Friday, Nov. 27, 2015 8:30 p.m.
Alaska Airlines Arena, Anchorage, Alaska

In the second game of the Great Alaska Shootout, Loyola has a rematch with the team they faced only six days ago in Chicago-- the University of Toledo Rockets. In that game on Nov. 21, the Ramblers trailed by 18 points in the first half and 15 points at the halftime break before staging a furious comeback to win, 69-62.

In the meantime, the two teams have each played one game and traveled thousands of miles to meet in the second round of this tournament in Anchorage. The Rockets used the same formula they used to build a big lead against Loyola to defeat San Jose State in the first round of the Alaska Shootout on Wednesday. Poised 6’9” senior center Nathan Boothe and guard Jonathan Williams combined to form a powerful offensive inside-out combo in Toledo’s 89-74 win. After scoring 29 against the Ramblers, Boothe put up a triple double with 12 points, 13 rebounds, and a career-high 10 assists. Williams poured in 26 points and added four assists of his own. Guard Stuckey Mosley chipped in 19 points in an up-tempo game that suited Toledo’s strengths and pacing.

The Ramblers looked a little shaky in the first half of their game against San Diego, and trailed 28-25 at halftime. But Devon Turk found his shooting stroke in the second half and poured in 18 of his 25 points in the second half, as Earl Peterson added 13 and Milton Doyle had 11 for the game. In Saturday’s game against Toledo, only eight Ramblers saw court time. Yet against San Diego, newly activated guard Tyson Smith saw some minutes and forward Julius Rajala scored six points with three rebounds in 12 minutes after a DNP against Toledo last week. A longer bench should help the Ramblers in the two games within 29 hours on Friday and Saturday.

After seemingly solving the Rockets’ offensive scheme during halftime of their last game, this week the Ramblers will attempt to best Toledo on a neutral court. In the balance hangs a trip to the Great Alaska Shootout championship game; my guess is it will be against Middle Tennessee. The prescription for another win against Toledo is pretty much the same as before-- keep the ball out of Boothe’s hands by denying entry passes in the paint, dictate the tempo of the game, make Toledo work hard for their points, play energetic team defense, and rebound shots hard to prevent second chances.

Loyola game notes: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/loy ... 127aaa.pdf

Toledo game notes: Pending

TV/Streaming video: CBS Sports Network (delayed broadcast at 11:00 p.m.)

Vegas line: Pending

Thanks, JCT for another great preview. Appreciate your hard work in putting these together.

JCT's Previews are one of the things I'm grateful for this Thanksgiving....And alcohol.

Same.

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The TV broadcast tonight is on delay. If anyone wants to follow live, Toledo has a radio broadcast which I believe you can get here: http://www.iheart.com/live/1370-wspd-18 ... =main.html and the live stats (not a very good system, but the best available-- just click on the tiny video camera icon) are here: http://www.nmnathletics.com/liveStats/l ... _ID=13400&

As an update, Middle Tennessee and UNC Asheville were winners last night on the other side of the bracket. If we beat Toledo, tomorrow we will face the winner of the game between those two. If we lose to Toledo, we get the loser of that game (tips off immediately after our game tonight).

I wonder if we are in store for another slow start...

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Yes. Yes, we are.

25 - 25 halftime

Trying really hard not to check the score because I want to watch the whole game later. Hope the ramblers are playing well.

There's at least one good thing to say about this team...there is no quit.

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Cigarboy sucks!