Friday, February 26, 2021 8:00 pm
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Ill.


The #21 Loyola Ramblers return to action in the last weekend of the conference regular season after a much-needed nine-day hiatus. The last time the Ramblers laced up their sneakers for a game was a 54-52 grind-fest against the resurgent Valparaiso squad on Feb. 17. Since that game, Drake has won three in a row to head into the final weekend of play tied with the Ramblers at 14-2. Loyola will play Southern Illinois in their last two, and the Bulldogs face Bradley in Peoria to close out conference play.

The Salukis started the season with high hopes and great early results. SIU was picked to finish fifth in the MVC Preseason poll, but after a 7-0 start to the season (including wins over Murray State at home and Butler on the road) Saluki fans had reason to believe a lot more was possible. The 7-game winning streak to start the season was followed by a six-game losing streak in which SIU's top scorer, sophomore Marcus Domask, sustained a foot injury that has kept him out of every game since. Domask says he feels good, and has been back in practice recently. He's been on a week-to-week basis without playing a game since Jan. 4. The Salukis were 7-3 before his injury and they are 4-8 since.

SIU could have used Domask in last weekend's pair of games against Valpo in Carbondale. The Brown and Gold kept SIU scoreless for the last three minutes plus of the opening game and escaped with a 66-65 win. In the second game, it was nip-and-tuck throughout until SIU won a late battle at the free throw line. SIU is currently 11-11 overall, 5-11 in conference, and has a small remaining chance of avoiding a Thursday.

Second-year Head Coach Bryan Mullins starts 6'1" guard Lance Jones, 6'5" sophomore guard Ben Harvey, 6'9" freshman center Kyler Filewich, 6'2" guard sophomore guard Trent Brown, and 6'4" sophomore guard Steven Verplancken. Jones, an Evanston product, is one of the most dynamic guards in the league, averaging 12.9 points, 3.1 assists and 3.0 boards. Jones has dramatically improved his three-point shooting (39.8%) and leads the team in steals, assists, made threes, free throw attempts, and turnovers. Harvey is a tough transfer from Eastern Illinois who does a lot of banging and plays very solid fundamentals. He averages 10.1 points and 3.8 rebounds.

Another newcomer, Canadian Tyler Filewich, is a big and chunky center (listed at 250) who took on a lot of the scoring when Domask went down. Since the Domask injury and a Covid layoff after Jan. 4, Filewich has averaged 9.5 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists. He finishes well at the basket (shooting 56%) and can pass out of the high post. He has great footwork, but his first step takes a lot longer to get going than Krutwig. Last Wednesday, Gage Prim went for 29 points and 21 rebounds and six assists against the Salukis and held Filewich to 1 of 4 shooting in limited minutes.

Trent Brown is the top on-ball defensive player for SIU, ranking just after Domask in minutes per game, third in steals, third in assists, and averaging 6.9 points per game. He's second on the team in made threes, and shoots 40.4% from distance. Verplancken was added to the starting lineup when Domask was sidelined; he averages 6.5 points per game shooting respectably from distance, but under 40% overall. Since joining the starting lineup, he averages 9.1 points, 3.1 rebounds and over 30 minutes per game.

Tops off the thin bench is 6'2" freshman Dalton Banks, who averages 6.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.1 assists. Six-eight forward Anthony D'Avanzo, a senior transfer from Lewis out of Niles Notre Dame, gets an occasional start and averages 6.9 points and 4.1 rebounds. Six-seven sophomore forward Sekou Dembele and 6'5" senior transfer from Southern Utah Jakolby Long sometimes see playing time for single digit minutes.

With a banged-up but relentless Drake team playing a depleted and demoralized Bradley team in Peoria, the Ramblers will likely need to sweep the series against SIU to claim at least a share of the MVC regular season title, the second one the Ramblers have shared with Drake in the past three years. Loyola is assured of at least the #2 seed at Arch Madness, but winning out while getting everyone in tune for the conference tournament is the highest priority. SIU, with a win or two and help from others, have a chance to grab the fifth or sixth seed and avoid Thursday in St. Louis, but Evansville and Valpo have the inside track on those two slots.

These two games are potentially/probably the last two home games for Loyola seniors Cameron Krutwig, Lucas Williamson, Jake Baughman, Aher Uguak, Tate Hall, and Keith Clemons. Together, the four-year players have won 92 games while at Loyola which is a program record, and the 92 wins is the most of any Illinois team over the past four years.


Loyola Game Notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... _26_21.pdf

SIU Game Notes: https://siusalukis.com/documents/2021/2 ... f?id=10039

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

Radio/Streaming Audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=59&type=Live

Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=325931

Vegas Odds: Loyola by 20

If Tate Hall starts his possible last two home games, interesting to see if his shot rhythm will be better right out of warm-ups. Could be needed boost for offense.

I always worry....so SIU has me worried...but we play such good defense.....Tate is a streaky shooter from distance but he can really help us by getting to the rim and playing defense....so I also hope he is a contributor one way or the other

JCT - I'm surprised you didn't mention the magic words: at-large. If we win both of these, I don't see how they keep us out.

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These are BIG games. If we win, we will be a no brainer to get into the NCAA, but how you win is important. We need to control and win in dominant fashion to keep good NET and perhaps sneak up in polls a few slots to help our seeding a bit. Seeding is big. Right now we are being projected as an 8 or 9 seed which means you are playing a #1 seed your second game. Ideally, we win these two and Arch Madness and move into a 5 or 6 seed where you would be playing a 3 or 4 seed in your second game. Of course upsets happen and we benefitted from a couple of upsets in our March to the final four in 2018. So, we need to be focused and to keep building our resume.

Having us as an 8 or nine seed makes no sense anyway. We are 9 in KenPom, ranked 21. Everything points to us being better than a 8 or 9 seed. We could easily move up to 20 or higher in polls and if we win out, a 5 seed would be logical at that point. Otherwise, the NCAA is just gaslighting everyone with the NET and all the metrics and polls.

I agree, especially given how much National coverage we’ve received the past month. Including this weekend. I believe tomorrow’s game will be on ESPN2.

As someone with degrees from both schools (and actually likes the school still), I root for the Salukis, and I’ve never really been *too* mad when they’ve pulled off a win in this series. Or, I’ve gotten over it quicker than any other loss. This weekend, though, is different. Just way too much riding on these final two games to be able to stomach a loss. Mullins is such a good defensive coach, and knows many of our players so well, it makes me a little nervous.

Any word on Domask?

I expect both games to be low scoring slugfests. Bryan knows Porter's offense and will be ready (just like last year). I think you talent wins out, but I don't expect to cover the 20 point spread.

No Domask this weekend.

No help from Badley 66 50 for Drake 5 plus minutes left

Lance Jones is Michael Jordan, it seems. Wow.

However, 5 points at the first TV timeout against a bottom conference team is not the makings of an offense that can win in March. Come on. Ugly.