Monday, March 30, 2015 7:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago

Loyola plays its second game of the season against a team from Louisiana as the ULM Warhawks play at Gentile Arena in the opener of the CBI title series. Louisiana Monroe made seven trips to the NCAA out of the Southland Conference in the 80s and 90s, but rebuilt their program in the Sun Belt conference under 5th year head coach Keith Richard. At 24-12, the Warhawks have the satisfaction of their first 20-win season and highest RPI since 2000-01, improving from only ten wins last season and a combined seven wins in the two seasons prior. Historically, Loyola hasn’t had much luck against teams from Louisiana, going 1-6 against LSU, Louisiana-Lafayette, New Orleans, and Tulane. However, the Ramblers are 4-1 against NAIA Loyola New Orleans. This will be Loyola's first game ever against ULM. Loyola Coach Porter Moser faced ULM Coach Keith Richard twice in 2001 when the two were Sun Belt conference foes, with Moser at UALR and Richard at Louisiana Tech.

The Warhawks’ 6’8” center Marvin Williams left the team at the end of January. Yet they haven’t seemed to be shattered by the loss of his inside presence, as they’ve gone a respectable 10-4 since—unfortunately one of the losses was a 44-43 heartbreaker in the Sun Belt conference tournament semifinals. ULM beat Eastern Michigan (71-67), Mercer (71-69) and Vermont (71-65) to reach the CBI final.

ULM starts three big forwards and two guards. Tylor Ongwae, a 6’7” senior forward from Kenya, is ULM’s leading scorer at 14.5 points per game and adds 6.6 rebounds. He’s tops on the team in free throw shooting (85%) and free throw attempts (140), and ranks second in steals and assists. Rail-thin Australian forward Majok Deng (6’10” and 190 pounds) leads the team in rebounds (7.5 per game) and blocks (51). Deng is a juco transfer from Indian Hills CC playing in his first year in D1, but is a beast of burden for the Warhawks—he is second on the team in points per game (10.4), made threes (37), free throw attempts (99) and free throw percentage (76%). Illinois State transfer Jamaal Samuel, a 6’9” junior forward, joined the starting lineup when Williams departed and averages 6.9 points, 3.8 rebounds while ranking second in blocks (37). Samuel fancies himself as a three point shooter, with 95 attempts, but only connects on 27%.

The two-man backcourt is led by 5’11” sophomore point guard Nick Coppola, who averages 9.4 points and leads the team in minutes (36.3 per game), assists (3.83 per game), and three pointers (55 made threes at 39%). Six-one junior guard Justin Roberson is a good defender (41 steals to lead the team) and averages 8.9 points per game, but doesn’t shoot all that well from the field (less than 40% overall and only 18% on threes). Both Roberson and Coppola shoot over 70% from the line, but neither makes as many attempts as the top two frontcourt scorers.

The Warhawks have a thin and depleted bench with Williams’ departure, with 6’7” junior forward DeMondre Harvey, 6’2” junior guard Mack Foster and 6’3” senior guard Chinedu Amajoyi seeing court time during the CBI, and Amajoyi only played three minutes. The lack of depth could cause problems as Roberson has a propensity to get into foul trouble with his tight defending.

ULM is not a very good team shooting from the floor—none of their starters shoot better than 43% from the floor, but they make up for it in rebounding and defense. Opponents shoot only 38% from the field and only 29% on threes, and ULM averages a 3.3 rebound per game advantage over their opponents.

The biggest key to beating the Warhawks is slowing down the tempo. ULM is 4-10 in games where the tempo averages less than 65 possessions per game, and 0-4 at 60 or fewer possessions per game. Yet ULM is 8-1 (with the one loss being in overtime at Florida) when the tempo is 70 possessions or more. Staying close in the rebounding battle, containing Deng offensively (ULM is 4-11 against D1 competition when he scores 10 or less), and converting points at the free throw line are also helpful to defeating the Warhawks. Because they’re such a good rebounding team, forcing turnovers and taking care of the ball is essential to limiting their field goal attempts.

Monday’s game will definitely be the last of the season in Gentile Arena, with the two potential final games at ULM. Many hoped that Loyola would have a chance to win the tournament on their home court, but you can’t always get what you want. Hopefully there will be some happy midnight Ramblers celebrations nevertheless. Either way, the team should know that when the 2014-15 season is over, Rambler fans will miss you.


Loyola game notes: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/loy ... 328aaa.pdf

ULM game notes: https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf9/3359509.pdf

CBI bracket: http://www.gazellegroup.com/events/cbi/ ... racket.pdf

TV/Streaming video: CBS Sports Network (http://www.cbssportsnetwork.com/channel-finder)

Vegas odds: Loyola by 5.5

Looks like somebody's been smoking the hopium.

I believe what you meant to say was: Many homed that Loyola would have a chance to win the tournament on their hope court..."

All of the ripe references, and you go for the typo. Fixed.

Haven't been able to attend any of the CBI games, but can come Monday. I'm inclined to not jinx it...

I say risk it. If we lose, we'll just blame Chipotle for making JCT a bad burrito.

NEVER order their Baby Grande Burrito, ESPECIALLY with Mole Sauce.

Good call. Can cause a minimum 18 years of indigestion

I know this is off topic -- but i didn't want to start a whole new thread when our season isn't over yet to talk about next year. I'm just really wondering what the deal is with Marlon Jones. It looks like his season at JC is over (was in the national final)... Are we completely done with him? Is he completely done with us? Does anyone know if we are still trying to bring him in?

I'm assuming he was not an academic qualifier. That means he isn't eligible to transfer to a 4 year school and play immediately until after his second year at junior college. He's currently a frosh at South Plains.

I hope we're still recruiting him for 2016-2017, but I haven't seen anything one way or the other.

Notable Warhawk alums include Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, and William Kristol.