Saturday, February 3, 2018 1:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Ill.

As everyone even mildly interested in the MVC this season knows, Missouri State, with their exceptional talent, experience, and depth – especially in the frontcourt--- was expected to win the conference title this season. Northern Iowa was voted a close second, behind the promise of their experienced coach, experienced starting lineup, and some newcomers bringing more athleticism to Cedar Falls. And Loyola was voted third, thanks to some admired returning talent and potential from a few good-looing newcomers. Prognosticators can gauge the coaching and the past performance of returning players, but they can never know for certain how team chemistry or a couple of game-changing bounces can go. And there are always injuries, mishaps, and unexpected circumstances.

Many people will blame an adverse reaction to a cryotherapy treatment for the Bears not coming close to their potential and expectations this season. A treatment session on Jan. 22 resulted in two players, 6’5” junior forward Reggie Scurry and 6’7” Abdul Fofana, getting blisters on the bottom of their feet. At first the players were said to be out day to day, but later it was admitted that recovery will take “weeks.” Fofana rarely plays significant minutes, but Scurry has made a significant difference as the first or second player off the bench, including 18 points and seven rebounds in Missouri State’s five-point win over the Ramblers in December. Scurry averages 8.9 points and 4.2 rebounds on the season.

In spite of Scurry’s bizarre injury, the Bears were not living up to potential before the cryotherapy session. At 5-3 in conference and 15-6 overall against a snoozer of non-con schedule, Missouri State showed flashes of dominating athletic talent meted out in undersized and infrequent doses. A lot of random Saturday afternoon YMCA pickup squads have more chemistry, and too often the team plays like there has been zero game planning. An early home loss to North Dakota State featured Alize Johnson getting 23 points and 20 rebounds, but the team—the entire team—had only one (1) assist.

After a mystifying loss at Oral Roberts (a team that was 2-9 at the time and coming off a loss to a non-D1 team), MSU briefly played some exceptional basketball—a decisive win over a very good Wright State team and three straight conference wins to start their MVC campaign. But malaise or complacency or indifference again swept over the team.

The three games since losing Scurry have just tacked on more dread to what has become a numb fog of season. The Bears have now lost four in a row, and six of their last eight. As their lackluster performances have increased, their rotation off the bench has tightened, even without Scurry. In their loss at home last Saturday against SIU, they got only 26 minutes from their bench as all five starters played 31 minutes or more. In Tuesday night’s home loss to Illinois State, the starting backcourt was 1-for-16 from the field for two points and three assists.

Sixth man and outside shooting specialist Ryan Kreklow has struggled mightily in the past four games, averaging 2.8 points while shooting 21.4% from the field. Kreklow, a junior guard, came into the season with a 39.6% mark in career field goal percentage (including 44.9% last season), but is averaging only 28.9% this season. Even Preseason Conference Player of the Year Alize Johnson has struggled; in two key road conference games last week at Drake and at Bradley, he combined for only nine points on 2 of 14 shooting from the field. Last time out against Illinois State, Johnson got his double-double-- 12 points and 10 rebounds—but it came on 4 of 14 shooting. Johnson continues to shoot three pointers with team-leading frequency despite connecting at less than 28%. Even with one of the best frontcourts in the league, rebounding—once the definitive strength of the Bears—has eroded of late; three of MSU’s last four opponents have won the rebounding battle, and despite the recent slump, MSU still leads the league on the season with a +6.2 rebounding margin.

In Loyola’s last outing, the Ramblers ended their second 7-game winning streak of the year at Bradley when a furious comeback came up short with a botched last possession. Loyola has had seven 7-game winning streaks in the past 12 seasons, but hasn’t won eight in a row since 1984-85. Loyola still has a chance to get a third streak of seven wins or more in the 2017-18 season if they win out the regular season.

Saturday’s game at 1 p.m. is the kick-off to a big day at Loyola. The game will be a "White-Out" at Gentile Arena, with fans asked to wear white to show support for the team. The Ramblers have a chance to set a new high in conference wins with a victory, Coach Porter Moser has a chance to achieve a new career season high in MVC conference wins, and a win would reduce Loyola’s magic number to 6 to win the conference. And at 7 p.m., the #7 Loyola men’s volleyball team hosts #13 USC at in Gentile Arena.

Loyola game notes: http://www.loyolaramblers.com/documents ... df?id=5831

Missouri State game notes: https://missouristate_ftp.sidearmsports ... s%2025.pdf

TV/Streaming video: CBS Sports Network / http://www.cbssports.com/watch/cbssportsnetwork

Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=189602

Vegas odds: Loyola by 7

Brot says !!!!
--We come out blazing Saturday !
--Refs play it FAIR this time--We actually do NOT need their help as did BRADLEY last game
--Ingram Jackson and Krut light up Gentile
--Gen Sherman I mean Custer gets his usual job done with ease
--Bench wears Bears down

LOYOLA 75 Missouri State 53 !!!

GO RAMBLERS !!!

JCT, you do a great job. Thank you for the posts.

Brot, I love your cut to the chase candor and optimism.
Personally, I am optimistic, but fragile because of a long history of following this team.
I have seen so much growth from this team since the beginning of the season and
they have even more on the horizon with their bench and recruits coming...We have enough to get it done this season, on paper, and have played to a high level on many occasions,
STILL you have to play every play for 40+ minutes against every opponent.
PM stresses this and the guys know this, so they should come out and show that today.
Cant' be there but will be watching!

Go Ramblers

Well Guy !!! I have been a Rambler since NINETEEN FORTY SEVEN !! I have seen them defeat Paul Arizin and Villanova--Nate Thurmond and Bowling Green--Groza and his Kentucky gang-- Gene Melchiore and his BRADLEY guys--I think he did play for Bradley or was it DETROIT ?? and many more !! Who can forget our ruining DUKE in 1963 with Heymann ?? I was in Louisville for that semi game-- OH yes I was in Tulsa for Big Als' team when they won their way to the NCAA !!
I think this bunch is nearing most of our by-gone teams of those eras !!! We are now EARNING status--still earning mind you !! BUT getting there !!

Porter is doing a great job !! I see succes coming sooner than later with this gang !!!

If what I've been reading on Twitter is true, I expect this to he our biggest home crowd of the season.

Looks like about 200 tickets left in the maroon sections. I thought I heard that admitted students were on campus this weekend, so hopefully a lot of them and parents show up and help fill out the GA section.

It's great that all the lower bowl seats are sold, but with the students taking up a bunch of those sections now, it only leaves about 1,000 tickets available for purchase there.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

Krutwig showing he's not rattled from the mistake earlier this week. I like that we're taking it to the basket early and drawing fouls. Hopefully this is a good rebound game for us.

Great start so far! Gentile looks and sounds like it's crowded. Let's just keep it up!

A full Gentile is a beautiful thing

Sister Jean is back?! Great to see!

Thanks to the game being on CBS Sports Network, it’s one of the games on the big board TVs here at the sports book I’m at, which is also a beautiful thing to see.