Monday, November 19, 2018 5:30 p.m.
Suncoast Credit Union Arena, Fort Myers, Fla.

Loyola faces the Richmond Spiders, the first of two scheduled games against A-10 foes on the season and the third game of the Ft. Myers Tip-Off event. Richmond’s men’s basketball program is noted for pulling off the first-ever 15 seed upset of a 2 in the NCAA Tournament, in 1991. They’ve also won games in the tournament as a 14 seed (1998), a 13 seed (1988) and a 12 seed (2011). The Spiders have been to two Sweet Sixteens and made nine NCAA Tournament appearances, all since 1984.

Richmond Coach Chris Moody took over after Jerry Wainwright was hired away by DePaul in 2005, and he’s compiled a 239-196 record at the school while making two NCAA Tournament appearances. This year’s Spiders were picked to finish 10th in the 14-member A-10.

Three exceptional players lead the 2018-19 Spiders. Six-nine sophomore forward Grant Golden is a preseason first team A-10 selection. Golden averaged 15.6 points and 6.7 rebounds last year as a redshirt freshman coming off a season-ending injury nine games into his college career. Golden averages about a block a game, and takes shots from everywhere on the floor. Jacob Gilyard is a 5’9” point guard who’s putting up big numbers behind some hot shooting early in the season. The A-10 preseason all-defense team member is averaging 20.3 points and 5.7 assists in the early going this year after finishing second in the conference in steals as a freshman. Richmond native Nick Sherod, a 6’4” junior guard, blossomed midway through last season and has averaged 18.1 points and 5.9 rebounds over his last 20 games.

The starting lineup is rounded out by 6’6” forward Nathan Cayo and 6’4” freshman guard Jake Wojcik. Cayo, a Montreal native, is averaging 8.7 points and 4.0 rebounds, while Wojcik is putting up 6.3 and 4.3.

Every starter with the exception of Wojcik has averaged over 30 minutes per game in the early going, because Richmond’s bench is paper thin. Only the five starters-- plus reserves Julius Johnson, a 6’2 senior guard averaging 1.0 points, and Noah Yates (a 6’5” junior forward)-- have played in all three games.

In Richmond’s season-opening loss at home to Longwood, the Spiders’ Big Three—Golden, Gilyard, and Sherod—each went a disappointing 5-for-13 from the field. But the entire bench could only muster three points total in 37 minutes of court time. The top three players are careful to stay out of foul trouble, because if any of them had to come out for extended time, disaster looms. In a closer-than-the-final 78-70 win over IUPUI, Gilyard was forced to play all 40 minutes, the bench was scoreless in 35 minutes, and Richmond’s top three players scored all but seven of the Spider points.

Loyola is coming off an 80-64 win over Grambling in which the starters played very well, built a 26-point lead, and let the newcomers and bench handle the last 8 minutes of the game. The Ramblers are 3-1 on the season. The winner of this game goes on to face the winner of the Boston College vs. Wyoming game for the title game of the Ft. Myers Tip-Off.

Loyola Game Notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... df?id=7220

Richmond Game Notes: https://richmondspiders.com/documents/2 ... Loyola.pdf

TV/Streaming Video: FS1 https://www.foxsportsgo.com/program/481 ... s-richmond

Live Stats: http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/central.php?tid=818

Vegas Odds: Loyola by 7.5

It'll be interesting to see how the freshman do with their first real road test; I thought Friday was the first time all season we looked "right" all season. Granted the last 8 minutes weren't as pretty with the majority of the bench playing.

Can't get to high or too low; gotta treat non-con as a learning experience. The Valley's all over the place right now, and hard to think there's any chance at a two bid league. ISU looks a bit lost at this point. Got blasted by Georgia today after having to come from behind just to squeak by Chicago State at home... Bradley looks solid but also lost in OT to UIC. UNI 2-2 playing a more guard oriented offense with their top 100 freshman AJ Green leading the way. Southern has looked good; playing Kentucky and Buffalo fairly tough, but both ended in defeat.

All things considered it's still early for all teams; following these tournaments most squads should start to gel and rotations begin take shape. Two wins this week with a couple nice bench performances would be huge for this team moving forward. So here's hoping the Ramblers do some growing!

UNI returned to form with a 54-53 win.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

Alright somehow anytime loyola’s scores they give Richmond a point, what is going on with this stream? Hahahah

Too many turnovers right now. Ugh.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

I'm already getting tired of these announcers.

I'm at Nisei. We were down by 9 when I got here so 24-20 isn't so bad.

Already nervously told myself we're a 2nd half team.

Did I hear them say Lucas Williamson is playing on a sprained ankle? The sound isn’t too great where I’m at, so I wasn’t sure I heard that right.

Don't look sprained to me....

Gah, what is it with our free throw shooting this year?!