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PostPosted: Fri Dec 20, 2019 10:31 pm 
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Location: Chicago, Illinois
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.pdf

Davidson game notes:
https://davidsonwildcats.com/documents/ ... df?id=4422

TV/Streaming video: NBC Sports Chicago https://www.espn.com/watch?id=6a7fdd02- ... yola-US-EN

Radio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=14&type=Live

Live stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=280004

Vegas odds: Loyola by 3


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PostPosted: Sat Dec 21, 2019 10:18 pm 
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This is one of those games where I hope we win, but if we lose I’m okay with it as long as we stayed competitive and we had a chance to win towards the end of the game. Getting blown out is the only way I will be truly disappointed. Davidson is coming off a 12 day sabbatical and should be vulnerable early in the game. We need to strike early and capitalize off of that to win.

It may not feel like it, but at this point we are a better looking team than we were at this time last year. At the end of non-con play last year we had six losses and that was with a healthy Custer, Townes and Krutwig - the core. The only power 5 we had a chance at was Maryland, which we blew (unlike Vanderbilt). We got smacked by Nevada, and our best win was probably Richmond. Coppin State was a fluke, and at true “full strength” with a capable, experienced point guard, we are 5-0 going into this game. Krut is averaging 17 pts and 8 boards a game, and Tate Hall is putting up solid numbers every game and doesn’t even look like he’s done maturing. From what We’ve seen, Clemons is playing far more consistent than Custer played last year at this point. Our bench is at least three men deeper than it was last year, and I’ll take Kennedy over Budjoso to run the point in relief every day of the week (which is all we had last year). This team looks like it’s far more “complete” to take another run at the Valley than last year, despite losing two stars.

Three point shooting was atrocious at the beginning of the year — that has improved.

Ball movement was terrible at the beginning of the year - that has improved.

Turnovers were a massive issue at the beginning of the year - that has steadily improved.

Free throws - the only thing that concerns me as far as the team’s progression.

Porter has done a great job of adjusting things, making corrections, tinkering with the lineup and building depth and experience through the non-conference schedule, and that gives me a lot of hope. Despite the bad four losses, I think he’s done better than last year at this point with less experienced players. I feel like every player with only one exception (Uguak) has gotten BETTER since game 1. A really good sign!

There’s still a lot of season left but if we come out of tomorrow with a win against Davidson I’ll be extremely optimistic about what we can do in the Valley.


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PostPosted: Sun Dec 22, 2019 10:08 am 
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JCT wrote:
There are seven countries represented on Davidson's 16-man roster.


Porter's game plan includes calling ICE at halftime if Davidson has the lead.


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PostPosted: Sun Dec 22, 2019 10:53 am 
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That won't work. Chicago is a sanctuary city. They will probably get free medical care, which you will pay for.

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PostPosted: Sun Dec 22, 2019 11:16 am 
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https://statsalt.com/games/ncaab/12-22- ... tion-3920/

Blers -2.5

Slight favorites, should be a good competitive game if we're playing like we have been lately


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PostPosted: Sun Dec 22, 2019 1:55 pm 
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Surprising number of Davidson fans here.


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PostPosted: Sun Dec 22, 2019 2:48 pm 
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First Lucas and now Cam. Even if Krutwig came back in, I am hoping we can get out of the game healthy.


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PostPosted: Sun Dec 22, 2019 2:54 pm 
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We are getting so screwed by these refs.... the physical play they're allowing on screens and under the basket is awful. That's part of why Lucas and Cam went down.


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PostPosted: Sun Dec 22, 2019 3:04 pm 
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JCT wrote:
We are getting so screwed by these refs.... the physical play they're allowing on screens and under the basket is awful. That's part of why Lucas and Cam went down.


Let them hear it!

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PostPosted: Sun Dec 22, 2019 3:08 pm 
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Cam and Lucas out shooting at 2nd half warm-up


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