Ok, I have been hard on Drew, but today I felt like he did a good job. The team was ready to play and despite letting a 18 point slip away, the boys never gave the lead up and pulled away late. We have now have stack a few wins together and we showed signs of putting it together a little. This team have fooled us the last 1 plus years, so then need to show if we have discovered our identity and can build on it or not. A few thoughts:

1. We only had 9 turnovers! Good things happen when you do not turn it over and get those extra looks at the bucket. On the flip side, St. Louis had 16, 11 in the first half. This is a good teaching moment. The team needs to be made aware of this. BTW, we had some sloppy turnovers when we lost the lead. We all know TOS has been our Achilles heel.

2. Drew called a timeout when the lead started to slip in first half, He called it when we were still up 10 or 11. Good timeout.

3. We shot 50.9 (28-55) from the floor and 43,5 from 3 (10-23). As far as 3’s go, Dez was on fire and we were looking form in transition. He was 5-7. It wasn’t all sunshine and light as we missed 9 Fts (14-23). We were fortunate that St. Louis shot 42.1 from the line as they too missed 11 Fts (8-19).

4. St. Louis will be tougher when we play them next time. They had not played in almost 2 weeks before tonight and the rust showed early.

5. The announcers were brutal! Dame was scoring on isolation and they kept calling him Mwamba.

6. Next two at home between Duquesne and Richmond. Duquesne got pasted by Umass by 19 on the road tonight. Good chance at home to get two more conference wins and go 3-0. Let’s see if they can bring the energy Saturday. Not sure if the kids will be back, but need a big crowd!

7. I agree some of the fouls were, um…interesting to say the least. Rubin, clean block and foul was one that really stood out. It is a conference road game and you almost expect it. If we continue to progress, maybe the refs will stop looking at us as a door mat and even it out a bit. Drew did a nice job of juggling the lineup with guys getting into foul trouble.

Finally, encouraging game.

I thought we were great!

_________________
Scott Sudikoff (X/IG @Sudikoff)
Voice of the Ramblers
Men's Hoops Radio PXP (X/IG @Rambler_SN)
ESPN+/NBC Sports Chicago PXP
https://loyolaramblers.com/watch
http://www.soundcloud.com/ramblersn

Agree w all of this. Good game plan (we have SLU's former assistant), good execution, great toughness.

At one point, something like 12 of SLU's 14 turnovers were steals.

Allowed way too many offensive rebounds. Early on our guards were snapping them up. Norris had five early but it got away from us.

Drew: OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS! DO YOU GUYS WANT TO WIN!?

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Watching other games in the A-10 tonight...

Watched the end of the 3 OT game between Fordham and GW. Crazy, competitive stuff. Fordham won on the road.
UMass really killed Duquesne, dominating in the 2nd half.
Rhode Island shocked St. Joes at home, holding on for a win after trailing at halftime.
St. Bonaventure looks great at VCU.
Dayton won as expected at Davidson.
George Mason pulled away at the end of a nip and tuck game at LaSalle.

I was talking about the crew on ESPN+

The two ESPN+ announcers from SLU had no clue. They said Clayton Custer was a Loyola assistant. For 10 minutes the male announcer mistaked Dame Adelekun for Patrick Mwamba. Glib crap, cliche factory. They said "Big Man Rebound" about six times. No prep. It's 2024, and you have to prep for broadcasts.... there's so much info available at a click.

Mr. Sudikoff has a point. If you're dissatisfied with the opposing team's weak announcers, all you have to do is remember: No one preps like Sudikoff.

He was joking

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Liked that we only had 9 turnovers. Let's continue that.

Road wins are hard. Glad they gutted it out.

Des and Braden were great. Our starting 5 is really gelling. Nice to have Mwamba and Dame off the bench, each provides a pretty unique skill set in their limited minutes.

Hit some free throws and if JQ finishes a few bunnies he normally gets and we’re looking at a 10+ road win.

Can’t keep my eyes off of Miles when he’s on the court. Really think he is special.

I know. That’s the point Why are you listening to them?

_________________
Scott Sudikoff (X/IG @Sudikoff)
Voice of the Ramblers
Men's Hoops Radio PXP (X/IG @Rambler_SN)
ESPN+/NBC Sports Chicago PXP
https://loyolaramblers.com/watch
http://www.soundcloud.com/ramblersn