Friday night’s benches-clearing brawl between Saint Louis and VCU has resulted in discipline for both programs courtesy of the Atlantic 10.
With seconds left to play in the Billikens’ 13-point win over the Rams at home, players from both teams began to push and shove each other with every member of VCU’s bench getting ejected and all but two players from Saint Louis’ reserves getting tossed as well.
But as wild of a scene as it was prior to the clocks hitting zero, the A-10 has decided against issuing any suspensions for the players involved.
Atlantic 10 announces punishments following Saint Louis-VCU brawl
In a statement released by the conference on Saturday, the A-10 instead issued “reprimands and fines” to the two teams for their respective parts in the fight.
“The Atlantic 10 has issued reprimands to both Saint Louis and VCU for violating sportsmanship policies in the A-10 Code of Conduct during the incident at the conclusion of the Friday night game,” the league said this weekend. “Additionally, both programs will be fined according to conference policy. There will be no conference-issued suspensions as the officials adjudicated the incident within the prescribed rules of the game in exemplary fashion.”
“This was an unfortunate end to a great college basketball game between two of the best teams in the nation,” the statement continued. “The A-10 considers the matter closed and looks forward to the remainder of the regular season and the Atlantic 10 Championship in Pittsburgh in March.”
The Atlantic 10 Conference issued the following statement following the end of the Feb. 20 VCU-Saint Louis game pic.twitter.com/3ELMm7qRaZ
— Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball (@A10MBB) February 21, 2026
Saint Louis star: ‘[Emotions] got the best of us’
Following the game, Saint Louis Billikens center Robbie Avila talked about the fracas and what led him to bumping a VCU player out of bounds.
“It was a real competitive game. Obviously, emotions run high throughout the game,” the 6-foot-10 center told reporters (via ESPN). “It got the best of us. It was a real close game. We’ve battled the last two games. There is no ill intentions between anybody. Just the emotions of the game. The competition. That’s all that was.”
Avila finished tied for a team-high 13 points with four rebounds a block and an assist. The 88-75 win improved the Billikens to 25-2 on the year with a 13-1 mark in the A-10.
This story was originally published by The Spun on Feb 22, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Basketball section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.