Tuesday, January 7, 2020 8:00 p.m.
Knapp Center, Des Moines, Iowa
Loyola heads west on I-80 for an early January weeknight match-up with Drake, where a win would establish some more daylight for the first-place Ramblers. Loyola has won their last five games in a row against Drake convincingly, by an average of 17.2 points. The last time Drake beat the Ramblers was a wild 100-98 game on Dec. 29, 2016 in Des Moines. But the Bulldogs are off to an 11-4 start and are playing with more confidence under 2nd year Coach Darren DeVries.
The Ramblers have won seven of their last eight since Keith Clemons joined the team from an early season practice injury. Cameron Krutwig was not double-teamed in Saturday's 62-58 win over Missouri State at Gentile Arena, and he scored 23 points; Marquise Kennedy came off the bench to add the outside scoring threat with 13 points. Loyola will need contributions from everyone on the court to overcome a Drake team that's 8-0 at home this season.
Coach DeVries starts a very big forward and four guards: 7'0" sophomore forward Liam Robbins, 5'11" sophomore point guard Roman Penn, 6'5" senior guard Anthony Murphy, 6'2" sophomore guard D.J. Wilkins, and 6'3" junior guard Jonah Jackson. The lone big man, Robbins, is a lanky but capable player both offensively and defensively. Robbins averages 12.6 points and 2.3 blocks per game to lead the team in both those categories, and he's second on the team in rebounds with 5.6 per. He has lately been prone to fouls, fouling out in the loss to Bradley on New Year's Eve and averaging four fouls per game over his last three contests.
The Bulldogs' four talented starting guards are led by newcomer Roman Penn, a transfer from Sienna who averages 12.1 ppg on 52.8% shooting from the field. Penn tops the team in three point shooting percentage (53.0%), steals (25), and leads the league in assists at 5.7 per game. The remaining three starting guards score primarily from behind the arc, with the trio of Anthony Murphy (10.2 ppg), D.J. Wilkins (9.9 ppg) and Jonah Jackson (6.3 ppg) shooting nearly as many threes as the entire Loyola team. Jackson leads the squad in made threes and shoots 38.8% on his attempts-- all but two of his 82 shots on the season have come from behind the arc.
The top bench players are 6'3" sophomore guard Garrett Sturtz (who leads the team in rebounds at 6.3 and scores 5.2 points per game), 6'2" junior guard Noah Thomas, and 6'7" senior forward Antonio Pilipovic. Guard/forward Tremell Murphy has missed 10 games with a leg injury.
Drake takes care of the ball very well, and shares the ball as well as the Ramblers. When you scan the MVC offensive and defensive statistics, you'll often find Loyola and Drake next to each other in the rankings on each stat. Loyola shoots somewhat better from the field than the Bulldogs, but Drake shoots much more often from three-point territory. The Bulldogs are better rebounders and shot blockers, but the Ramblers have been much better on scoring defense of late.
Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... 1_7_20.pdfDrake game notes: https://godrakebulldogs.com/documents/2 ... Loyola.pdfTV/Streaming video: CBS Sports Net
https://www.cbssportsnetwork.com/Radio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=17&type=LiveLive stats: https://godrakebulldogs.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summaryVegas odds: Pick 'em