Saturday, February 15, 2020 7:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Ill.
Even well before conference play began, it was apparent that Loyola's home game against Northern Iowa was going to be a hot ticket. When the Panthers knocked off Colorado on the road to go to 9-1 on the season, attention swung to UNI as the conference front-runner as preseason favorite Missouri State struggled, and excitement over Evansville's upset of Kentucky faded. The Panthers have met or exceeded expectations set in the preseason, and the Ramblers improved after early season stumbles and injuries. And now here we are, with Gentile Arena sold out for a Saturday night meeting between the top two teams (and perhaps the top two players) in the conference.
Loyola gave UNI a scare on Jan. 26 when the Ramblers rallied from an 11-point deficit to force overtime, but the Panthers dominated in extra time to secure a 67-62 win. Loyola held likely MVC Player of the Year AJ Green to only 14 points on 4 of 12 shooting (he averages 20.2 points per game), but freshman guard Antwan Kimmons tied his career high with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field and Austin Phyfe showed significant improvement with his footwork of offense while scoring 14 points.
Ben Jacobson will start four guards and a forward. Six-nine sophomore forward Austin Phyfe is joined by 6'4" sophomore AJ Green, 6'5" junior Trae Berhow, 6'7" senior Isaiah Brown, and 6'1" senior Spencer Haldeman at the guard spots. UNI also has talented players that could be starters on other teams-- like 6'4" junior guard Tywhon Pickford, 6'9" senior forward Luke McDonnell, 7-footer Justin Dahl, 6'6" freshman forward Noah Carter, and 6'0" freshman Kimmons.
Green averages 20.2 points per game to lead the league. He scored 27 last time out against Illinois State and 34 the game before that against Drake. UNI leads the league by far in free throw percentage at 77%, led by Green at 92.2%, Haldeman at 85%, and Berhow at 83.6%. And they also lead the league in three-point field goal percentage by far-- 40.2% as a team-- led by Berhow at 47.4%, Green at 41.4%, and Haldeman at 40.9%.
The Ramblers have to make the game be about their strengths-- interior defense, forcing turnovers, transition baskets, taking high percentage shots, and taking care of the ball. A And Loyola will have to do what they can to disrupt what the league's number one offense (and according to KenPom, the 13th best offense in Division I) does so well-- keep them off the free throw line, fill the passing lanes, guard the outside shooters well past the three point arc, prevent backdoor cuts, and make Phyfe work hard on both ends of the court.
In the recent past, both UNI and Loyola tended to favor a very slow pace with scoring in the high fifties or low sixties-- especially in conference games. This year, the pace both teams thrive on has picked up quite a bit, especially for UNI. The Panthers are 281st in average game tempo (they were between 327-349 every year since the 2014-15 season), and UNI is 5-0 in games played at a tempo of 70 or above (including their OT win over the Ramblers). Loyola is 3-3 in games played at a tempo of 70 or above, but they're also 2-2 in games played at a tempo of 60 or below. Loyola's sweet spot is between 61-69, where the Ramblers are 12-4. Coincidentally, the three games UNI lost were played at 66, 67, and 68. The Ramblers need to dictate the tempo of the game, because UNI actively (and effectively) uses speeding up or slowing teams down as one of their tools to keep the opposition off-balance.
Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... _15_20.pdfUNI game notes: https://unipanthers.com/documents/2020/ ... la_II_.pdfTV/Streaming video: ESPN 2
https://www.espn.com/watch?id=3cf7ec73- ... 2dbb2cb2dfRadio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=28&type=LiveLive stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=280011Vegas odds: Pick 'em