)	23 – Green	7 – Avila	5 – Avila	Chaifetz Arena (7,481) St. Louis, MO
January 30, 2026 7:00 p.m., CBSSN	No. 21	Dayton	W 102–71	21–1 (9–0)	23 – Green	5 – Tied	5 – Jones	Chaifetz Arena (10,277) St. Louis, MO
February 3, 2026 8:00 p.m., CBSSN	No. 19	at Davidson	W 91–82	22–1 (10–0)	22 – Dunlap	9 – McCottry	6 – Avila	John M. Belk Arena (2,523) Davidson, NC
February 7, 2026 2:00 p.m., FDMW/ESPN+	No. 19	La Salle	W 82−58	23−1 (11–0)	15 – Sharma	6 – Jones	8 – Avila	Chaifetz Arena (9,874) St. Louis, MO
February 13, 2026 7:30 p.m., ESPN2	No. 18	at Loyola Chicago	W 86−59	24−1 (12–0)	14 – Tied	7 – McCottry	6 – Avila	Joseph J. Gentile Arena (4,557) Chicago, IL
February 17, 2026 6:00 p.m., ESPN+	No. 18	at Rhode Island	L 76−81	24−2 (12–1)	21 – Avila	6 – Tied	5 – McCottry	Ryan Center (5,331) Kingston, RI
February 20, 2026 6:00 p.m., ESPN2	No. 18	VCU	W 88−75	25−2 (13–1)	16 – Thames	8 – Otieno	3 – Tied	Chaifetz Arena (10,223) St. Louis, MO
February 24, 2026 6:00 p.m., FDMW/ESPN+	No. 23	at Dayton	L 62−77	25–3 (13–2)	24 – Thames	7 – Tied	3 – Sharma	UD Arena (13,407) Dayton, OH
February 28, 2026 7:00 p.m., FDMWX/ESPN+	No. 23	Duquesne	W 91−76	26−3 (14–2)	23 – Avila	7 – Avila	7 – Avila	Chaifetz Arena (9,937) St. Louis, MO
March 4, 2026 7:00 p.m., CBSSN	No. 25	Loyola Chicago	W 79−65	27−3 (15–2)	18 – McCottry	6 – Avila	5 – Otieno	Chaifetz Arena St. Louis, MO
March 7, 2026 3:00 p.m., USA	No. 25	at George Mason	L 57−86	27−4 (15−3)	13 – Brown	5 – Tied	4 – Jones	EagleBank Arena (6,461) Fairfax, VA
A-10 tournament
March 13, 2026 10:30 a.m., USA	(1)	vs. (9) George Washington Quarterfinals	W 88–81	28–4	22 – Avila	7 – Brown	4 – Tied	PPG Paints Arena Pittsburgh, PA
March 14, 2026 12:00 p.m., CBSSN	(1)	vs. (4) Dayton Semifinals	L 69–70	28–5	16 – McCottry	9 – Avila	5 – McCottry	PPG Paints Arena Pittsburgh, PA
NCAA tournament
March 19, 2026* 8:45 p.m., CBS	(9 MW)	vs. (8 MW) Georgia Round of 64	W 102–77	29–5	18 – Brown	9 – McCottry	5 – Tied	KeyBank Center (17,213) Buffalo, NY
March 21, 2026* 11:10 a.m., CBS	(9 MW)	vs. (1 MW) No. 3 Michigan Round of 32	L 72–95	29–6	14 – McCottry	5 – Tied	5 – Avila	KeyBank Center (17,499) Buffalo, NY
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. MW=Midwest. All times are in Central Time.

Source^[7]

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Final
AP^[8]	—	—	—	—	—	—	RV	RV	RV*	RV	RV	24	21	19	18	18	23	25	RV	RV
Coaches	—	—	RV	RV	—	—	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	23	22	20	19	19	24	24	RV	RV

*AP did not release a week 8 poll.

References

^ "2024-25 Men's Basketball Standings". Atlantic 10. Retrieved December 7, 2025.
^ "Saint Louis wins 83-75 against Davidson in Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament". FOX Sports. Retrieved December 7, 2025.
^ "Men's Basketball Advances to A10 Semifinal After 72-64 Win Over SLU". Loyola Phoenix. Retrieved December 7, 2025.
^ "What to know about the 2025 NIT: Bracket, schedule and how to watch the games". NBC Bay Area. Retrieved December 7, 2025.
^ "Nelson's 26 lead Arkansas State over Saint Louis in NIT 103-78". CBS Sports. Retrieved December 7, 2025.
^ ^a ^b ^c "VCU Picked to Repeat as A-10 Men's Basketball Champions; 23 Earn Preseason Honors". Atlantic 10. Retrieved December 7, 2025.
^ "2025–26 Men's Basketball Schedule". Saint Louis Billikens. Learfield. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
^ "AP Top 25 Men's College Basketball Poll". AP News. Retrieved October 14, 2025.

[1] "2024-25 Men's Basketball Standings". Atlantic 10. Retrieved December 7, 2025.

[2] "Saint Louis wins 83-75 against Davidson in Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament". FOX Sports. Retrieved December 7, 2025.

[3] "Men's Basketball Advances to A10 Semifinal After 72-64 Win Over SLU". Loyola Phoenix. Retrieved December 7, 2025.

[4] "What to know about the 2025 NIT: Bracket, schedule and how to watch the games". NBC Bay Area. Retrieved December 7, 2025.

[5] "Nelson's 26 lead Arkansas State over Saint Louis in NIT 103-78". CBS Sports. Retrieved December 7, 2025.

[poll-6] "VCU Picked to Repeat as A-10 Men's Basketball Champions; 23 Earn Preseason Honors". Atlantic 10. Retrieved December 7, 2025.

[7] "2025–26 Men's Basketball Schedule". Saint Louis Billikens. Learfield. Retrieved November 19, 2025.

[8] "AP Top 25 Men's College Basketball Poll". AP News. Retrieved October 14, 2025.

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Saint Louis Billikens men's basketball
Venues	First Regiment Armory (1920–1925) West Pine Gym (1925–1945) Kiel Auditorium (1945–1968; 1973–1978; 1982–1991) St. Louis Arena (1968–1973; 1978–1982; 1991–1994) Scottrade Center (1994–2008) Chaifetz Arena (2008–present)
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26