Pistol Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 Justin Love died of an apparent heart attack in Mascoutah today. He was serving as the boys' head basketball coach at Mascoutah HS. He was a great guy in my limited interactions with him and I sure enjoyed his brief career as a player at SLU. Big loss for the SLU and greater STL communities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBand Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 https://www.heraldpubs.com/2020/06/23/mhs-mourns-the-loss-of-basketball-coach/ By Pamela Rensing [email protected] At approximately 11:15 a.m. on Tuesday, June 23, the Mascoutah EMS was called to Mascoutah High School. By afternoon, the following statement was released by Superintendent Dr. Craig Fiegel: “This morning, June 23, 2020, Coach Justin Love, Head Basketball Coach of the Mascoutah High School Boys Basketball program, was found unresponsive on campus. He was rushed to the hospital and later pronounced deceased. No other information is available at this time. Coach Love was a beloved member of the Mascoutah Family and will be greatly missed. Keep his family in your thoughts and prayers.” According to the MHS website, Love was a San Francisco native with many years of playing experience including a brilliant career at St. Louis University where he was statistically among the top 10 in both season and career averages. Following his collegiate career, Justin declared for the NBA Draft, signing with the Phoenix Suns. After becoming a free agent. Love’s professional career spanned 12 seasons, playing across the world in China’s Beijing Aoshen and Beijing Olympians, Latvia’s BC Ventspil, Germany’s EnBW Ludwigsburg and BC Odessa in the Superleague. Justin held a BA in Communications Disorders and a Master’s in Education. His philosophy for the Indians was to be tough, smart and unselfish. Love was the MHS Boys varsity head coach and was named Illinois Basketball Association “Boys High School Coach of the Year” in 2019. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMM28 Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 Holy cow. Sad stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 this is beyond shocking and sad. he was a great young man, a terrific father and husband. his parents were very good people who i came to know when justin was at slu. one of my all time favorite billikens. cgeldmacher, TheChosenOne, MusicCityBilliken and 5 others like this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBand Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 Here is an interview Justin did a few years back regarding playing in Ukraine: Pistol and Compton like this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NashvilleBilliken Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 Oh man - i'm shocked. I don't post much anymore, but this one hit harder than most. He was at SLU when i was - we're basically the same age. It was him and those teams that really got me into SLU basketball. RIP Justin - a great Billiken. brianstl, SLUMedBilliken15 and TheChosenOne like this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 his greatest contribution to billiken lore - the author of the "Miracle in Memphis". he would not be denied that week. Bay Area Billiken and TheChosenOne like this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Compton Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 Terrible news. Seemed like a great guy to have in the area mentoring young players after his adventures overseas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Rich Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 HOLY FUOCKK! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BilliesBy40 Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 https://www.heraldpubs.com/2020/06/23/mhs-mourns-the-loss-of-basketball-coach/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowboy Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 -horrible news, rest in peace and condolences to the family Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 This sucks. Feel so bad for his family. He was an all-time great player and person. TheChosenOne likes this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Rich Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 He was in pretty good shape the last time I saw him a couple years back. He was crawling through our row after getting off the floor after some sort of presentation. I locked eyes with him and said "man do we miss you." He said, "yeah and I miss this place too." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUBillsFan Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 Holy sh*t. This is incredibly sad. @The House That Rick Built just posted early this morning that they had a re-watch of the 2000 SLU/Cincinatti game with former Billiken Justin Love and @billikenfan05 that they are going to put up on YouTube. Going to be incredibly difficult to watch that now and keep dry eyes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duff Man Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 RIP to a Billiken Legend. Condolences to his family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Pistol Posted June 23, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 23, 2020 Just as a reminder of how good he was: 5th all-time in points in a season (602 in 1999-2000) 8th all-time in career scoring average (16.3 PPG) 5th all-time in career 3-point FG percentage (.406) 8th all-time in career FT percentage (.806) Tied for 5th in 3-pointers in a season (71) 10th in 3-point percentage in a season (.425) 2-time member of the 30-point game club Tied for 2nd in 3-pointers made in a game (7, vs. Memphis on 2/18/99) 4th in total points (602) and 3-pointers (71), 5th in 3P% (.425), and tied in 10th for steals (49) as a senior The team statistical leader in 15 categories over his two seasons 2-time CUSA player of the week First team All-CUSA as a senior in 1999-2000 All-CUSA Tournament team as a senior in 1999-2000 CUSA Tournament MVP as a senior in 1999-2000 He was also a lot of fun to watch. No one has averaged more than his 18.2 PPG in the 20 seasons since his senior year (Marque Perry was the closest a few seasons later, with 17.1 PPG). No one has topped 600 points in a season since Love, either - Kwamain Mitchell is next with 557 in 2009-2010. We mostly remember that season for the CUSA Tournament run that got us into the NCAA Tournament, but we saw a really special player have an outstanding senior year. brianstl, Duff Man, cgeldmacher and 12 others like this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoosierPal Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 Horrible news. Nothing in this life is guaranteed. Make every minute count. BilliesBy40 likes this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 He was only 41 years old. To the graybeards among us, think of all the good things that happened in your life after the age of 41. What a tragic loss for his family, friends and the Billiken community at large. I'll never forget JLove carrying us through that 1999-2000 season. brianstl likes this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlarry Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 Horrible news. He sure was fun to watch. As a guy in his 40s who drinks too much and doesn’t have the healthiest eating habits hearing news like this sure puts a scare into you. Billiken Rich likes this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bay Area Billiken Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 Justin Love was a joy to watch play for the Billikens. I remember him leading the Billikens into Humphrey's an early Sunday evening in euphoric celebration after the big SLU win over Mizzou at the Dome. RIP, Justin Love. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quality Is Job 1 Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 Sad news. I read the title and thought it had to be referring to someone else! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The House That Rick Built Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 2 hours ago, RUBillsFan said: Holy sh*t. This is incredibly sad. @The House That Rick Built just posted early this morning that they had a re-watch of the 2000 SLU/Cincinatti game with former Billiken Justin Love and @billikenfan05 that they are going to put up on YouTube. Going to be incredibly difficult to watch that now and keep dry eyes. Was supposed to actually be up last night but my computer refused to cooperate. Hopefully we can publish that soon. And indeed, it will be impossible to watch that with a dry eye. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMM28 Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 A great highlight from his pro career and an absolutely legendary Billikens.com video. brianstl, Zink, billikenbill and 6 others like this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 2 hours ago, 3star_recruit said: He was only 41 years old. To the graybeards among us, think of all the good things that happened in your life after the age of 41. What a tragic loss for his family, friends and the Billiken community at large. I'll never forget JLove carrying us through that 1999-2000 season. Wow. I never met him or saw him play in person, but everything I’ve ever heard or read about him on this board was he was a terrific young man. So sad. I know some on here, especially B’roy, knew him well. I feel for his family, his friends, his team. I think his number should be on our uniforms this year. RIP, We should all be Justin Love ! Quality Is Job 1 and billikenbill like this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crymdg2 Posted June 24, 2020 Share Posted June 24, 2020 Justin was an all time player and an even better person. I'll never forget him making a 12 year old kid feel like the most important person in the room after a game. RIP MusicCityBilliken, TheChosenOne and billiken_roy like this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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