On Saturday afternoon, Saint Louis' basketball's dream 2026 season came to an end with a blowout loss at the hands of the Michigan Wolverines in the Round of 32 at the ongoing NCAA Tournament. While Saint Louis was able to hang around for the first half against the top-seeded Wolverines, they ultimately fell apart in the second, falling by a final score of 95-72.
After the game, Billikens forward Robbie Avila spoke on his feelings as he reflected on the end of the season.
“I just enjoyed every step of it. It's definitely a heartbreaker,” said Avila, per KDSK News on X, formerly Twitter.
Avila also spoke on his relationship with Billikens head coach Josh Schertz.
“That's my guy for life,” he said.
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Overall, it was a tough ending to a strong season for Saint Louis basketball, one that saw the team enter the NCAA Tournament as a number nine seed and make easy work of number eight-seeded Georgia in the Round of 64 earlier this week. In that game, the Billikens played arguably their best basketball of the season, racing out to an 18-0 run in the second half and giving fans optimism that they might have a chance to hang around or steal an upset against the Wolverines.
However, things ultimately ended up falling apart against Michigan, and now, Saint Louis will be faced with an offseason full of recruiting, transfer portal decisions, and the like. Meanwhile, Avila's career with the Billikens will now come to an end, and it remains to be seen what the basketball future will hold in store for the talented big man, who averaged 12.8 points per game on over 40 percent shooting from beyond the arc this season.
