Saturday, January 14, 2023 11:30 am
Hagan Arena, Philadelphia, Pa.
Still seeking their first A-10 win, the Loyola Ramblers face off Saturday in Philadelphia against the St. Joseph's Hawks, the only other team in the conference that's yet to get a league win this season. St. Joe's, under fourth-year Head Coach Billy Lange, was tabbed to finish 13th in the A-10 men's basketball preseason poll. Both teams are 6-10 overall, 0-4 in the A-10 on the season; Loyola is 218 in KenPom and the Hawks are 239.
Despite being a fellow Jesuit school, Loyola had never played St. Joe's until the two teams were matched up at the 2016 Paradise Jam. The Hawks won that game 71-56, behind 26 points from Lamarr Kimble. The Ramblers and Hawks have split two games since: a 45-42 Hawks win in 2018 at the Palestra (Kimble again, with a three at the buzzer), and an 85-68 Ramblers home win in 2019. This game will be the first time Loyola has played St. Joe's in Hagan Arena.
Loyola is coming off a 74-60 loss to VCU on Tues. night-- yet another flub-filled turnover fest (22 compared to VCU's 12), and only the 5th worst game this year for turnovers. The Ramblers have lost five games in a row for the first time since opening the 2016-17 MVC conference season 0-5. In case you're wondering, Loyola's last six-game losing streak happened from Feb. 12 to Mar. 6, 2014, the last six regular season games of Loyola's first year in the MVC.
As bad as things have been for the Ramblers, St. Joe's is panhandling in the same neighborhood. The Hawks lost to Fairleigh Dickinson at home by 17 points (the Ramblers beat FDU, but it took a miracle shot and OT), and a neutral site loss to a not-very-good South Florida team by 13. St. Joe's started their conference season on the wrong foot in part because they caught four of the best/better teams in the league coming out of non-con: SLU, Dayton, Fordham and Duquesne.
The Hawks will likely start two forwards and three guards. Leading scorer Erik Reynolds is a 6'2" shooting guard who averages 17.4 points and chips in 2.8 assists when he's playing backup point. The main ball handler is Lynn Greer, a 6'2" sophomore who averages 8.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 4.4 assists. Cameron Brown is 6'5" senior guard/forward who is coming off a 25-point performance against Duquesne last time out; he averages 14.3 ppg, a team-leading 6.3 rebounds, and 1.7 assists.
In the frontcourt are 6'8" sophomore Kacper Klaczek (8.8 points, 5.6 boards) and 6'9" freshman Rasheer Fleming (6.4 points, 4.6 rebounds). Fleming splits time at the forward/center spot with 6'10" senior Ejike Obinna, who averages 7.3 points and 4.2 rebounds. Besides Obinna, 6'2" freshman Christian Winborne (6.1 ppg), and 6'5" junior Louis Bleechmore (1.9 ppg) get most of the time off the bench.
Because both these teams are tied for last in the conference with identical won loss records both overall and in conference, there’s not a whole lot of distance between them in offensive and defensive efficiency. But a few contrasts stick out: first, St. Joseph’s gets to the line a lot—they’re in the top 100 in free throw attempts per game. Meanwhile, Loyola is letting their opponents shoot way too many free throws (opponents averaging 27 attempts per game the last four times out—that’s insane!).
Second, the Ramblers are excellent at converting two-point shots, among the best the country (11th in two-point percentage, 31st in overall effective field goal percentage). That statistic by itself is on par with the recent Loyola tournament teams. And St. Joe’s is pretty bad at field goal defense—262nd in effective field goal percentage defense, and 264th in two-point effective field goal percentage defense. The only problem with this number is Loyola turns the ball over about 24% of the time before they can get a shot off; so correct the turnovers, and pound the ball inside. Loyola also has a net positive comparison against SJU in three-point shooting vs. three-point defense—but again, it only matters if the turnovers are cut in half!
Third, the Ramblers are really going to have to win with defense from here on out. Loyola is 6-0 when opponents shoot under 44%, 0-10 when opponents shoot 44.9% or better.
And finally, the Ramblers have only had three games this season where they shot more free throws than their opponents—only three out of 16 games! They were all wins, and all at home—Fairleigh Dickinson, Central Arkansas, and Albany.
In summation: Cut down on the turnovers. Keep them off the foul line. Pound the ball inside. Be patient for good shots. Make them work hard on defense.
Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... _Notes.pdfSt. Joseph’s game notes: https://sjuhawks.com/news/2023/1/13/men ... urday.aspxTV/Streaming video: USA Network
https://www.usanetwork.com/Radio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=135&type=LiveLive stats: https://sjuhawks.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summaryVegas odds: St. Joe's by 2.5