Loyola Ramblers Preview – https://loyolaramblers.com/news/2025/11 ... state.aspx

Wichita State Stats and Intel - https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/sc ... /2026.html

Record: 2-0 (American MBB)
Coach: Paul Mills
PS/G: 90.0 (81st of 365)
PA/G: 60.0 (36th of 365)
SRS: 0.64 (166th of 361)
SOS: -29.36 (354th of 361)
ORtg: 124.5 (60th of 365)
DRtg: 83.0 (31st of 365)
Preseason Odds: Championship +100000


Loyola Chicago Ramblers (1-2) at Wichita State Shockers (2-0) – 6:30pm CST Charles Koch Arena, Wichita, Kansas

Loyola Chicago takes its first road trip of the season to Wichita State.

On Sunday evening, the Ramblers stepped onto the hardwood against North Texas and took another frustrating loss, 64-62, at the buzzer. After going down 14 in the first half (34-20 at the half), the Ramblers opened the second on a 9-0 run and led by as much as five. The final four minutes saw four ties and poor offensive execution in the final minutes to regain control of the game before North Texas hit a buzzer beater to take the win. The Ramblers didn’t help themselves shooting 32.7% from the field (18 of 55 overall) and 5 of 26 from deep. If we choose to look at it again this way, missed FT’s cost them the game, going 21 for 31. Defensively, the Ramblers made positive strides and improvements, and their defensive pressure and creation of North Texas turnovers is what got them back into the game immediately in the second half.

"Thursday was such a shock to the system that I think to start the game we were nervous to make mistakes," said head coach Drew Valentine. "We came out and were initiators in the second half. Hopefully we continue to do that. We had a lot of spirit, heart, and life in the second half. I'm proud of that fight."

The Ramblers love the 3-pointer, maybe a bit too much. Through its 1-2 start, more than half of the Ramblers’ field-goal attempts have come from beyond the arc, but they’re only converting 30% of them. That inefficiency has been costly: an eight-point home loss to Mercyhurst and a gut-punch buzzer-beating loss to North Texas.

Wichita State, 2-0 for the season and projected to finish fifth in the American Conference, has victories over UNC Asheville (75-58) and Prairie View A&M (105-62). Despite losing 12 guys and returning only 0.9% of their scoring from the 2024-25 roster, the Shockers are yet another brand-new team in-acclimation the Ramblers will play against. The Shockers average 90 ppg and they grab 45.5 rebounds per game.

Kenyon Giles leads Wichita State, averaging 17.5 points per game. He dropped 20 in the opener on 8-16 from the field. He followed up with 15 vs. Prairie View on 5-9 from the field. All five were from behind the arc. The Shockers also feature 4 others currently averaging in double-figure scoring.

According to The Wichita Eagle News, ‘Paul Mills has a number on his mind this week, and it’s not the score. It’s 75. That’s the percentage of defensive rebounds the Wichita State men’s basketball coach believes his team needs to secure to be victorious Thursday night when Loyola-Chicago renews a former Missouri Valley rivalry at 6:30 p.m. inside Koch Arena.’

“When you deal with one- and two- and three-possession games, that stuff makes a difference,” Mills said. “To not perform up to caliber against UNC Asheville, then do the same thing again, it’s just not good enough.”

The Shockers have been dominant on the offensive boards so far, ranking No. 8 nationally in offensive rebounding rate at 46.7%. In the season-opening win over UNC Asheville, that translated to 21 offensive rebounds and 27 second-chance points, a defining edge on a night when the team’s first shots weren’t falling.

Justin Moore leads the Ramblers in scoring and assists with 14.3 PPG along with 5.3 APG while also chipping in 2.7 RPG. Miles Rubin has 13.7 PPG with a team-high 6.3 RPG to lead the Ramblers in rebounding and Deywilk Tavarez has 11 PPG. Kayde Dotson has 10 PPG with 3 RPG and 2 SPG to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Loyola Chicago up to this point in the year. Chuck Love III has 9 PPG with 3.3 RPG while Joshua Ola-Joseph has 9 PPG with 3 RPG. As a team, Loyola Chicago is averaging 72.7 PPG on 38.5% shooting from the field, 30.3% from three and 72.2% from the foul line this season.

Wichita State is 27-9 all-time vs. Loyola, including an 11-game win streak in the series. The Shockers never lost to the Ramblers when they were members of the Missouri Valley Conference. This is the 37th meeting overall between both schools. Wichita State has also won 16 of its last 17 games against non-Conference opponents at Charles Koch Arena.


Wichita State Probable Starters – 7-2 C Will Berg, 6-5 F Karon Boyd, 5-11 G Kenyon Giles, 6-2 G Mike Gray, 6-5 G TJ Williams

Loyola Probable Starters – Rubin, Houinsou, Love III, Moore, Dotson


LAST 10 GAMES FOR BOTH SQUADS
N/A


Watch / Listen – Thursday night’s game is streamed on ESPN+, 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: Wichita State -4.5

Things I'd like to see:

-Strong start. We cannot be digging ourselves out of a hole every single game.

-Continued offensive aggression from Rubin. He needs to continue to go to the hoop.

-Fewer 3's. Focus on working the ball and attacking the basket rather than chucking up 3's.

-Moore stepping up to the leadership role we need from him. Better play from him and holding others accountable.

-Defensive aggression. No easy shots. Don't be lazy and fall out of position.

-A win.

How’s 1/5

They gotta bench Moore. He’s giving us absolutely nothing.

Also, every time glazkov goes out there the other team goes on a 10 pt run. I’ve yet to see him make a single positive play this year and he’s getting these minutes??

I was way early in my negativity on Drew when he was hired, but man it just is not looking too good. Hard to analyze how much was "hidden" with the leftover players from the PM era. I kind of thought after last season that he had come into his own and could build in this crazy portal era.

Not so much in '26.

And when Rubin leaves for the big $ next year, hard to see how this goes back up.

Sounds crazy after last couple seasons but if things get ugly I think he could be toast. There’s gotta be something weird going on, way too much talent and money spent, and he just looks incompetent.

Maybe they can give Dwyer the gig, although I now suspect there was some weirdness around that departure

Well this has been an incredibly embarrassing start to the season. I’m at a loss for words, if they don’t get better Drew needs to be on the hot seat.

Absolute ass.

I miss when this program LOVED playing defense. When we took pride in being a top 15/20 defensive team in the country. When they gave effort and fought every single possession. Now, they just don't seem to care. Constantly out of position. Slow and lazy movement.

Hate to pick on individual players, but Glazgov, Richardson and Harris all should be permanent bench fixtures. Guess it is hard to bench Richardson as he is the only backup for Rubin. But man, he is soft and cannot play a single lick of defense. Harris was pretty comfortable on the bench most of the game. Then came in and immediately turned it over and played bad defense.

I don't know what to say going forward. Colorado State comes to town Sunday. They've scored 98, 98 and 93 so far in their 3-0 start (all vs D1 teams). Expect our defense to be carved to shreds again and we will fall to 1-4. Will be our worst start since 2011-2012 when we started 1-7.

Agreed with the above post. Serious questions need to be asked of Drew and this coaching staff. There is a lot of money invested in this roster. And performances like this will quickly lead to fan indifference, a half-full Gentile and donors asking "why am I spending money on this?"

Well, our FTs have been better this season so far, BUT...

WS to Loyola

3's 50% - 44%
TOs 2 - 11
Pts off TOs 21-3
2nd chance points 22-5
bench pts 28-16
pts in paint 34-24
blocks 6-4
steals 6-2
time of lead 35 min - 2 min

Getting blown out isn't fun
We gotta do better

I wonder if Moore has had a setback with knee recovery… he looks insanely slow and can’t jump at all. Every time he does manage to get to the rim it’s an insta swat. Houinsou obviously hurt too.

Agreed on Richardson, what’s the point of playing a guy that big and slow if he’s gonna pushed around so easily? I find it hard to believe Young is worse than that, no idea why he’s stuck to the bench.

Glazkov is a lost cause, he’s unplayable.