Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015 8:00 p.m.
Wise Pies Arena, Albuquerque, NM

The Loyola Ramblers travel west to Albuquerque to face the New Mexico Lobos in the MVC-Mountain West Challenge on Wednesday night. Loyola is coming off back-to- back wins over Texas-San Antonio and Eureka College to start the season, and have won seven in a row and 10 of their last 11 going back to last season. It will be the first time Loyola has played New Mexico, and the first time the Ramblers have ever played a game in The Land of Enchantment.

New Mexico opened the season with an 86-57 victory over Texas Southern and an 83-74 win over New Mexico State in Las Cruces, N.M. on Sunday night. Third year head coach Craig Neal was promoted from assistant after the departure of Steve Alford, and has assembled all the players necessary for a powerful run over the next several years. The major talent on the team is composed of sophomores and juniors, and the Lobos promise to be a handful in the very competitive Mountain West. New Mexico was picked to finish sixth this year in the MWC preseason poll, but key injuries on other teams since that poll was released promise to move the Lobos higher up the league ladder.

Cullen Neal, a 6’5” sophomore guard, is New Mexico’s star. A local Albuquerque kid, former Mr. New Mexico Basketball, and Parade All-American, Neal missed almost all of the 2014-15 season with an ankle injury suffered in the third game of the year. His injury was a major factor in the Lobos eighth place finish in the Mountain West last season. Neal scored 22 points to go with four assists and two steals in the season opener against Texas Southern. He had 18 in a team-leading 26 minutes against New Mexico State. He can pass, finish inside, shoot from outside, and play defense. Think of Ron Baker, and you’ve got an idea of the style of play and energy he brings.

Tim Williams is a 6’8”, 240 pound junior forward new to the team after transferring from Samford University. A native of Flossmoor, Ill., the big bodied Williams scored 17 points on 7 of 8 shooting and swatted back two shots in his 29 minutes against Texas Southern.

When teams double-team or focus on Cullen Neal, 6’4” guard Elijah Brown capitalizes. His 31 points led all scorers against New Mexico State, with 13 coming from the free throw line. Brown played one impressive year at Butler before transferring to New Mexico. As a freshman he broke into the Bulldogs’ starting lineup, led Butler in free throw percentage, and averaged 6.8 ppg. He is the son of former Cavs and Lakers coach Mike Brown, and scored 16 and had six assists in the Lobos’ season opener.

Six-foot-seven sophomore forward Sam Logwood and 7’1” junior center Obij Aget—both out of La Porte, Indiana’s La Lumiere High School—round out the starting lineup. Logwood started about half the Lobos games last season while averaging 6.1 ppg. Aget averaged 6.8 points and 5.4 points last year, and finished 6th in the Mountain West with 42 blocks.

Six-four sophomore guard Xavier Adams, 6’9” sophomore forward Joe Furstinger, and 6’8” junior forward Devon Williams get the majority of the time off the bench, although D. Williams is out with a spine injury suffered against New Mexico State. Two freshmen, 6’3” guard Anthony Mathis and 6’7” guard/forward Dane Kuiper, are also likely to get some minutes.

Wise Pies Arena, also known as The Pit, is notorious for having one of the strongest home court advantages in college basketball. Albuquerque is 200 feet higher above sea level than Denver, The Pit is almost always well-attended (over 12k attended the season opener against Texas Southern), and the stands surround the court at a claustrophobic and intimidating angle. New Mexico has won 81.5% of their games in the building since it opened in 1966, the 29th best home court record of any team in college basketball.

Loyola will be without the services of transfer Tyson Smith (transfer rules) and injured Jay Knuth (labrum surgery), and guard Ben Richardson may or may not be available. Richardson sat out the Eureka game after falling hard to the court in the season opener.

New Mexico will be starting players at each position who have two to five inches height advantage on the Ramblers starters. Shorthanded as they are-- and playing against a resurgent team at a tough venue-- the Ramblers are likely to be five to seven point underdogs. Staying close through the early stages of each half and finding ways to battle through the physical and imposing front line of the Lobos will be key if Loyola has a chance of upsetting New Mexico at The Pit. It will probably take getting the Lobos starters into foul trouble, hitting some big shots from outside, and managing the game pace to their liking for the Ramblers to get a W.


Loyola game notes: http://sidearm.sites.s3.amazonaws.com/u ... df?id=5578

New Mexico game notes: http://sidearm.sites.s3.amazonaws.com/u ... df?id=5580

TV/Streaming video: ROOT Sports (available on satellite)

New Mexico audio: http://golobos.com/watch/?Live=40

Live stat tracker: http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/sta ... =1&gid=unm

Vegas line: New Mexico by 5.5

If anyone has tips on how to find or view ROOT Sports, it would be appreciated. I've seen some shady-looking sites that re-stream regional cable carriers like ROOT, and I would imagine it's available on more sophisticated satellite systems (like sports bars are likely to have). The ROOT Sports channel finder shows that it's not available on DirecTV or Dish in the Chicago area.

Does that mean no ESPN3 access for this game? That stinks.

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The Roundhouse

May have a site but need to wait until Wednesday to verify.

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Cigarboy sucks!

JCT, Root is available in Chicago on Directv. It is part of the sports pack (approx. $12 per month). You can cancel after 30 days. So if you have Directv get the sports pack for the game. Hopefully the MWC does not black out their games out of market though. The WCC does this even with the sports pack.

I know this is a tangent away from the game, but how awful is the name WisePies Arena for such an iconic venue as The Pit?

Loving these previews!!

Good news is that it sounds like Richardson will be able to play tomorrow. Groin soreness made Porter sit him out for Eureka and save him for tougher competition.
Looking for good impact from Montel and Kirby considering their size. Pace will be a key factor after some parts of that UTSA game got out of control. Hopefully the large home crowd atmosphere will not rattle our guys too much. That Neal and Brown combo, averaging 20 points each so far, will be interesting to watch. Plus the father son Neal combo.

From the looks of it here are the possible listings for ROOT Sports but not sure if this includes the Chicago Area:http://southwest.rootsports.com/alternate-channel-listings/

Streaming might be the best bet.

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Living in the 60660.

Seems like only DirecTV has it here. No dice on Comcast

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Cigarboy sucks!

The Pit as John reports is a tough place for NM opponents. It has been for years THAT is what could bother our guys as I feel all things being equal, we can beat them. We are a tad smaller but not much--One thing, I wager there are FEW teams quicker and better shooters than our RAMBLERS. The LOBOS are not one of them. If we play our regular game I do believe we will win a close one. Ramblers are athletic as heck--We have a batch of long range bombers led by TURK. Milton will put on his
"Michaelesque" shoes and Earl and Ben will surprise them plus Turk bombing away the while. Our bigs will hold their own. We win a close one 77-73 !!!

Brown played for one of my alma maters rival high schools in Cleveland & was quite the talent. I think he'll have a nice game and probably be a bit much for our perimeter defense to handle 79-68 Lobos.