Saint Louis walked off the floor in Buffalo with a breeze of a first-round win over Georgia knowing it had less than 36 hours to prep for the Goliath of the Midwest bracket, No. 1 seed Michigan.
The Billikens steamrolled Georgia 102-77, sending the No. 9 seed into Saturday’s lunchtime date with the Wolverines, who found themselves in a fight with 16th-seeded Howard in the first half on Thursday but hit the accelerator in the second half for a 101-80 victory.
“Certainly a great win,” SLU coach Josh Schertz said. “And now we’ll get a chance to try to do it again, play obviously I think the best team in the country on Saturday.”
When the game ended after midnight ET on Friday morning, SLU had six players in double figures, led by Dion Brown’s 18 points in 21 minutes. Robbie Avila chipped in 12 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Schertz said it will take all of the depth the Billikens can flex to beat Michigan and make a resounding statement to the masses.
“I think we’ve kind of been making a statement all year. I don’t think it was just based off of one game,” Avila said. “I think we’ve shown that we can compete at a high level with any given team. Whether it’s in our conference, A-10 teams, or it’s the Power 5 teams, I think we just came and treated it like another game and are ready to compete at a high level.”
Schertz rated Georgia as a big and physical team. Michigan has a massive frontcourt with 7-foot-3 Aday Mara and 6-foot-9 Morez Johnson Jr., who had 21 points in the first-round win, and plenty of perimeter punch.
Mara had 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists against Howard.
Schertz and Brown stressed the key to reaching the Sweet 16 will be defense.
“We got a bunch of stops,” Schertz said of how SLU advanced. “We were able to get a couple of turnovers, force some turnovers, steals, get in transition, and that’s when we’re at our best. It’s always been a team where the defense fuels the offense. Not the other way around.”
Michigan wants a high-possession game — in the 80s or higher — and coach Dusty May identified that count as a critical factor in dodging Howard’s upset bid. It will be no different with Saint Louis.
“Especially everyone that’s a fan of Malcolm Gladwell, like I am, but David versus Goliath, according to Malcolm, wasn’t necessarily an upset because there’s a slingshot involved,” May said. “In the first half Howard had their slingshots out. They were shooting the cover off of it off the bounce, off the catch. I was actually thinking this is how (upsets) usually happen.”
Michigan is chasing its 20th appearance in the Sweet 16. A victory would send the Wolverines to Chicago, where Michigan played last week in the Big Ten tournament.
Saint Louis last reached the regional semifinals in 2014.
