Sunday, January 19, 2020 3:00 p.m.
Redbird Arena, Normal, Ill.
Loyola heads down to Central Illinois for a frigid Sunday match up with the Redbirds, who-- if you haven't paid attention-- are struggling through a rough rebuilding year. Just four seasons ago, Illinois State tied Wichita State atop the league with a 17-1 conference record in a 28-7 season that was shamefully snubbed from the NCAA Tournament.
This year's young Redbirds, full of transfers and youngsters getting their first significant playing time, are abysmal away from Normal. They're 0-9 in away and neutral games, and the last six losses away from home have all been by double digits. But at home, Illinois State (ranked by KenPom.com as the MVC team with the biggest home court advantage, and ranking 4th in all of Division I) has been pretty dangerous. The Redbirds have knocked off two KenPom Top 100 teams (Northern Iowa and Belmont) at home in the cozy confines of Redbird Arena, and lost by only two points to UCF.
Coach Dan Muller has done a lot of mixing and matching with his lineups looking for a cohesive bunch to start games and keep everyone happy, so it's guesswork to try and predict who'll start Sunday. Nine different Redbirds have been in the starting lineup, and none have started every game. Based on the last time out, an 84-74 loss at Drake, ISU will start 6'8" redshirt sophomore forward Taylor Bruninga and four guards: 6'4"senior guard Zach Copeland, 6'1" freshman DJ Horne, 6'4" freshman Antonio Reeves, and big 6'6" senior guard Jaycee Hillsman.
Copeland is far and away the focal point of the offense, averaging 15.3 points per game on 40% shooting from behind the arc. More than half of Copeland's shot attempts come from behind the arc, and he's made 42 threes so far on the season, ranking 4th in made threes in the league. He leads the Redbirds in free throws made, free throws attempted, assists, turnovers, and steals. Hillsman, a senior transfer from San Jose State and a Simeon grad, averages 7.1 ppg and ranks second on the team in rebounding with 4.1 per game. Reeves, a highly-touted freshman out of Simeon, averages 6.5 per game and has been getting more minutes lately but still shoots well under 40% from the field. Horne is leads the team in three-point percentage at 45.2% and averages 6.9 points per game. Bruninga started last time, but has been playing limited minutes in the six games he's had since returning from injury.
Four part-time starters see significant minutes: 6'8" junior forward Keith Fisher III (another San Jose State transfer) has started 13 games this season and averages 7.8 ppg. Fisher leads the team in rebounding with 5.5 per game, but despite his height shoots under 47% inside the arc. Six-nine forward Rey Idowu averages 5.9 ppg and has made 14 starts on the season; he finishes well down low, averaging 54.9% shooting to lead the team in field goal percentage. Ricky Torres is a 6'2" grad transfer from Wichita State and leads the team in assists with 3.05 assists per game to go with 4.9 points on average. And 6'5" junior guard/forward Matt Chastain has started four games and averages 3.7 points while shooting 53.5 from the field.
Eleven Redbirds have averaged 10 minutes per game or more, but none average more than 28.4 minutes per game. Shot-blocking 6'9" forward Abdou Ndiye and 6'4" sophomore guard Dedric Boyd (a transfer from Eastern Kentucky) also see considerable time. Coach Muller has a versatile lineup, but watching them, one also gets the sense that they're not always on the same page and most of them are playing in Normal out of necessity or the best option in Plan B.
The Ramblers have been pretty good on the road this season. Loyola won at Ball State, beat Valpo on the road, and played well enough to shoot for a tie at the buzzer against Drake. The Ramblers also played well on a neutral court, beating Vanderbilt by eight. ISU is hard to predict, as they beat the league front-runner UNI at home, but lost to Missouri State at home a week later. One key is holding ISU under 40% on threes-- when ISU shoots 40% or less on three-pointers, they're 3-9. When they shoot above 40%, they're 3-2.
Loyola is 4-1 against ISU since the Redbirds' 2016-17 conference championship season. That season, Loyola's game at Redbird Arena ended with a Ben Richardson half-court heave at the buzzer that appeared to go 3/4 of the way down the hoop before popping out and giving the Redbirds a 65-63 win. The Ramblers were the second opposing team to play at Redbird Arena, on January 18, 1989; ISU beat the Ramblers 82-65. Loyola is 13-16 all time against Illinois State.
Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... _19_20.pdfIllinois State game notes: Pending
TV/Streaming video: ESPNU
https://www.espn.com/watch?id=5e2b721a- ... 6319dcd098Radio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=20&type=LiveLive stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=281401Vegas odds: Loyola by 3.5