SLU Men's Basketball Game Notes & Information
Game No. 1	Saint Louis (0-0) vs. Santa Clara (0-0)
Date // Time	Monday, Nov. 4, 2024 // 2 p.m. (CT)
Location	Sioux Falls, S.D. (Sanford Pentagon)
Radio	KMOX 1120 AM (Bob Ramsey, Earl Austin Jr.)
Stream	Field of 68 YouTube
Live Stats	Sidearm Live Stats
Series History	Santa Clara leads 3-1
Game Notes	Saint Louis | Santa Clara

BILLIKEN NOTABLES

• The Josh Schertz era officially gets underway on Monday when the Billikens take on the Santa Clara Broncos in Sioux Falls, S.D. at 2 p.m.
• The game at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls is part of the Field of 68 Opening Day Showcase tripleheader. College of Charleston takes on Southern Illinois in the first game at 11 a.m. McNeese State and South Dakota State follow at 5 p.m. 
• Monday will serve as the long-awaited debut for several Billiken newcomers, including Robbie Avila and Isaiah Swope who transferred to SLU from Indiana State where they – along with Schertz – helped the Sycamores to a magical run to the NIT final.
• Avila, who led Indiana State with 17.4 ppg a season ago, is a preseason AP honorable-mention All-America and was tabbed to preseason Watch Lists for the Naismith Trophy and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award. Swope was fourth in the NCAA in 3-pointers made (113) last season.
• Gibson Jimerson is the NCAA's active leader in 3-pointers made, as he has drilled a school-record 312 treys in his Billiken career. He enters the season fifth all-time at SLU in scoring (1,825 points), 148 points away from surpassing Anthony Bonner's (1986-90) career points record of 1,972.
• Head coach Josh Schertz comes to SLU after three seasons at Indiana State. He also spent 13 seasons at Lincoln Memorial (Harrogate, Tenn.), where he led the Railsplitters to 10 NCAA Division II national tournaments. Schertz's .787 winning percentage ranks in the top 10 among active coaches in the NCAA.

ABOUT THE BRONCOS

• Santa Clara University (Santa Clara, California) returns eight key rotation players from last season's team that went 20-13 overall. The Broncos, who were picked to finish third in the WCC, are one of just a handful of teams in NCAA Division I that did not lose a player to the transfer portal in the offseason.
• Most notable among the returners are First Team All-WCC senior guard Adama-Alpha Bal (14.4 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 3.1 apg), All-WCC Honorable Mention junior center Christoph Tilly (9.4 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.9 apg), and All-WCC Freshman Team selection sophomore forward Jake Ensminger (4.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.6 apg). 
• The Broncos are a tall team, with six players listed as 6-foot-9 or taller, including two 7-footers (Bukky Oboye and Christoph Tilly).
• Carlos Stewart Jr. earned first-team All-WCC honors with the Broncos as a sophomore in 2022-23. The Baton Rouge, La., native transferred to LSU to be closer to home last season, but suffered a season-ending injury at the start of conference play with the Tigers after starting nine games. He's now fully healthy and opted to return to Santa Clara to finish his college career.
• Head coach Herb Sendek is in his ninth season leading the Broncos. He has guided Santa Clara to six straight winning seasons. Sendek's 31-year coaching resume also includes stops at Miami (Ohio), NC State and Arizona State.

SERIES HISTORY

• Saint Louis and Santa Clara are meeting for the fifth time. Santa Clara owns a 3-1 series advantage.
• The teams last played in 2012-13 in an on-campus game of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic at Chaifetz Arena. Santa Clara prevailed 74-62, one of just seven losses for the A-10-champion Billikens that season.
• Saint Louis and Santa Clara played a home-and-home series in the early 1990s, with each team winning on its home court.
• The first game of the series came in 1975-76 at the UCLA Bruin Classic at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles. The Broncos won that one 69-66.