Robbie Avila was supposed to return to the court for the St. Louis Billikens on Friday night against Missouri.
St. Louis had held Avila out of their season opener on Monday, knowing that he had a hearing two days later and would conceptually get his full eligibility ruling.
Avila was apparently cleared, because St. Louis then made it clear that Avila would be available Friday. It wasn't yet clear how many minutes he would play, but he was supposed to be in uniform and eligible.
That apparently changed not long before tip-off of Friday night's game. Here's what we know.
St. Louis put out a statement on Friday evening that said Avila will no longer be playing.
The statement doesn't provide a lot of information other than the fact that Avila's status for the Missouri game changed.
Avila is being held out of action for an unspecified reason.
This is the statement provided by St. Louis:
"Due to new developments, Saint Louis University men's basketball student-athlete Robbie Avila will not suit up for tonight's game. Avila will continue to pursue an opportunity to establish his eligibility, and the University will support him in that effort."
It's not clear if something different emerged from the Wednesday hearing, or if there's some kind of other challenge in place that arose late in the week.
Either way, it's a big blow for St. Louis, and a bummer for Avila.
It's obviously a tricky situation in college basketball across the board with eligibility, but games are certainly more fun to watch with Avila on the floor.
The 6-foot-10 Avila was the 2025-26 Atlantic 10 Player of the Year. He averaged 12.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists and shot 41.0% from 3-point range.
He's got an incredible game that could be compared in a stylistic way to Nikola Jokic for the NBA's Denver Nuggets .
Avila doesn't jump well or move particularly quickly, but he sees the game three steps ahead of anyone else and has the skill and touch to both score and distribute at a super high level because of that.
St. Louis with Avila is a threat to win any game it plays. Without Avila, the Billikens are still strong, but not quite on the same level.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
The post St. Louis Gets Bad News, So Robbie Avila Isn't Playing Tonight appeared first on HEAVY .
