Loyola Ramblers Preview – https://loyolaramblers.com/news/2025/1/ ... rnoon.aspx

Saint Joseph’s Stats and Intel - https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/saint-josephs/men/2025.html

Record: 13-8 (4-4, 4th in A-10 MBB)
Coach: Billy Lange
PS/G: 76.2 (136th of 364)
PA/G: 69.2 (111th of 364)
SRS: 7.98 (90th of 364)
SOS: 1.03 (125th of 364)
ORtg: 109.3 (143rd of 364)
DRtg: 99.3 (83rd of 364)


Saint Joseph’s Red Hawks (13-8, 4-4) at Loyola Chicago Ramblers (12-8, 3-4) – 1:00pm CST Gentile Arena, Chicago IL

Saint Joe’s comes to Chicago for the finale of this season’s 2 game series. The Ramblers hope to turn February into a winning month and are seeking to avenge a 36-point loss at Saint Joe’s on January 11th.

Last time between these two teams was dreadful, and forgettable, and the game was over before it ever started. In that game, Saint Joe’s scored 53 in the first half, and 93 total, hitting 18 three pointers. Erik Reynolds II torched us in the first half. Derek Simpson had a career-high 19 points, also contributing six rebounds and three assists. Xzayvier Brown who continues to kill us led all scorers with 20. Rasheer Fleming couldn’t be moved away from the paint, tallying 14 with nine rebounds. Justice Ajogbor had seven points, seven rebounds, three steals and a season-high matching four blocks.

Saturday is the 10th all-time meeting between the Hawks and Ramblers with SJU holding a 6-3 series edge. St. Joe's snapped a two-game skid against Loyola with its win on January 11. Saint Joseph's is 1-2 all time at Gentile Arena.

Loyola Chicago returns home for a 2 game homestand this week following a 58-53 overtime loss to conference leader George Mason on Wednesday. It has been a rough last 6 weeks of basketball for the Ramblers who are 3-7 following a 9-1 start to the year.

The Hawks are 13-8 overall and 4-4 in A-10. SJU struggles on the road with a record of 2-3. The Hawks have league wins over UMass, Loyola, Davidson, and Duquesne, but have fallen to Saint Louis, Dayton, VCU and Duquesne. In A-10 play, SJU has the third best offense, scoring 75.9 points per game and are second in rebounding with 40.0 rpg.

Four Hawks are averaging over 10 points per game. They are led by Xzayvier Brown at 16.2 ppg on 41.5 percent from the field. He also leads the team in assists (5.1 apg). Brown has scored double-figures in every game this season, including six 20-point performances.

The Red Hawks will run a starting lineup of 6-10 F/C Justice Agabor, 6-9 F/C Rasheer Fleming, 6-2 guard Erik Reynolds, 6-2 guard Xzayvier Brown, and 6-3 guard Derek Simpson. Off the bench, forwards 6-8 Dasear Haskins and 6-6 Anthony Finkley both provide scoring and rebounding playing 20 minutes apiece.

Loyola Probable Starters – Watson, Dawson, Edwards Jr., Quinn, Rubin

LAST 10 GAMES FOR BOTH SQUADS

Ramblers: 3-7, averaging 69.3 points, 29.0 rebounds, 13.1 assists, 5.7 steals and 3.5 blocks per game while shooting 45.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 74.9 points per game.

Hawks: 6-4, averaging 76.5 points, 35.0 rebounds, 15.0 assists, 5.5 steals and 5.9 blocks per game while shooting 44.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 69.5 points.


[b]Watch / Listen –[/b] Wednesday’s game can be watched on CBS Sports Network with John Sadak and Tre Demps on the call, and can be listened to Rambler Sports Network with our friends Sudikoff and CT.

Postgame Show - Tune in to Sudikoff on RSN, followed by TalkinBlers Spaces on the X: https://x.com/blerstalking?s=21


Odds: Pending

" ....Last time between these two teams was dreadful, and forgettable, and the game was over before it ever started..."



Truer words were never written

lots of teams bundled in the middle.....couple wins moves us up into top tier....couple losses....

Just a heads up from Hawk Hill. We're the Saint Joseph's Hawks not Red Hawks. They are Miami of Ohio.

Thank goodness.

_________________
MBB Scholarship Chart

We survived a game that should have been a snoozer in the 2nd half
Students showed up again, good!


Downside
We let SJU back in the game from their half time 17 point deficit.
17 TOs for Ramblers
Poor from three at 27%, but SJU defended us well.
We had 6 ORBs to SJU’s 15
Our 2nd chance pts 8 to SJU's 11
Soft passes allowed for some of the SJU 6 steals
Miles fouled out near the end when the game was tight

Upside
With JD hitting the last 3 FTs, Ramblers ended with 73%
Pts in paint 34 to SJU with 20
Bench points 15 to SJU's 5
12 assists to SJU's 4

Drew played only 8 guys

Nice Win,,,,not necessarily a nice game...kind of felt like an old school MVC game and frankly I think SJ has more talent.
1. Felt in some ways like an old school Porter Moser W.....shutting down their top player Brown..(could argue he had a rough night) always hounding him. Fouling him rather than giving him an easy shot.
2. We only played 8 even with foul trouble. SJ only played 7. My thought is that Glaskov is ok at offense at this point but not defense and defense was going to be the key to this win and maybe cuz SJ did not sub much we did not have match ups we wanted to get Glaskov in.
3. Miles had an interesting game . looked physically overmatched a lot yet I thought our most successful offensive sets were when he high pick and rolled and the guards just cruised behind him for hoops at the
rim. Thinking they are guarding against the Miles dunks when he rolls...
4. Chalk it off to good LU defense or bad night from SJ but they only had 4 assists band shot 29% .
5. The best thing coming out of that game was maybe this team is gelling at the defensive end.
6. Worst thing...we continue to suffer from not having a ball handler and just make silly turnovers.
7. Has Sheldon Edwards become our best overall player?

Watching during the 1st half: Wow, we really might be a top 4 team. Double bye could be ours!

Watching during the 2nd half: Wow, we really might be a pillow fight team. Going to suck playing on a cold Tuesday night in Brooklyn in front of 20 people.

Reality is we are somewhere in the middle. A flawed basketball team that, at times, can play/beat anyone in this conference, while at other times, can certainly lose to anyone in this conference. Still think we are destined to a a 8-10/9-9/10-8 finish. Question is whether that is enough to keep us out of the pillow fight. Its a massive blob of mediocrity record-wise after GMU/VCU. At 4-4, we are a half-game game out of the top 4. But also a half-game above the pillow fight cut line.

I was at the Joes game and would share my observations. First half was the best defensive effort of the season. Second half got tight due to the usual suspects which pop up inexplicably, in addition to Joes ramping up their defensive man to man skills. I loved seeing Miles making a play on his own to the hoop and it is the second or third time Ive seen it and he should cultivate this more as our opponents are not looking for it. He needs to build his offensive skill set so opponents cannot lay off. We are slowly getting better at running the offense with Kymany doing a decent job handling the ball. Coupled with the good JQ we have taken a step in getting past not having Moore available. DeLoach still seems to take too long putting offensive rebounds up and doubles the problem in not shooting free throws at an acceptable level. Overall this team has enough to get into 4th place with what Ive seen. Defense is way better over the last four games. I hope to see Miles stay in games for more minutes, but don’t know how to make that happen. Confidence comes from success and lets see if we can carry the intensity into Tuesdays game. Go Ramblers
By the way great atmosphere at this game. Let’s keep that up.

It was a win. The second half was very disappointing after the way the team played in the first half. The team looked unprepared for the pressure that Joe's threw at us out of the gate after halftime. The TO's to start the half and which allowed Joe's back into the game were inexcusable. Many were lazy and careless. If I was scouting this team, I would press us for 40 minutes and take my chances.

I must also state that the officiating in this game was, to be polite, a little lobsided in Joe's favor. At one point with about 8 minutes to go in 2nd half it was 7-1 fouls in Joe's favor. They were being very aggressive and bumping and pushing just as much as we were. The FT discrepancy was ridiculous in this game. Perfect example, the travel on Sheldon in last 3 minutes of the game when we were about to extend out out to a 6 point lead was a horrible call. It changed the game and kept Joe's in it as they promptly went down and scored.

Finally, I have come to conclusion as I continue to watch the A10 this year. The A10 is NOT a great conference. I am not impressed by any of the teams I have seen play. It's a shame we can't seem correct the issues we all see because this conference could be had.