Wednesday, February 03, 2016 7:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Ill.

Illinois State was picked to finish a notch above the Ramblers in the MVC Preseason Poll, and in their first meeting this season on Jan. 6, that assessment looked to be on the money. The Redbirds held on to a 54-52 win, as Loyola had a game tying layup blocked and a game-winning three-pointer miss the mark in the last five seconds of the game. The missing shots in the closing seconds came from Montel James, who had—all things considered—perhaps his best game as a Rambler, with a team leading 14 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. James surpassed that game with his last outing against Indiana State, where he had a career high 28 points and another 14 rebounds in a double-overtime win.

The Redbirds are 3-6 on the road this year, and their two conference road wins (over Drake and Bradley) came by a total of eight points. Their other road win was by 12 points over 3-18 UIC. In their last outing, ISU lost at Missouri State in OT, 84-81.

The Redbirds’ rotation has shrunk to just eight players. Their current starters are forwards MiKyle McIntosh (11.0 ppg) and Deonte Hawkins (10.3), plus guards Paris Lee (10.3), Tony Wills (4.7), and DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell (14.9). Coming off the bench these days are forwards Nick Banyard and Quintin Brewer, and three-point specialist Justin McCloud.

In that Jan. 6 game, Banyard started and had a good outing against the Ramblers, going for 10 points, 5 boards, and making the game-saving block on Montel James’ potential game-tying layup after a stolen inbounds pass. Akoon-Purcell struggled a bit against the Ramblers, missing all four of his three point attempts and being held to 14 points on 5 of 14 shooting. The difference-maker, and a big matchup problem for the Ramblers is Hawkins, who hit three of four from beyond the arc and scored 13 points. At 6’8”, Hawkins leads ISU in rebounding at 5.2 per game, and no one in the Loyola backcourt can effectively block Hawkins’ outside shot-- he can shoot right over the defense. The ‘Birds held Loyola to a season-low 3 of 21 three point shooting performance in that game, and Devon Turk was 0 for 7 from behind the arc.

The ‘Birds are 3-8 overall, and 1-4 in conference when sending their opponents to the line 20 or more times. In ISU’s wins, their opponents average 14.2 free throw attempts, but in their losses, it’s 25.9. If the Ramblers can get to the line often, keep ISU’s big men on the bench with foul trouble (McIntosh has fouled out of five games), establish an outside shooting threat, and keep the ballgame a low-scoring affair with energetic defense, they’ve got an excellent chance at a quality home win.

Loyola game notes: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/loy ... 202aaa.pdf

Illinois State game notes: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/loy ... a_ilsu.pdf

TV/Streaming video: ESPN3

Vegas odds: Loyola by 1

Well, here we go again !! A crucial !! I really think that IF we win this evening , we should NOT play on Thursday in the tourney. Why ? I do think we FINALLy have momentum earned Sat against TREES !! Keep running guys !! Score and then defend --not the other way around !

My pick--Ramblers 77-71 !!

Even with a win we still have a long way to go to avoid Thurs. 7-11 is a likely finish that would likely equal Thurs.

Missouri State is two and a half games ahead of us in the standings, but they have a really tough remaining schedule. They play at WSU, at Evansville, at SIU, and at UNI. They play Indiana State, Drake, and Loyola at home. Since we lost to them in Chicago by two points, we have no chance for a sweep, and they beat us on the non-con strength of schedule tiebreaker (the only team we beat in SOS is SIU).

We really have to go 5-3 AND hope MSU goes 1-6 down the stretch to avoid Thursday. Same deal would go for Illinois State-- we need to beat them tonight and hope they go 1-6 in their tough remaining schedule-- they have WSU home and away, at UNI, and home against Indiana State, SIU and Bradley.

Long jumpers from Montel are just poor possessions we see it too often.

Up Three at half--Some points
--Ain't run and gun more fun ?
--When are we gonna get our announcers or at least non- partial
--REfs doing us no favors
--Milt appears to be back.
--I have hunch that if e maintain a lead Birds will crack !!

Keep runnin' RAMBLERS !!

UNI beats Evansville, 57-54. Figured UE would get that one. Now UNI is 5-6, and we need to win this one tonight to remain one game back.

Speaking of winning this one, ISU only plays 8 guys, and three of them (Akoon-Purcell, Brewer, and McIntosh) have two fouls. We need to get to the line and challenge those guys. They're using physicality to try to intimidate our guys (like the elbow coming down on White in the paint)... they're going to be aggressive physically, and they're going to make fouls if we challenge them.

There goes another blown lead

How do you not have a play set up coming off a time out. Come on Porter

Why can't we ever keep a lead?

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Cigarboy sucks!