Category Archives: Game Previews

Bradley Arch Madness Preview — 3-3-2018

Saturday, March 3, 2018 2:30 p.m.
Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Mo.

Loyola advances to the 2018 Missouri Valley Conference tournament semifinals with a nerve-wracking 54-50 victory over Northern Iowa. Donte Ingram and Marques Townes were the two offensive stars for the Ramblers, scoring 13 points each on combined 11 for 19 shooting from the field. The win was Loyola’s eighth win in a row, constituting Loyola’s longest winning streak since 1984-85. Loyola has had seven 7-game winning streaks in the past 12 seasons, but hasn’t won eight in a row since their 19-game winning streak was ended by Georgetown in the 1985 Sweet 16.

This is the second time the Ramblers have reached the Arch Madness semifinals, the last time being in 2015, when Northern Iowa knocked the 6th seed Ramblers out of the tournament on the way to a title and a 2nd round NCAA Tournament loss to Louisville. Loyola went on to win the CBI that season.

Loyola will face Bradley, who advanced to the semifinals thanks to a thrilling, last second 63-61 win over Drake. Bradley’s only senior, Donte Thomas, had an offensive rebound and put-back just before time ran out. Thomas has been a similar player to Loyola’s Donte Ingram over his career, and the two have had some fierce battles during the nine games they’ve played over their careers. In their last meeting on Jan. 31, Thomas got the better of the other Donte, getting a win, scoring 12 points, and holding Ingram to a season-low two points. Ingram has scored 91 points against Bradley in the nine games, and Thomas has scored 65. Their tenth meeting will determine whose college basketball career continues, and whose comes to an end.

The Ramblers are 2-0 against the Braves at Arch Madness. Loyola and Bradley are meeting for the 60th time in a series that dates back to 1928. The Braves hold a 34-25 advantage all-time, but the Ramblers have won eight of the last 10 contests.

Last time the two teams met, the Braves survived a furious late comeback attempt by the Ramblers on Jan. 31 at Carver Arena, when Loyola cut an 11-point deficit down to 1 with two minutes to go, but lost 69-67. Bradley freshman Elijah Childs was superb in that game, scoring 18 points and snagging seven rebounds. Three other Bradley players, Donte Thomas, Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye, and Nate Kennell, added 12 points apiece. Clayton Custer led Loyola with 23 points.

Since their last meeting, the Braves have struggled to close out the season losing five of their last seven regular season games before their win on Friday. Many Bradley fans feel that they match up well with Loyola, and as one of the three MVC teams that beat Loyola during the conference season and one of two teams all year to beat Loyola with Clayton Custer in the lineup, they have a solid claim.

Arch Madness Tournament Notebook: http://www.mvc-sports.com/sports/2017/8 … ntral.aspx

Loyola game notes: http://www.loyolaramblers.com/documents … df?id=6898

Bradley game notes: Pending

TV/Streaming video: CBS Sports Network / https://www.cbssports.com/cbssports

Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=209934

Vegas odds: Loyola by 6.5

UNI at Arch Madness Preview

Friday, March 2, 2018 12:00 p.m.
Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Mo.

Loyola faces Northern Iowa just 16 hours after UNI’s 60-50 win over Evansville in the opening game of Arch Madness 2018. UNI got the win by holding the MVC’s leading scorer Ryan Taylor to a season-low two points on 1 of 13 shooting. Wyatt Lohaus led UNI with 15 points, and Hunter Rhodes added 14 more points.

The Ramblers have spent the past week going to class, practicing, collecting hardware (Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year) and doing media interviews (USA Today, Chicago Tribune, Loyola Phoenix, local TV, etc.). This is different from the usual Ramblers routine of game prep in relative obscurity. But it’s important work introducing the MVC to the Chicago media.

Many other Arch Madness #1 seeds have had struggles after a long, distracting layoff. None of them lost in the #1 vs. 8/9 game (Friday), but 10 #1 seeds have lost in the semifinals (Saturday), and nine #1s have lost in the finals (Sunday). That leaves only eight #1 seeds winning the conference tournament championship in the 27 years of Arch Madness. In a year of parity for the Missouri Valley (seeds 2 through 10 bunched within a range of 90 RPI rankings), just about anything can happen if someone gets lucky.

Loyola swept UNI during the regular season, with a 56-50 win on Jan 7, 2018 in Cedar Falls and a 70-47 win on Jan. 28, 2018 in Chicago. Clayton Custer led the Ramblers in scoring in both games, notching 11 points on the road and 21 points at home. Donte Ingram led Loyola in rebounding both times.

UNI won three of their last four games to work their way up to the 9 seed in the MVC Tournament. Perhaps the biggest change since Loyola and UNI last met is the emergence of 6’1″ sophomore guard Hunter Rhodes as a much more prominent part of the team. Beginning with the game after UNI’s last loss to Loyola, Rhodes has averaged 7.9 points per game over the last nine contests after scoring only 16 points in his first 13 games. Rhodes joined the starting lineup for the past five games.

The Ramblers are 6-5 against the Panthers since joining the MVC, 3-4 at Arch Madness, and 0-1 against UNI at Arch Madness. UNI lost their only game in last year’s Arch Madness as the 3 seed, but UNI had won six Arch Madness games in a row before last year. Since Ben Jacobsen was promoted to head coach in 2006, UNI has won at Arch Madness four times and have an overall record of 14-7.

Arch Madness Tournament Notebook: http://mvc-sports.com/news/2018/2/26/ar … ebook.aspx

Loyola game notes: http://www.loyolaramblers.com/documents … df?id=6893

Opposition game notes: https://unipanthers.com/documents/2018/ … df?id=3812

TV/Streaming video: NBC Sports Chicago / http://stream.nbcsports.com/rsn/nbcs-chicago

Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=209930

Vegas odds: Loyola by 5.5

Illinois State Preview — 2-24-2018

Saturday, February 24, 2018 1:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Ill.

Was there a five-year plan? Because if there was a plan for what Rambler fans will experience at Gentile Arena on Saturday, that was one helluva plan– a plan that came off better than almost anyone imagined.

Five years ago today, Loyola was winding up another sub-par season in the Horizon League, a conference that had recently lost its best program. Amid the chaos of conference re-organization, Loyola jumped at the chance to say goodbye to the Horizon, a league Loyola co-founded but had changed drastically and sometimes with hostility, around them. The MVC was a great match for a Loyola program committed at the highest level to applying the resources and effort to improvement to its athletic program. There was fierce skepticism from a lot of quarters in the MVC. But five years later, the Ramblers have achieved benchmarks of success in college basketball that they haven’t seen since the mid-1980s.

The culmination of Loyola’s rise from the lower quadrant of the Horizon to the top of America’s best mid-major conference happens Saturday afternoon. It will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2, showing a championship team playing in front of a sold-out crowd, against an in-state rival, led by a player of the year candidate, and Loyola looking for their 25th regular season win.

It’s also Senior Day at Loyola, with Ben Richardson, Donte Ingram, Aundre Jackson, Nick DiNardi and Carson Shanks being recognized for their accomplishments and contributions to men’s basketball at Loyola. In the case of Richardson and Ingram, the two four-year players have seen a CBI Championship in their freshman year, 81 wins against 49 losses thus far, two MTE titles, an MVC Regular Season Conference Championship, and whatever comes as a result of a 2017-18 postseason that is now guaranteed. The 81 wins are the highest number of wins for four-year players at Loyola since Alfredrick Hughes, Andre Battle and Greg Williams racked up 83 wins from 1981-1985.

Loyola faces off against last season’s #1 seed from Arch Madness, the Illinois State Redbirds. After losing prodigious talents from their 2016-17 squad, the Redbirds have been very competitive with four new starters and not a single senior on the team—something that’s not very easy to do. Injuries have taken a toll on the ‘birds, with only one player playing in every one of their games.

Coach Dan Mueller will likely start guards 6’ junior Keyshawn Evans, 6’6” junior William Tinsley, and 6’3” sophomore Matt Hein, along with 6’6” forward Malik Yarbrough and 7’ center Daouda Ndiaye. Forwards Phil Fayne (ankle sprain) and Tyler Bruninga (concussion) have been coming off the bench to start games since their recovery, and defensive ace Madison Williams, a 6’3” sophomore guard, was recently replaced as a starter by the more offense-minded Hein. Six-four freshman guard Elijah Clarance and 6’5” guard Issac Gassman also see considerable time off the bench.

Malik Yarbrough is a point forward who causes matchup problems for teams that aren’t prepared or athletic enough to limit his wide array of abilities. Yarbrough, who transferred to his father’s alma mater from St. Louis University, shows up near the top of the league’s points, rebounds, assists, and free throw leaders. He’s a great player, and worthy of POTY consideration, but he has weaknesses—a propensity to take unwise threes (he shoots only 29% behind the arc), getting into foul trouble (9 games with 4 or more fouls), and making a lot of turnovers (His 107 turnovers leads the league by 19 over next highest). When he’s taken out of the scoring mix, the Redbirds struggle—ISU is 13-3 when Yarbrough scores 15 points or more, and they’re 2-10 when he scores 14 or less.

One other factor that Illinois State really relies upon to win is defending against the three. In games where the opposition shoots 30% or better on three pointers, the Redbirds are 3-11. In games where opponents shoot threes at less than 30%, they’re 13-2.

In their last matchup on Jan. 10 at Redbird Arena, Loyola got their first win in Normal since joining the MVC, 68-61. Loyola’s bench was the star of the game, with Aundre Jackson leading all scorers with 15 off the bench, Bruno Skokna adding 11, and Lucas Williamson scoring six. The Ramblers forced 18 turnovers, including 9 from Yarbrough, who was limited to just 13 points by a stifling defense. Loyola had some problems with ISU’s zone defense, which helped ISU climb back to take a 1-point lead with less than eight minutes to play, but the Ramblers responded with a 12-2 run and built their lead to 11 while coasting to the buzzer.

As this year’s #1 conference tournament seed meets last year’s #1 on national television, it’s important to note what happened to Illinois State last year. Undoubtedly, there will likely be a lot of talk on the broadcast about the fate of the 2016-17 Redbirds, and what Loyola (or maybe the NCAA Tournament Committee) can do to keep Loyola from experiencing the same fate as the Redbirds if they have an off day in St. Louis.

Hopefully the tournament committee members watching will take notice when ESPN 2 shows the graphic that Loyola was 2-3 in games played without the likely MVC Player of the Year, and 22-2 when Custer played. Maybe there will also be graphics that show the Ramblers have the 2nd highest team field goal percentage in college basketball; that NC State bowed out from playing the Ramblers in Chicago, in what would have been a boost to schedule strength and a chance at another Tier 1 win; that Loyola still has an RPI at 32 despite their two worst losses coming during Clayton Custer’s injury; and that the Ramblers currently have a .500 record against both Tier 1 and Tier 2 opponents.

Loyola game notes: Pending

Illinois State game notes: Pending

TV/Streaming video: ESPN2 / http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3239401/ … basketball

Live stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=189605

Vegas odds: Pending