BUFFALO, N.Y. — Among the many nicknames given to Saint Louis big man Robbie Avila, coach Josh Schertz is partial to “Milk Chamberlain” and “SLU Alcindor.”
“Those two are probably two of my favorites,” said Schertz, whose ninth-seeded Billikens face No. 8 Georgia on Thursday in a Midwest Region first-round game that matches two of the highest-scoring teams in the country.
The begoggled Avila became a cult hero among college basketball fans two seasons ago when he led Indiana State to one of the best seasons in the history of a program that produced Hall of Famer Larry Bird. Avila picked up the monikers “Larry Nerd” and “Larry Blurred” because of that connection. Or maybe you prefer “Cream Abdul-Jabbar?”
The Sycamores fell just short of reaching the NCAA Tournament in 2023-24 after losing to Drake in the Missouri Valley Conference title game, instead landing in the NIT.
They then lost the NIT final to Seton Hall by 2 points.
Avila was the star of that team, averaging 17.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. When Schertz left for Saint Louis after that season, the 6-foot-10, 240-pound Avila followed the coach to the Atlantic 10.
Avila was just as productive last season, but the Billikens finished off the pace in the A-10 and were one-and-done in the NIT.
“I wanted to get this team to the NCAA Tournament for a lot of reasons, but he was the biggest,” Schertz said Wednesday. “There’s a lot of people that helped bring me here, but I just never wanted for him to have ended his career not in the tournament, particularly after what happened to that Indiana State team in 2024.”
Avila’s numbers are down this year (12.9 points, 4.5 rebounds), but that’s because Saint Louis features one of the deepest and most balanced teams in the country with seven players averaging at least 9 points per game.
“Everything he sacrificed, he sacrificed money, sacrificed playing time,” Schertz said. “He sets an unbelievable tenor for our whole program. His sense of humor, his humility, his team orientation, the kind of competitor he is, the way he cares about people. His compassion.”
Georgia coach Mike White said Avila is literally and figuratively at the center of the Billikens’ offense.
“He’s a guy that the more you study him on film, the more you appreciate his instincts and his quick-thinking ability. He’s got an innate ability to draw fouls,” White said. “He shoots it really well from 3 at pretty high volume. Shoots it like a guard. But in my opinion, I think what really separates him as at 6-10, 240 is his ability to pass the basketball and makes everybody around him better. They’ve got other good passers, too, but I don’t think we have faced a 5 that passes it like this this season.”
Schertz said success following Avila is no coincidence.
“When you look at the history of Indiana State basketball, the history of Saint Louis basketball, they all have pockets of success, but he’s really changed the trajectory of two mid-major programs that aren’t household, nationally ranked teams on a year-in, year-out basis, and he did the same thing in high school,” Schertz said.
Avila was the last Saint Louis player to leave the floor of the KeyBank Center on Wednesday as he took time to sign autographs and pose for photos with fans after the open practice.
He called the relationship he has built with Schertz “special.”
“To kind of end my last year with him and just being in college in general with a tournament appearance, it’s a blessing,” Avila said. “And to be able to do it with the group of guys we’ve got here, it makes it more special. We’re just soaking it in, but we’re just ready to compete.”