Kevin Lisch

Kevin John Lisch (born May 16, 1986) is an American former professional basketball player and coach, most known for his time spent in the Australian National Basketball League (NBL) as a player.

He also holds an Italian passport and is an Australian citizen.

Lisch played college basketball for the Saint Louis Billikens between 2005 and 2009, where he finished as the sixth-highest scorer in school history.

After college, he made a name for himself in the NBL in Australia.

At Saint Louis, Lisch played under coaches Brad Soderberg (2005–07) and Rick Majerus (2007–09) while earning a bachelor's degree in marketing and an MBA in four years.

As a freshman playing for the Billikens in 2005–06, Lisch was selected to the A-10 All-Rookie Team and was a three-time recipient of the A-10 Rookie of the Week award.

He was the team's second-leading scorer at 11.1 points per game and top three-point shooter with 58 treys, which set the SLU freshman single-season record.

As a sophomore in 2006–07, Lisch was on the A-10 All-Defensive Team and earned honorable mention All-Conference selection.

He was also named to the Shelby Classic All-Tournament team.

As a junior in 2007–08, Lisch was named third-team All-Conference and to the All-Defensive team.

He was also voted to the Academic All-Conference squad and was selected to the Hispanic College Fund Challenge All-Tournament team.

He led the team in scoring at 14.6 points per game, assists with 97 and steals with 38.

As a senior in 2008–09, Lisch was named ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American third team and was a first-team Academic All-District selection.

He was chosen to the NABC All-District second team and voted the A-10 Men's Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year.

He was also third-team All-Conference and was named to the Las Vegas Classic All-Tournament team.

In 31 games as a senior, he averaged 14.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.3 steals per game.

Lisch closed out his career in sixth place on SLU's scoring list with 1,687 points.

His 325 assists rank ninth on the career chart and his 259 three-pointers are second only to the school-record 295 by Erwin Claggett.

Lisch's 133 steals rank fifth at SLU also.

As a result of his standout four-year tenure, Lisch was named to the Billikens' All-Century Team and was inducted into the SLU Hall of Fame.

In July 2009, Lisch signed with the Perth Wildcats of the Australian National Basketball League.

He was swayed to come to Perth due to the close friendship between Billikens coach Rick Majerus and Wildcats coach Rob Beveridge.

He struggled at the start of the 2009–10 season, and due to the high-profile imports traditionally signed by the Wildcats, some were calling for Lisch to be cut as early as the preseason tournament.

Lisch debuted with a 12-point effort on September 25, 2009, against the Wollongong Hawks, and then had the game-winning, buzzer-beating 3-pointer the following game against the Townsville Crocodiles on October 2 to finish with 16 points.

He scored in double figures in seven of his first eight games, including 21 points against the Melbourne Tigers on October 25, before registering 11 single-figure games throughout the rest of the season, including five straight games of under seven points between December 19 and January 8.

To finish the regular season, he scored in double figures in four out of the final six games, including a 19-point effort in the regular-season finale on February 14 against the Crocodiles.

He won an NBL championship and grand final MVP with the Perth Wildcats in his first professional season before winning the league MVP in 2012 and leading the Wildcats to another two grand finals in 2012 and 2013.

He was second on the team and 13th in the A-10 with 14.9 points per game, and dealt a team-high 3.47 assists per game to rank eighth in the league.

He led the team in assists in 19 games and was the top scorer 13 times—he scored in double figures in 26 games, including the last 14.

He returned to the NBL in 2015 after two seasons playing in Europe, joining the Illawarra Hawks and winning his second league MVP.

In 2016, he joined the Sydney Kings and made his debut for the Australian national team at the Rio Olympics.

He played four seasons with the Kings and retired in 2020.

He subsequently moved into an assistant coach position and helped the Kings win championships in 2022 and 2023.

Born and raised in Belleville, Illinois, Lisch grew up in a family of four kids.

His faith was always important to him while attending Catholic schools as a youth, beginning with Blessed Sacrament for grade school and then Althoff Catholic High School.

Lisch played basketball for Althoff Catholic and was often triple-defended on the court.

He was an all-state guard and was twice named Belleville News-Democrat Player of the Year.

He finished his tenure as the school's all-time leading scorer with 2,000 points.

Lisch was also a bright student, joining the student council and the National Honor Society.

Lisch continued on at a Catholic institute for college, joining Saint Louis University (SLU).