# 2020–21 Saint Louis Billikens men's basketball team

The 2020–21 Saint Louis Billikens men's basketball team represented Saint Louis University during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Their head coach was Travis Ford in his fifth season at Saint Louis. The team played their home games at Chaifetz Arena as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference. They finished the season 14-7, 6-4 to finish a tie for 4th place. They defeated UMass in the quarterfinals of the A-10 tournament before losing in the semifinals to St. Bonaventure. They received an invitation to the NIT where they lost in the first round to Mississippi State.

## Previous season

The Billikens finished the 2019-20 season 23–8, 12-6 in A-10 play in fourth place. Their season ended when the A-10 tournament and all other postseason tournaments were canceled due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for departure |
| Tay Weaver | 2 | G | 5'10" | 170 | Senior | Louisville, KY | Graduated |
| Madani Diarra | 21 | C | 6'10" | 240 | Freshman | Bamako, Mail | Transferred to Eastern Illinois |
| KC Hankton | 23 | F | 6'4" | 195 | Sophomore | Charlotte, NC | Transferred to Chattanooga |
| Jack Raboin | 31 | G | 6'6" | 205 | Senior | Mattoon, IL | Graduated |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Marten Linssen | 12 | F | 6'8" | 255 | Junior | Dusseldorf, Germany | Transferred from UNC Wilmington. Graduate Transfer, eligible immediately |
| Francis Okoro | 5 | F | 6'9" | 235 | Junior | Imo, Nigeria | Transferred from Oregon. Under NCAA transfer rules, Okoro will have to sit out for the 2020–21 season. Will have two years of remaining eligibility. |

### 2020 recruiting class

College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Markhi Strickland G/F | Miami, FL | Victory Rock Prep | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Sep 30, 2019 |
| Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 77 ||||||
| Phillip Russell PG | St. Louis, MO | Vashon(MO) | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | 165 lb (75 kg) | Aug 11, 2020 |
| Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ||||||
| Andre Lorentsson F | Gothenburg, Sweden | RIG Mark Kinna | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 205 lb (93 kg) | Feb 26, 2020 |
| Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: ||||||

## Roster

Source

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | High points | High rebounds | High assists | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season |||||||||
| November 25, 2020* 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | SIU Edwardsville Billiken Classic | W 89–52 | 1–0 | 22 – Perkins | 11 – Goodwin | 6 – Collins | Chaifetz Arena (0) St. Louis, MO |
| November 26, 2020* 2:00 pm, ESPN+ | | LSU Billiken Classic | W 85–81 | 2–0 | 32 – Perkins | 11 – Goodwin | 6 – Collins | Chaifetz Arena (0) St. Louis, MO |
| December 5, 2020* 7:00 pm, FSMW | | Arkansas–Pine Bluff | W 107–54 | 3–0 | 15 – Goodwin | 7 – Goodwin | 8 – Collins | Chaifetz Arena (0) St. Louis, MO |
| December 8, 2020* 7:00 pm, FSMW | | Central Arkansas | W 88–65 | 4–0 | 21 – Gibson | 11 – Goodwin | 9 – Collins | Chaifetz Arena (0) St. Louis, MO |
| December 15, 2020* 7:00 pm, FSMW | | Indiana State | W 78–59 | 5–0 | 22 – Goodwin | 11 – Goodwin | 10 – Collins | Chaifetz Arena (0) St. Louis, MO |
| December 17, 2020* 7:00 pm, FSMW | | NC State | W 80–69 | 6–0 | 20 – Perkins | 15 – Goodwin | 5 – Tied | Chaifetz Arena (0) St. Louis, MO |
| December 20, 2020* 7:30 pm, FS1 | | at Minnesota | L 82–90 | 6–1 | 21 – Goodwin | 10 – Goodwin | 7 – Tied | Williams Arena (0) Minneapolis, MN |
| December 23, 2020* 7:00 pm, FSMW | | Kansas City | W 62–46 | 7–1 | 23 – Goodwin | 13 – Goodwin | 7 – Collins | Chaifetz Arena (0) St. Louis, MO |
| Atlantic 10 regular season |||||||||
| December 30, 2020 6:00 pm, FSMW | | Duquesne Postponed due to positive COVID-19 tests | | | | | | Chaifetz Arena St. Louis, MO |
| January 9, 2021 5:00 pm, NBCSN | No. 23 | at Saint Joseph's Postponed due to positive COVID-19 tests | | | | | | Hagan Arena Philadelphia, PA |
| January 15, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 24 | Davidson Postponed due to positive COVID-19 tests | | | | | | Chaifetz Arena St. Louis, MO |
| January 20, 2021 5:00 pm, FSMW | No. 25 | at UMass Postponed due to positive COVID-19 tests | | | | | | Mullins Center Amherst, MA |
| January 26, 2021 7:00 pm, CBSSN | No. 22 | Dayton | L 71–76 | 7–2 (0–1) | 20 – Perkins | 11 – Goodwin | 11 – Collins | Chaifetz Arena (0) St. Louis, MO |
| January 29, 2021 5:30 pm, ESPN2 | No. 22 | at Richmond Postponed due to positive COVID-19 tests. | | | | | | Robins Center Richmond, VA |
| February 3, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at La Salle | L 75–82 | 7–3 (0–2) | 13 – Perkins | 9 – Thatch Jr. | 4 – Thatch Jr. | Tom Gola Arena (0) Philadelphia, PA |
| February 6, 2021 1:00 pm, CBSSN | | St. Bonaventure | W 70–59 | 8–3 (1–2) | 21 – Perkins | 7 – French | 4 – Tied | Chaifetz Arena (0) St. Louis, MO |
| February 10, 2021 8:00 pm, CBSSN | | Rhode Island | W 67–60 | 9–3 (2–2) | 17 – Goodwin | 13 – French | 6 – Goodwin | Chaifetz Arena (0) St. Louis, MO |
| February 13, 2021 2:30 pm, CBSSN | | at Fordham | W 68–40 | 10–3 (3–2) | 19 – Perkins | 11 – French | 5 – Goodwin | Rose Hill Gymnasium (0) Bronx, NY |
| February 16, 2021 8:00 pm, CBSSN | | La Salle | W 78–57 | 11–3 (4–2) | 19 – Perkins | 15 – Goodwin | 8 – Goodwin | Chaifetz Arena (0) St. Louis, MO |
| February 19, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | | at Dayton | L 53–76 | 11–4 (4–3) | 8 – Hargrove | 8 – Goodwin | 4 – Collins | UD Arena (0) Dayton, OH |
| February 23, 2021 5:00 pm, CBSSN | | at VCU | L 65–67 | 11–5 (4–4) | 21 – French | 12 – Goodwin | 3 – Tied | Siegel Center (250) Richmond, VA |
| February 26, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | | Richmond | W 72–67 | 12–5 (5–4) | 15 – Tied | 9 – French | 9 – Collins | Chaifetz Arena (0) St. Louis, MO |
| March 1, 2021 6:00 pm, CBSSN | | UMass | W 78–57 | 13–5 (6–4) | 16 – Perkins | 11 – Goodwin | 8 – Goodwin | Chaifetz Arena St. Louis, MO |
| A-10 tournament |||||||||
| March 5, 2021 12:00 pm, NBCSN | (4) | vs. (5) UMass Quarterfinals | W 86–72 | 14–5 | 25 – Perkins | 14 – Goodwin | 5 – Collins | Robins Center (250) Richmond, VA |
| March 6, 2021 5:00 pm, CBSSN | (4) | vs. (1) St. Bonaventure Semifinals | L 53–71 | 14–6 | 11 – Goodwin | 7 – Goodwin | 9 – Collins | Siegel Center (250) Richmond, VA |
| NIT |||||||||
| March 20, 2021 4:00 pm, ESPN | (1) | vs. (4) Mississippi State First Round – Saint Louis bracket | L 68–74 | 14–7 | 21 – Perkins | 10 – French | 6 – Goodwin | Comerica Center (751) Frisco, TX |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. |||||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes т = Tied with team above or below :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Final |
| AP | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | 23т | 24 | 25 | 22 | RV | RV | RV | | | | | | |
| Coaches | — | | RV | RV | RV | RV | 23 | 24т | RV | 24 | RV | RV | RV | | | | | | |
*AP does not release post-NCAA Tournament rankings