No. 25 Saint Louis can wrap up an impressive regular season when it travels to George Mason for both teams’ Atlantic 10 Conference finale Saturday in Fairfax, Va.
Saint Louis (27-3, 15-2 A-10) swept its season series with Loyola Chicago on Tuesday with a 79-65 home win. The Billikens clinched the No. 1 seed in next week’s Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament and posted an undefeated home record of 19-0.
The Patriots (22-8, 10-7), meanwhile, have struggled down the stretch, going 1-5 in their last six. In a 70-65 loss at VCU on Tuesday, Kory Mincy led the way with 18 points and Riley Allenspach tallied a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
With two straight wins, Saint Louis’ metrics are again trending in the right direction where it could theoretically withstand an upset in the conference tournament and still earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Billikens are No. 23 in the NCAA NET rankings and No. 34 in Wins Above Bubble.
Led by Amari McCottry (10.4 ppg), Kellen Thames (9.9 ppg) and Ishan Sharma (9.2 ppg), the Billikens’ bench is among the nation’s best at 34.1 points per game. McCottry led the Billikens with 18 points, Dion Brown added 15 and Robbie Avila notched 12 against Loyola Chicago.
Saint Louis leads the country in 3-point percentage at 41.2% and is No. 4 in effective field goal percentage at 60.9%.
While they shoot at a high clip from beyond the arc, the Billikens are also dangerous in transition where they rack up 17.6 points per game, ranking sixth in the country. It’s the kind of team Saint Louis coach Josh Schertz envisioned when he assumed the reins two years ago.
“When we came in we talked about having a program where we went for everything, we didn’t put a ceiling on anything,” Schertz said. “These guys have done an amazing job up until this point. Certainly, we have a lot of work ahead of us, but to win a regular-season championship is a mark of a team’s greatness. From our standpoint it is the beginning of something special. There’s a connection now and we have to continue to go to work, build on it and try and make a run here in the postseason.”
Because the Patriots can’t catch fourth-place Dayton and have a head-to-head win over sixth-place Davidson, they are locked into fifth and a single bye in next week’s A-10 tournament. George Mason has tournament experience on its side, reaching the conference title game last season before losing to VCU 68-63.
With a middling conference mark, a No. 82 ranking in Wins Above Bubble and a No. 97 NET, George Mason won’t be considered for an at-large bid. It will be tasked with winning four games in four days to clinch the league championship and an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
“We’ve shown glimpses of being (a good defensive team),” said coach Tony Skinn after the Patriots’ 71-58 defeat of St. Bonaventure on Feb. 28. “For whatever reason, the last couple games, that fight has left us.”
