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REPORT: Indiana State star Robbie Avila enters transfer portal

This comes after Sycamores head coach Josh Schertz announced his decision to leave Terre Haute and coach the Saint Louis Billikens.
Credit: AP Photo/Doug McSchooler
Indiana State center Robbie Avila during an NCAA college basketball game against Illinois State, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024, in Terre Haute, Ind.

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Indiana State men's basketball player Robbie Avila is exploring other options.

According to ESPN, the 6' 10" sophomore is officially in the NCAA transfer portal.

This comes after Sycamores head coach Josh Schertz announced his decision to leave Terre Haute and coach the Saint Louis Billikens.

Indiana State, which lost 79-77 to Seton Hall in the NIT championship game on Thursday, finished 32-7 and was among the first teams left out of the NCAA Tournament.

The Sycamores were the No. 1 seed in the NIT and drew a national following drawn in by the paunchy goggles-wearing leading scorer Avila, nicknamed “Cream Abdul-Jabbar.”

Avila averaged 17.4 points and 6.6 rebounds during the 2023-24 season.

The 48-year-old Schertz coached Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee to three NCAA Division II Final Fours in 13 years before taking over at Indiana State in 2021. The Sycamores were 11-20 in his first season and 23-13 in his second.

This year, the Sycamores joined the Larry Bird-led 1979 team that reached the NCAA championship game as the only ones in program history to win 30 games. Indiana State was ranked No. 23 the week of Feb. 12, the program’s first appearance in the Top 25 since 1979.

Schertz was Missouri Valley coach of the year and winner of the Hugh Durham Award as the nation's top mid-major coach.

Saint Louis hasn't won an Atlantic 10 regular-season championship since winning two straight in 2013 and '14 under Jim Crews, and it last won the conference tournament in 2019 under Ford.

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