SLU Men's Basketball Game Notes & Information
Game No. 7	Saint Louis (6-0) vs. Stanford (5-1)
Date // Time	Friday, Nov. 28, 2025 // 6 p.m. CT / 4 p.m. PT
Location	Palm Desert, Calif. (Acrisure Arena)
Acrisure Invitational	Schedule | Tickets
Radio	104.1 FM / 1120 AM KMOX | Varsity Network App (Bob Ramsey, Earl Austin Jr.)
TV	TruTV (Brendan Glasheen, Randolph Childress, Jahmai Webster)
Live Stats	StatBroadcast
Series History	Stanford leads 2-0
Game Notes	SLU Acrisure Invitational Notes | Gameday Supplement

WHAT'S ON TAP?

• Saint Louis faces Stanford on Friday in the Championship Game of the Acrisure Invitational in Palm Desert, Calif., inside Acrisure Arena.
• Game time is 6 p.m. (CT) / 4 p.m. (PT).
• The Billikens are coming off a thrilling 72-71 victory over Santa Clara on Thursday. Kellen Thames hit the game-winning bucket with nine seconds remaining, and Trey Green poured in a game-high 21 points.
• The Acrisure Invitational is part of the Acrisure Series, which returns to the Coachella Valley for its third consecutive year, reaffirming its position as the largest multi-team college basketball event in the nation. Taking place from November 25–28, 2025, the tournament showcases more than 20 NCAA Division I men's basketball programs.

FOLLOWING THE ACTION

• Friday's game will be televised nationally on truTV. Brendan Glasheen, Randolph Childress, Jahmai Webster will call the action.
• 104.1 FM / 1120 AM KMOX is the home for Billiken Basketball on the radio. Billiken Hall of Famers and longtime SLU men's basketball radio partners Bob Ramsey and Earl Austin Jr. will the call the action for all SLU games, both at home and on the road. Billiken Basketball sends a special salute to Rammer, who is in his 40th season as the radio voice of SLU hoops. Austin is in year No. 35. 

NEWS & NOTES

• At 6-0, the Billikens are off to their best start since 2020-21. The SLU team under Rick Majerus also started 6-0 in 2011-12. The Bills are searching for their first 7-0 start since the 1997-98 Billiken team began the year 8-0.
• The Billikens lead the Atlantic 10 and are 30th nationally in scoring offense, dropping 91.5 ppg. They are 15th nationally in effective field-goal percentage (.600).
• Despite an uncharacteristic 12-19 (.632) performance from the line yesterday, the Bills still rank fifth in the NCAA shooting 80.4 percent from the free-throw line.
• The Bills are equally efficient on the defensive end. Opponents shoot just 36.2 percent against them, 12th nationally. 
• Saint Louis' 32.3 rebounds on the defensive glass checks in at No. 4 in the NCAA.
• The Billikens feature a balanced scoring attack with seven players averaging 8.5 ppg or more. They rank 29th in the NCAA in bench points per game (36.2).
• Robbie Avila and Amari McCottry lead the Billikens with 12.8 ppg apiece. 
• Dion Brown, who scored all 13 of his points in the second half against Santa Clara, follows closely with 12.5 ppg and is the team's top rebounder at 7.0 rpg.
• Kellen Thames averages 9.7 ppg for the Bills. He hit the game-winning basket yesterday against Santa Clara with eight seconds left, part of his perfect shooting night from the field (5-for-5, 11 points).
• Robbie Avila has been named to preseason Watch Lists for the Naismith Trophy, Oscar Robertson Trophy, Wooden Award and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award. Last season he averaged 17.3 points and 6.9 rebounds. He led all centers in Division I in 3s made per game and assists per game. 
• Billiken head coach Josh Schertz is in his 18th season as a collegiate head coach. His .775 winning percentage ranks No. 8 among active coaches in the NCAA.

LAST TIME OUT

• Kellen Thames scored the game-winning basket with nine ticks left on the clock Thursday, completing a thrilling 71-70 victory over Santa Clara in the opening game of the Acrisure Invitational in Palm Desert, Calif.
• Trey Green led the Billikens in scoring with 21 points. He was 6-of-13 from 3-point range. Dion Brown scored all 13 of his points in the second half.
• Thames finished 5-of-5 from the field, including the game-winning basket. He also corralled eight rebounds and finished with a team-high +11 plus/minus.
• Saint Louis trailed by as many as nine early in the second half, but used an 11-2 run to get back into the game. Neither team had a lead by more than a possession for the final 10 minutes of the closely-contested matchup.

MTE HISTORY

• The Billikens have won nine in-season bracketed MTEs in their history, the last being the 2021 Cancun Challenge when SLU defeated Illinois State and SFA at the Hard Rock Hotel in Riviera Maya, Mexico.
• The last California-based MTE was a memorable one. In the 2011 76 Classic in Anaheim, the Billikens beat Boston College, Villanova and Oklahoma, and as a result, SLU entered the top 25 the next week as Rick Majerus' Billikens entered the national spotlight for the first time during his tenure.
• SLU's nine MTE titles are as follows – 1948 Sugar Bowl, 1949 Cotton Bowl, 1951 Sugar Bowl, 1960 Kentucky Invitational, 1971 Saint Louis Holiday Invitational, 1972 St. Louis Holiday Invitational, 1986 Hawaii Pacific Tournament, 2011 76 Classic and the 2021 Cancun Challenge.

ABOUT STANFORD

• The Cardinal are 5-1 on the season, with their lone blemish coming last Friday, a home loss against Seattle. Stanford defeated Minnesota 72-68 Thursday in their opening game of the Acrisure Invitational.
• Freshman guard Ebuka Okorie leads Stanford and all freshmen scorers in the country with 24.0 ppg. He has dropped 20+ points in all but one outing, including 25 points yesterday in the win over Minnesota.
• Chisom Okpara averages 15.2 ppg, while Benny Gealer contributes 11.2 ppg. AJ Rohosy is the team's top rebounder at 5.8 rpg.
• Stanford ranks among the country's top teams at forcing turnovers, causing 16.7 per game to rank 27th nationally.
• Kyle Smith is in his second year at Stanford and 16th season overall as a head coach with stops at Columbia, San Francisco and Washington State. He guided the Cardinal to a 21-14 record and an NIT appearance last season.

SERIES HISTORY

• Stanford and Saint Louis are meeting for a third time. Stanford holds a 2-0 lead in the series.
• The last meeting was during the 1973-74 campaign at the ECAC Holiday Tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York on Dec. 29, 1973. The Cardinal won that one 79-63.
• The teams met in Palo Alto on Dec. 22, 1961, a 71-61 win for Stanford.