Wednesday, February 5, 2020 5:00 p.m.
Hulman Center, Terre Haute, Ind.


Here's another really intriguing game in the MVC.... you have on one hand Indiana State, a team that's 9-0 at home on the season, with the second-highest KenPom offensive ranking. And on the other hand is Loyola, ranked number one in the conference in defense, 2-3 on the road, and riding a four-game winning streak (and six of the last seven) against the Sycamores.

The Ramblers have been rock-solid at home in conference play, winning their five home games by an average of 17 points. But on the road Loyola has trouble maintaining consistency and finishing games. The Ramblers are 2-3 on the road, with losses at Drake (by three points), at Northern Iowa (by five points in overtime), and at Southern Illinois (by five points). The two wins-- at Valpo and at Illinois State-- were not as close as the final score.

Indiana State has won all their games since their 75-55 loss at Loyola Jan. 22. They beat Bradley and Drake at home, and then took a road game from Missouri State. Coach Lansing has built another team that promises to either make a mark or be a spoiler in the MVC horserace and the finishing line at Arch Madness.

The Sycamore starting five includes 5'10" senior guard Jordan Barnes, 6'4" sophomore guard Cooper Neese, 6'2" junior guard Tyreke Key, 6'8" freshman guard/forward Jake LaRavia and 6'7" freshman center Tre Williams. Key leads the team with 17.0 ppg and 5.2 rebounds per game-- he leads the league on made free throws (110) while shooting 85.3% from the line. Barnes has scaled back his shot attempts and now facilitates other players more aggressively; he averages 12.5 points, 4.0 assists, and 1.6 steals per game. Neese is the third starting backcourt member and averages 8.9 points per game. All three starting ISU guards average close to 40% from behind the arc, and they shoot with frequency-- between the three of them, they have 120 made threes. By contrast, the entire Loyola team has 129 made three pointers.

In the front court, freshman LaRavia has been a revelation at small forward, shooting 50.7% from the field while averaging 8.6 points and 5.4 rebounds. LaRavia is especially dangerous as an offensive rebounder, because he has the length of a power forward and the quickness/hands of a tall guard. Tre Williams, the wide-bodied center, averages 56.9% from the field and scores an average of 8.0 points per game and leads in blocks with 25. Christian Williams (a 6'6" senior guard), 6'7" center Bronson Kessinger, and 6'3" guard Cam Bacote play double-digit minutes off the bench.

In the previous matchup between these two teams, Jordan Barnes had a huge second half and scored 18 points on 7 of 10 shooting from the field, mostly by driving to the basket. ISU shot 42.9% from the field and got to the line 11 times compared to Loyola's 8. But the Ramblers shot 67.4% from the field for the game, led by Tate Hall's 23 points, Cam Krutwig with 13, and Frank Agunanne with 10.

Based on the previous game and the available personnel for each team, the Ramblers have a huge advantage inside. The Sycamores have some of the best guard talent and outside shooting in the league. The head-to-head, individual matchups highly favor the Ramblers, but home court advantage has been fierce in the MVC this year.

By the way, has anyone tracked the won/loss record of the CBS Sports Network curse?


Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... 2_5_20.pdf

Indiana State game notes: https://gosycamores.com/documents/2020/ ... _Notes.pdf

TV/Streaming video: CBS Sports Network https://www.cbssports.com/cbs-sports-network/

Radio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=25&type=Live

Live stats: https://gosycamores.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary

Vegas odds: Loyola by 2

Man, this would be a big one. A win sets us up really nicely to be 10-3 going into the rematch vs UNI at home. This is one of the more difficult games left on our schedule (behind only vs UNI and @Bradley)

We are 1-1 on CBS Sports Network this year: beat Vandy, lost at Drake.

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Dont forget if you want to come and watch and yell at the tv screen with some fellow Rambler fans....we will be camped out at McGonigals in Barringotn. no cost.....will have LU trivia for swag...

Just a reminder to everyone.... this game is at 5PM Central Time. If you're not going to be home from work in time for the game try the streaming audio broadcast (link in preview above).

Interesting that Vegas has us favored by 2. Both Kenpom and Bart Torvik have us as 1 point underdogs. Indiana State is hot and confident, and may want to prove something after we beat them bad at Gentile. UNI still has to travel there and that game is a weekday too which has been an issue for UNI. If we can win this, it'll really help us have a shot at the conference title, but it's going to be tough.

Any road game can be tough, but we match up well with them like JCT said. Interested to see how we defend the dribble-drive and what they choose to do with Krutwig. Have to assume they'll change it up from what they did a couple weeks ago.

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Oh I yearn for the good old days when no one payed any attention tho the Krut,,,,,innocent ignorance or just plain disbelief....took the Conference two years to say " Hey maybe this guy is for real" now we have to get the consistent answer to all the attention that Krut is getting this year....

Great preview as always.

Thanks JCT!

Thanks for the preview JCT.

It goes without saying, but this is a must win game for us. I have a feeling ISU is going to press a lot in this game, so hopefully we're ready for that.