Loyola Ramblers Preview – https://loyolaramblers.com/news/2025/12 ... higan.aspx

Central Michigan Stats and Intel - https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/sc ... /2026.html

Record: 3-4 (MAC MBB)
Coach: Andy Bronkema
PS/G: 75.9 (221st of 365)
PA/G: 74.0 (197th of 365)
SRS: -10.86 (278th of 365)
SOS: -5.53 (315th of 365)
ORtg: 107.7 (224th of 365)
DRtg: 105.0 (222nd of 365)


Central Michigan Chippewas (3-4) vs Loyola Chicago Ramblers (1-7) – 7:00pm CST, Gentile Arena, Chicago IL

Loyola Chicago returns from their Southern California Thanksgiving vacation to take on Central Michigan Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in Gentile Arena. The #354 NET ranked Ramblers look to end a 7-game losing streak.

In game-2 of the Acrisure Series, the Ramblers lost 63-51 to San Jose State. They quickly gave up a 13-4 lead early in the first half but took a 31-29 lead at Halftime. Early in the second half, San Jose State took the lead, and took over, leading by as many as 16. Miles Rubin earned his first double-double of the season. Chuck Love III did all he could to carry the squad, going 3-6 from three, scoring 13pts in 36 minutes of playing time.

No quotes from coach Valentine post-game.

Loyola has a win-loss record of 1-7 this season. Thru the season’s first 8 games, the Ramblers are shooting 40.2% from the floor, which ranks them 335th in Division-1. Offense has been offensive to watch, averaging 65 ppg, which ranks 348th of 365 teams. The Ramblers on defense are ranked 238th in D-1 in PPG allowed with 76.4, with a #353 defensive rating.

Central Michigan enters the week at 3-4 and is coming off a 112-67 win over Adrian last week. The Chippewas are ranking among the MAC's top-four in the following: No. 1 in blocked shots per game (4.71), No. 2 in total rebounds (39.6), and No. 2 in offensive rebounds (13.4). CMU's roster is made up of 12 transfers and three freshmen, another 100% brand new roster the Ramblers will play against.

7-footer Nathan Claerbaut is leading them through the first seven games, scoring 11.4 points per game. He's scored double-figures in every game but the season opener, including a season-high 20 points vs. Coppin State. He had a double-double with 11 rebounds.


Central Michigan Probable Starters – 6-1 G Tamario Adley, 7-0 C Nathan Claerbaut, 6-5 F Rodney Johnson, 6-4 G Logan McIntire, 6-10 F Nick Mullen.

Loyola Probable Starters – Rubin, Houinsou, Love III, Moore, Tavarez


LAST 10 GAMES FOR BOTH SQUADS
N/A


Watch / Listen – Tuesday night’s game is regionally broadcast on Marquee Sports Network and streamed on ESPN+ with Jordan Bernfield and Karli Bell on the call, and can be listened to Rambler Sports Network with our friends Sudikoff and CT.

Postgame Show - Tune in to Sudikoff on RSN, followed by TalkinBlers Spaces on the X: https://x.com/blerstalking?s=21


Odds: Loyola -6.5 (as of 9:30pm 12/1)

You know it's been a rough season when no one comments on the game preview!

Blers are due like the rent for a win. They have had a few days off and we will see if they can start to get back on track. Few notable items from last game:

1. Drew completely changed the offense last game. We played at a dramatically slower pace and shot less 3 pointers. I am not sure if this was designed to help the defense by having less possessions in the game for both teams and limiting the the transition of the opposing team. It also helped keep us out of scramble mode on defense where we having been giving up easy hoops and wide open 3's all season. It did help keep the score down as we only gave up 63 points. However, offensively we were a bit of a disaster. It's tough to give up 63 points and still lose by double digits. High TOs in a slower paced game made no sense. We did shoot it a little bit better, but it was clear that in a slower offensive we were not proficient. Maybe some kinks in trying change your philosophy 8 games in.

We started too many possessions way too late in the shot clock and had a couple of clock violations. If you are going to play slow and run a "continuity" type of offense (I think Drew described it as such), you need to get into the sets earlier and run an actual offense. There needs to be motion, screens, side to side movement of players and the ball. This is how create open shots and easier shots by forcing a defense to move and exploiting the defense. We played at a slower pace, but most of it was holding the ball up high until clock got down near 10 seconds. We do not have the type of players who can get their own shots at the end of the shot clock. If you want to slow the game down, run sets, make the defense work and take a shot if it wide open or the defense breaks down for a layup. Holding ball with nothing going on does create any advantage and actually lets the other team "rest".

2. I also noticed that Amos was NOT wearing any type of cast/brace on his hand. I believe I heard that he has been practicing and he is close to coming back. Is tonight the night he makes his LU debut? If so, the additional length and athleticism would be a welcome addition. I do not expect him to be a 'savior", but an injection of some enthusiasm would certainly be welcome. If he is healthy, I would start him with Rubin, CM has some height and they are a good rebounding team.

3. Have not heard much about Ola-Joseph. He did not play last game. Hopefully he will return tonight as well giving us another athletic and slightly bigger wing on the floor.

Every journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step and tonight needs to be that first step if we want to salvage anything of this year.

Go "Blers!

Thanks for reminding us about the shot clock issues...

I guess we'll see if they've been practicing at all. Feels like a lot on the line tonight.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

These 6 days off is our longest stretch between games until the Christmas break, and then we’re right into A10 play.

If we are going to have real tangible changes and improvement before conference play, I’d expect it to start showing tonight.

Hallelujah

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MBB Scholarship Chart

We won! We won! We won the ballgame!

Attendance at 1700 was low but pretty reflective of our play prior to tonight.
If we played a good A10 team tonight we would not have won. Just not there yet.

Curious who will emerge as the leader on the court. If we put together a win streak following tonight's win, I guess we'll know soon enough.



Liked the spirit from Love, Houinsou and Ola tonight. Albeit an oops on the Ola dunk tonight.

Glazkov is puzzling. Will he just be a role player? A high pick but still no point production of note.

Looks like that arch on Rubin's free throws is helping.


Yeah, let's just take the win and enjoy.

Was the result reflective of any improvement by the team or just a weak opponent?

A little more fight in us is all, but good to see.
Add in a weak C Mich opponent.
We're probably playing at a bottom level A10 right now.

Yesterday was a little bit more like LU basketball, but still some rough edges.

1. The first half we struggled a little bit. Things were not going well and when the kid on CM hit a rainbow 3 prayer at the buzzer to put us in a 8 point hole (39-31) at halftime it was looking like more of the same was coming.

2. The second half was a different story. We came out and looked a lot different. The key to the start of the second half was Tavarez exploding for 11 points in the first 5 or 6 minutes of the second half including three 3's and a layup. He was free and easy. He's a cold blooded shooter and we need him too play to back of his baseball card! Changed the entire game. Good things happen when you see the ball go in the hoop.

The energy in the second half was the best its been all season. Ola-Joseph reasserted himself crashing the glass and providing the dirty work in the trenches we have not seen much this year. He had 4 of our 10 offensive rebounds. We were passing the ball more, getting easy attempts at the rim and our rebounding was great as we had more bodies in the paint rebounding. We out rebounded CM by 7 and had 10 offensive rebounds. Miles and Kymany were fantastic and Moore got better as the game went on. Drew mentioned in the post game comments what Kymany has been through the last year plus, including stating he has had 3 stress fractures in his leg - ouch! He's a warrior for sure and played a great game.

The rotation was much tighter in the second half and Drew let some guys who were playing well get more run. Dotson in particular got more minutes and hit 2 huge 3s in the first half. We did end up shooting 50% from the floor despite hitting only 6-21 from the arc. This means we were 21-33 from inside the arc which is unbelievable. We were finally finishing in the paint. We also only turned the ball over 8 times. We did score 52 points in the second half. We had 5 double digit scorers and 16 assists on 27 baskets. FTs....we finished at 70%, but were not great most of the game. These numbers were padded a bit as Moore hit FTs late.

3. There was improvement and the team was excited to end the losing streak and watching them come off the court and going to the locker room they were excited and pumped up. This was definitely a positive in getting a win while getting back to the LU roots of scrappy defense (I think we definitely won the "50-50" balls and we were diving to floor after a few), sharing the ball more, and just playing damn hard. Drew was actually thanking people for coming out as attendance was down. This Saturday with Princeton coming will be interesting to see if the crowd is better. The student section was light. Got to get the crowds back!

4. Sure it was CM and we have to take that into account, but the blueprint is being laid for more competitive basketball moving forward. It also gives Drew a little proof and something to point to showing the team that this will work. Now, will the team embrace this and buy in? This is the question. Every team needs an identity and the tough challenge is for a team to realize what it needs to do to win and how it has to play even it it wishes it could play differently.

See you all Saturday!

Go 'Blers