Saturday, February 22, 2020 2:30 p.m.
JQH Arena, Springfield, Mo.


Loyola finds itself tied with Northern Iowa for the conference lead headed into weekend play after UNI dropped a 67-64 contest at Indiana State Thursday night. The Ramblers have three more games-- Saturday afternoon at Missouri State, Tuesday night vs. Drake, and on the road at Bradley next Saturday. The Panthers have a much easier remaining schedule-- Sunday at home against SIU, Wednesday night at home against Evansville, and next Saturday at Drake-- but appear to be running out of gas with heavy minutes on their starters.

The first remaining game for Loyola features Missouri State, a totally different team from the one that faced Loyola in the second game of the conference season in early January. The Ramblers won that game on Jan. 4, 62-58, against a team that was still presumed to challenge for the conference title, even if their non-conference season had been a huge disappointment. The early season Bears had a very different look from the resurging Bears of the here and now, the ones that have won three of their past five games. The two recent Bears losses came in overtime at Bradley (a team that's undefeated at home) and by two points at Southern Illinois.

Otherwise, the MSU of the past three weeks have been one of the most impressive teams in the league, winning at Indiana State (their only home loss of the season), and demolishing Drake (by 35 points) and Illinois State (by 20 points) at home. MSU's recent surge is part of a drive to avoid the play-in game at Arch Madness (the Bears would be seeded 6th if the season ended today, based on their NET tiebreaker over Drake), so the Bears definitely have something to play for. Last time out, the Bears squandered some opportunities at Bradley and let the Braves escape with yet another home win. The Ramblers are 2-4 in Springfield against Missouri State since joining the MVC; last season the Bears swept the Ramblers and issued a humiliating 70-35 beat-down in Springfield.

Back in early January, MSU started a lineup with only one of the five players who started last time out at Bradley. Point guard Tyrik Dixon has sat out the last 11 games with a shoulder injury. Senior forward Tulio da Silva did not play against Bradley, and missed two other games this season. Meanwhile, freshman Ja'Monta Black (who did not play in the early season loss at Loyola) has slipped into a starting guard role.

The Bears are likely to start 6'3" guard Black, 6'7" junior guard/forward Josh Hall, 6'4" senior guard Ross Owens, 6'8" senior forward Lamont West, and 6'8" junior forward Gaige Prim. West is the only starter who also started the game against the Ramblers in January; if Da Silva is available to start, he would be the second. The new-look Bears have some of their top scorers coming in off the bench now. Six-five senior guard Keandre Cook leads the team in scoring (14.6 ppg), but hasn't started the past five games. Prim is the second leading scorer at 13.3 ppg. West has been on fired the past two games, scoring 22 in the win against Indiana State (and also leading that game in rebounds with 9), and scoring 20 against Bradley.

The Ramblers have won four games in a row since their humiliating 29-point loss at Indiana State, including a road game at Evansville, a two-point home win over Valpo, and an overtime win over conference leader UNI. Last time out, the Ramblers had a great second half against Illinois State, and Tate Hall had a career high 28 points.

With Missouri State playing better than at any time this season despite their short bench, the Ramblers will have to dig down and get good performances from multiple players to beat the preseason conference favorites on their home court. MSU is only 4-3 at home in conference games, with their losses coming to Indiana State, Bradley and UNI. But their last home loss was more than three weeks ago, and their last two home games have been wins by an average of 24.5 points.

UNI's game against SIU begins at 1 PM on Sunday.


Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... _22_20.pdf

Missouri State game notes: https://missouristatebears.com/document ... tes_29.pdf

TV/Streaming video: CBS Sports Net https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/cbk-live/

Radio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=30&type=Live

Live stats: https://missouristatebears.com/sidearms ... ball/media

Vegas odds: MSU by 1

Five hours to tip off and no replies?!?


We suck.

ESPN app has UNI and SIU playing tomorrow... who's right?

They play Sunday.
https://unipanthers.com/sports/mens-bas ... le/2019-20

I was getting too used to Saturday night/Sunday afternoon games

Going to be tough. Hope the guys are ready for a physical game.

ESPN and you are right. I had the right time, wrong day.

Two hours before game time and Prim already has two fouls.

Half hour before game time and I'm already low on beer. How fast can Amazon get here?

Good news is that Prim just picked up his third foul.

Kennedy is warming up. No visable brace on the ankle