Sunday, November 12, 2017 2:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Ill.

Loyola defeated Wright State 84-80 on Friday with a little too much drama in the final two minutes. Wright State cut a 10-point deficit down to 2 with a couple of late threes and a full court press, while Loyola missed a few late free throws.

Meanwhile, down in Denton, Tex., the North Texas Mean Green hosted the Division III Eureka Red Devils and performed an exorcism, with the final score 122-65. Former Rambler recruit Roosevelt Smart led six Mean Green players in double figures in his first game on a Division I team by scoring 21 points on 8 of 10 shooting from the field. It was the third highest point total in North Texas men’s basketball history, and 32 points came as the result of 25 Red Devil turnovers.

A year ago, almost to the day, Loyola played Eureka and won 97-59. It was a similar drubbing to the one Eureka received Friday night at North Texas, and the one they will receive Sunday at Loyola. The only exception being the game a year ago proved to be the end of Matt Chastain’s career as a Rambler, as he injured his knee and transferred to Illinois State at the end of the season. Hopefully, the Loyola starters won’t play more than 20 minutes or so, and the players from the bench who need some minutes can get into the contest.

Eureka will start forwards Alex Wigand and Jordan Dehm, plus guards Shea Feehan, Hank Thomas, and Ryan McElmurry. All five played in last year’s game at Loyola, with Wigand, Feehan, and Thomas receiving starts. Feehan led Eureka in their game at North Texas, scoring 24 points on four threes, a two, and 10 free throws. Eureka’s two tallest starters are 6’5” and 6’4”; their shooting percentage inside the arc against North Texas was 34.5%, while their three-point shots went down by 40.9%. The Mean Green had six blocks.

Loyola played a better team than Eureka in exhibition, Division II Lewis University, and won 79-63. Barring a catastrophe of epic proportions, Loyola will win this game. Hopefully, no one will be injured. The result will not count in the RPI. According to the Eureka web site, this game is considered an exhibition on their schedule. Last year, the game against Eureka came on a Monday night and was the least-attended home game of the season, drawing only 1009 and dragging down the average yearly attendance. I know these games are memorable and meaningful for the non-Division I opponents, but my personal opinion is games against non-Division I opponents should be reserved for the exhibition season.

Loyola game notes: http://loyolaramblers.com/documents/201 ... df?id=3714

Eureka game notes: http://www.eurekareddevils.com/sports/m ... 111217.pdf

TV/Streaming video: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3200131/ ... basketball

Vegas odds: None

Our defense kind of sucks.

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Up 55-40 at halftime.

Defense is TERRIBLE!!! Giving up 40 points in a half against a Division III team is unacceptable. A lot of their points came off half-assed contested layups.

Yeah, I want to see them keep Division III Eureka, with an average height of 6'1", under 35 points in the second half.

This team played North Texas on Friday and only got 65 points. We held them to 59 last year, and they're already at 40?

Easy layups and teams torching us from three. We can't just outscore everybody.

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Part of the problem is the pace. We're letting them dictate the pace. Throw in some presses, traps, and zones. Take more time on offensive possessions to set up some plays. If we get an offensive rebound, kick it out and set up a half court play.

Wright State was always running downhill when they got into the frontcourt. I don't think we ran any presses to my recollection. They should have to work at least a little to get into the frontcourt.

Just a thought.....we may not be showing all of our defensive sets in a game we know we will win...probably picked a couple things to focus on....plus Coach is not the kind of guy that would run up a score on someone needlessly... just optimistic by nature

Wright State shot 45% from 3 on us, too. Anyway, much better second half.

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After watching the first two games it appears there are a couple of weak links in the man to man defense. This definitely needs to be improved before the league season begins.

We have to figure out the defense for sure. But I like our starting five, and with the Cams being first two off the bench, I like our depth. That's 7 guys I feel good about having out there for 20 minutes plus and in crunch time.

If I were Moser I'd be aiming for 25 minutes from those seven and figure out the rest between Bruno, Williamson, and Shanks.

Still hoping to see Negron soon!

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