RELEASE: Pack Adds Thursday Night Matchup at Saint Louis
RALEIGH, N.C. – The NC State men’s basketball team has added a non-conference game at Saint Louis to its schedule. The Pack will play the Billikens on Thursday at Chaifetz Arena.
Tip is scheduled for 8 pm EST. A television designation has not been determined yet.
Saint Louis will play a return game in Raleigh in a future season.
Saint Louis is 4-0 this season and currently receiving 121 votes in the Associated Press poll to sit just outside of the top-25. This will be the second Power-5 conference team the Billikens have hosted this season. On November 28, Saint Louis defeated LSU, 85-81, to hand the Tigers its only loss this season.
The Billikens were picked second in the preseason Atlantic 10 poll. Saint Louis returns its top-five scorers and nine of its top-10 scorers overall from last season’s 23-8 team. The Billikens had non-conference road wins at Boston College and Kansas State last season.
Saint Louis has won 16 of its last 18 home games at Chaifetz Arena with one of those losses a 78-76 overtime decision to Dayton last season. The Flyers finished the year number three in the Associated Press poll with a 29-2 record.
Thursday’s game marks a homecoming for junior forward Jericole Hellems. Hellems is a Saint Louis native and played for Missouri high school powerhouse Chaminade High School. Hellems is third all-time in Chaminade history in career points with only NBA stars Bradley Beal and Jayson Tatum in front of him.