Saturday, December 22, 2018, 4:00 p.m.
The Palestra, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Loyola heads to The City of Brotherly Love for their first game in Philly against a prominent Jesuit basketball stalwart, St. Joseph’s University. It seems like Loyola and St. Joe’s would be natural non-con rivals—big city Jesuit schools in towns with a great basketball tradition. But unlike Detroit (who Loyola has played 123 times), Marquette (81 times), St. Louis (46 times), and Georgetown (9 times), the Ramblers have only once faced St. Joseph’s, in the 2016-17 season. St. Joe’s won that game 71-57 in the US Virgin Islands.

Nearly as amazing as Loyola’s second ever game with St. Joe’s is the legendary venue for the meeting, the historic Palestra. Opened on New Year’s Day in 1927, the 8700-seat monument to college basketball is the current home of the Penn Quakers, and at one time hosted all the home college basketball games for Philadelphia’s Big 5 (St. Joseph’s, Penn, Temple, La Salle, and Villanova). The building is too small for NCAA Tournament games these days, but The Palestra still holds the record for the most NCAA men’s basketball games, the most post-season NCAA men’s basketball games, and more NCAA Tournaments than any other arena. I would place it above Hinkle Fieldhouse, and on par with the old Madison Square Garden of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s in terms of its historic importance to college basketball. The Palestra is just amazing, a bucket list quality venue for college basketball on the level of the Old Boston Garden, Fenway, Old Yankee Stadium, Wrigley Field and Lambeau Field.

Saturday’s matchup features two teams that have played below their expectations. St. Joe’s was picked to finish 2nd in the A-10 preseason poll, just behind Saint Louis. But the Hawks are 5-5, with nice wins over Old Dominion, Wake Forest, UIC and Princeton. Sure, SJU had a tough schedule, but the Hawks missed chances for true marquee wins in their losses to UCF, West Virginia, Villanova, and Temple. Loyola missed their chances at marquee wins against Boston College, Nevada and Maryland.

St. Joes has been starting three forwards and two guards, but 6’6” junior forward Charlie Brown (22 points, 4.6 rebounds) sprained his ankle against Princeton on Dec. 5, and did not play against Villanova on Dec. 8. He’s been cleared to return for the Loyola game. His spot against Villanova was filled by 6’3” senior guard Chris Clover. Another forward, 6’8” Pierfrancesco Olivia, is currently recovering from a concussion that caused him to miss two games.

Coach Phil Martelli’s likely starting lineup will be 6’0” guard Lamarr Kimble, 5’10” guard Jared Bynum, Brown, 6’9” forward Taylor Funk, and 6’10” sophomore forward Anthony Longpre. Kimble lit up Loyola two years ago for 26 points, but has struggled with injuries since. In 10 games this season, Kimble is averaging 18.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists. Bynum is the top playmaker, averaging 13.4 points and a team-leading 3.9 assists. Funk is the best big man in Brown’s absence, averaging 11.5 points and 5.9 rebounds.

If Brown and Olivia aren’t able to play long minutes, the Hawks are forced to play small ball. The bench is not very deep—only seven players average more than 10 minutes per game, and that includes Brown and Olivia. Lake Forest product, 6’7” sophomore forward Lorenzo Edwards, would be the eighth player in the rotation, averaging 2.0 points and 1.6 rebounds in only nine minutes per game.

The only Loyola players on the roster who faced St. Joe’s two years ago are Clayton Custer (13 points) and Bruno Skokna (0 points in 23 minutes). Aundre Jackson scored 22 in that game, and there’s reason to believe that Cameron Krutwig might be very effective against St. Joes—especially in combination with Christian Negron and Aher Uguak. The Ramblers might want to push the issue on fouls with the 8-deep Hawks, especially down low.

Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... df?id=8263

Saint Joseph's game notes: http://www.sjuhawks.com//attachments1/f ... M_ID=31200

TV/Streaming video: CBS Sports Network https://www.cbssportsnetwork.com/

Audio: WPHT 1210 AM (Matt Martucci, Joe Lunardi) http://www.sjuhawks.com/liveEvents/live ... M_ID=31200

Live stats: N/A

Vegas odds: St. Josephs by 3

I wonder if Grace Calhoun will be at the game?

Probably not, but I would love to see the travel voucher she submits if she went. I'd put the over/under at $5k; $20k if she parlays the trip to The Palestra with a side trip to Paris, as is her wont.

A measuring stick game for the Ramblers.....
I'm hoping for a W here with our rotations and offensive sets running smoothly.
I know the defense will be solid and, I think, the difference here.
As usual, great preview from JCT.
GO RAMBLERS!!!!!!
Merry Christmas to Ramblermaniacs everywhere.

I think we will be OK if we are able to contain their three point shooters, which is most of their team.

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Loyola is a 3 point dog. I expected a Pick 'em.

This really is a measuring stick game. If we can't win this one without Lucas Williamson, then we're going to struggle mightily to win the conference. If we're behind 15 minutes into the first half, that's a trouble sign.

I don't know if I agree with that. Looking at Kenpom, St. Joe's would be the second best team in the MVC (behind us). That's like saying we will struggle mightily to win the league if we lost at SIU without Lucas. I don't think anyone would say that.

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I think conference games are harder to win than non-cons because they know us so well. Perhaps having so many outlets map out our plays in th Tournament has had something to do with our struggles early this season.

I've wondered about this too. It has seemed to me that some passing lanes aren't available as often and that defenses are getting to our three-point shooters just a little bit quicker.

I think the lanes have been there, we’ve just handled the ball poorly this year. And I don’t fully agree about tougher shots...we’ve missed a LOT of open shots this year. A lot. The offense itself isn’t really unique, a number of college teams use similar sets. What set us apart last year was execution. A big part of that was having a team led by mostly experienced Juniors and Seniors. This year we only have 3, and the rest are Freshmen and Sophomores. Extremely talented Freshmen and Sophomores, but still needing experience.

It's certainly harder to score when the other team knows what we like to run, but the reverse is also true: we know their stuff as well as they know ours.

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