Saturday, January 30, 2016 3:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Ill.

Since Loyola and Indiana State faced each other in their second conference games on Jan. 2, the two teams’ fortunes have gone in radically different directions. Loyola entered that game at 7-6 overall and 0-1 in MVC play; the Sycamores were 6-7 and 0-1 in conference. Beginning with that game, won by the Sycamores 73-58, ISUb has gone 6-2 and the Ramblers have stumbled to 2-6.

Everything turned around for the Sycamores in mid-December. They’re 9-3 since Dec. 16. Before conference play began, they scored an average of 68.2 on offense and give up 67.3 per game; since conference play began, they’re averaging 71.4 points on offense and giving up 64.7.

The Sycamores will start Brenton Scott and Devonte Brown at guard, Kristian Smith at guard/forward, and Matt Van Scyoc and Brandon Murphy at forward. Brown, a 6’2” senior, least the team with 16.1 ppg, and Scott adds 15.3. Smith, a 6’6” senior, scores 10.5 points and ranks second on the team with 5.5 boards per game. Everett Clemons, a 6’1” juco guard who comes off the bench, actually leads the team in rebounds at 6.6 per game, assists at 3.0 per game, and steals (30 on the season) while adding 4.7 ppg. Clemons has had five games in double-figure rebounding this season, including a season high 16 boards in 31 minutes against Southern Illinois.

Six-six sophomore Van Scyoc plays a small forward, averaging 8.7 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. He takes quite a lot of threes, and hits them at a respectable 35.8%. Brandon Murphy at 6’7” fills out the starting lineup and averages 4.8 points and 3.5 boards. Emondre Rickman, a 6’9” freshman forward/center, comes off the bench to average 2.7 points and 2.6 rebounds; he leads the team in blocks. Other bench players include 6’9” junior forward Niels Bunschoten (3.6 points, second on the team in blocks), and 6’6” senior guard Brandon Burnett (2.0 points).

Loyola had a two-point halftime lead in ISU’s January 2 win over the Ramblers, but won in a laugher, 73-58. The Sycamores had a 47-point second half where they shot 56.5% from the floor and reached the free throw line 20 times for 19 points. The Ramblers will have to keep ISU off the free throw line and keep scoring from ISU’s backcourt (especially Brown and Scott, who scored a combined 48 in ISU’s win over Evansville last week) in check.

Loyola game notes: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/loy ... 129aaa.pdf

Indiana State game notes: Pending

TV/Streaming video: Comcast SportsNet

Vegas odds: Indiana State by 3.5

I will say this: we have been on CSN Chicago a lot this year. I just wish we'd take advantage of it by playing better.

Like what we're doing forcing turnovers. We get a whole lot of offense off that, and we don't take advantage as much as we should. How about throwing some presses in there-- full court or half court?

The up tempo game is a lot more exciting than seeing us get stuck in our ball screen half court sets. I don't exactly get the starting line up we have been using but whatever. I want to see Porter use two bigs on the floor at the same time.

Spacing, movement, and passing looks a lot better so far today.

Wow... Jeff White, where have you been?

And the crowd loves it...

Ditto!

Really, really smart move by Turk to get to the line there. Glad to see him back.

What a breath of fresh air to see us playing like we want to win the game more than they do.