Why be shocked? These refs suck.

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Cigarboy sucks!

These refs have just been turrrble

Wtf! How was that not off of Knight?

Gave this game away.

I fail to be impressed with ISUr. I have read over and over again how they are right up there with WSU and UNI talentwise. I don't see it. This is the second game we've played them really tough without Milton. The only one who looked really talented out there was Akun-Purcell.

But they did sweep us so maybe I should save my criticism.

Yet another game we should have won.

I know folks are optimistic, but I said it a few weeks ago when we lost to SIU....we're playing on Thursday.

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Cigarboy sucks!

As rough as this stretch has been, I think we're still favored to end up 6th. Our last two games are winnable against Drake and MoST.

announcer said that an LU assistant said that MIlton returns next weekend.....hopefully

Well, we have it all except height and Milton--I am satisfied. As those announcers said all night, we do not quit !! The birds swept a crippled bunch of little fighters.

OUR time is fast coming guys !!!

Valley refs are little better than Horizon refs !! Tonight they were worse than flagrant--both ways-- capped by that gutless oob call at the end !!

Frankly, I was optimistic but I didn't think Loyola would win this game; however, I fully expect us to win the next two...with or without Doyle.

Just walked back home from the game. A pretty good turnout for LU fans-- it was nice to see some folks I haven't seen for a while, meeting Milt's mom, and it was a pretty exciting game. There were about 30-35 of us sitting together in the upper deck, and another nice group behind the bench. I'm with you guys on the refs... Wow. The Loyola group had the best angle in the building for the call that wasn't reversed, and it was pretty clear. But the weird thing was I thought about 50% of the out of bounds calls should have gone the other way-- for BOTH teams.

First of all, it was a great game plan (see the preview, first post in this thread). We did a great job of diffusing Lynch, keeping him off the court in foul trouble. Unfortunately, we didn't capitalize. Zero free throw attempts in the first half, a four minute scoring drought just after Lynch had to leave in the first half, and only scored four points in the last 8 1/2 minutes of the first half. A huge wasted opportunity, passing up a number of shot opportunities under the basket without Lynch, and missed a few in-and-out shots.

Came out in the second half looking like we made good adjustments, finally started getting to the free throw line, got Lynch back in foul trouble, and looked like we were going to get a small lead. Akoon-Purcell is a really tough matchup problem for a team like ours, and it showed. Too quick, too long (6'7" plus arms), good first step, and a nice stroke from distance. Still, we kept in it, and had a chance a few times later on to cut it to one possession. You can't ask for more in a road conference game against a team higher in the standings.

Certainly, if we'd had Milt in one or both of our two games against them, it might have gone the other way. But we didn't, so we've got to look forward. In pre-game warmups, Milt was on the court making passes to shooters and talking to Earl and a couple others about strategy-- but still wearing a soft boot. He also joined the timeout huddles. I'd feel a lot better about the Drake game if I knew he could give us even 15 minutes, but we'll have to buckle down either way and make a win his welcome back present. We just need to get the 6th seed as our first, second, and third priority-- the only way to make sure is to BEAT DRAKE WEDNESDAY. With a 6 seed and Milt back, we've got a good chance for an upset in St. Louis-- and probably a C-tournament bid.