Sunday, December 22, 2019 2:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Ill.
Loyola wraps up its non-conference schedule with a Sunday afternoon clash with the Davidson Wildcats out of the A-10. The Ramblers have won five games in a row, their longest winning streak since the 2017-18 season, and they're coming off a solid 78-70 win over Vanderbilt at the Baskeball Hall of Fame event in Phoenix.
Davidson was picked to finish second in the 2019-20 Atlantic 10 preseason poll, behind VCU and ahead of Dayton. But Davidson has struggled this season away from home; they're 3-0 at Belk Arena, but 2-5 in their games played elsewhere. Moreover, the Wildcats have struggled to score and find an offensive rhythm against the better teams on their schedule. Davidson is averaging over 80 points per game in their five wins and only 62 points in their five losses. Last time out, 12 days ago, they buried Coppin State 88-52 on their home court.
Loyola comes into the game ranked 104 on KenPom, and Davidson is ranked 74. But Davidson is only 1-4 against teams in the top 100. Loyola is 0-1 in their only game against teams in KenPom's top 100, losing 87-63 at Furman.
Coach Bob McKillop is in his 31st year at Davidson, guiding the team from Independent ranks to the Big South and Southern conferences, and into the A-10. He's accumulated 583 wins against 355 losses in that span, and reaching the NCAA Tournament nine times. In 2008, Davidson reached the Elite Eight behind the stellar play of Steph Curry.
Davidson starts 6'5" junior guard Kellan Grady, 6'5 senior guard Jon Axel Gudmundsson, 6'3" junior guard Carter Collins, 6'5" redshirt freshman guard Mike Jones, and 6'10 sophomore forward Luka Brajkovic. Four starters average double-digit points, Grady (16.1 ppg), Gudmundsson (12.1), Collins (10.9) and Brajkovic (10.8). Another solid scorer, 6'5" sophomore guard Luke Frampton, averaged 9.8 points and was the team's top three-point shooter before he took a personal leave of absence from the team after game five.
Six-seven guard/forward Hyunjung Lee (7.0 ppg, 3.6 rebounds) and 6'8"junior forward Bates Jones (2. ppg, 1.9 rpg) are the top two players off the bench. Only six players have managed to play in each of Davidson's 10 games thus far this season. Lee is from South Korea, Gudmundson is from Iceland, and Brajkovic is from Austria. There are seven countries represented on Davidson's 16-man roster.
Loyola has improved demonstrably since returning from the Cayman Islands trip. Keith Clemons has averaged 9.0 points and 3.5 assists per game while shooting 62.5% from three point territory (5 of 8). The offense flows much more smoothly with Clemons providing offensive set-ups. Tate Hall is averaging 17 ppg over his last six games, while shooting over 50% from three. Jaylon Pipkins is averaging 7.4 points and had a career-high 14 against Norfolk State. And Cameron Krutwig has averaged 18 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game over the past five contests, culminating in his first triple-double against Vanderbilt.
Needless to say, there's a big difference between going into conference play at 9-4, having won six straight, and with wins against Davidson and Vandy-- and going into conference competition at 8-5 with no wins against top 100 KenPom teams.
Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... _22_19.pdfDavidson game notes: https://davidsonwildcats.com/documents/ ... df?id=4422TV/Streaming video: NBC Sports Chicago
https://www.espn.com/watch?id=6a7fdd02- ... yola-US-ENRadio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=14&type=LiveLive stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=280004Vegas odds: Loyola by 3