Loyola Ramblers Preview – https://loyolaramblers.com/news/2026/2/ ... orers.aspx

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

Record: 7-15 (3-6, 10th in A-10 MBB)
Coach: Darris Nichols
PS/G: 66.2 (347th of 365)
PA/G: 72.1 (139th of 365)
SRS: -3.97 (210th of 365)
SOS: 3.55 (97th of 365)
ORtg: 100.8 (330th of 365)
DRtg: 109.7 (272nd of 365)


LaSalle Explorers 7-15 (3-6) at Loyola Chicago Ramblers 5-18 (1-9) – 7:00pm CST, Gentile Arena, Chicago IL

The Ramblers, losers of 9 straight, host the LaSalle Explorers. LaSalle is winless against the Ramblers in 3 tries as members of the A10.

Friday night, the Ramblers continued their winless streak against VCU, losing 89-75. In the loss, Miles Rubin scored a career high 21 points and achieved his 6th double double of the season. The Ramblers led by as many as 15 in the first half, but it was not meant to be. With the loss, Loyola drops to 5-18 overall and 1-9 in the A-10.

La Salle travels to Loyola at 7-15 overall and 3-6 in A-10 play. The Explorers have dropped their last two games and face a 1-8 road record. La Salle ranks last in the A-10 in effective field goal percentage (.465), scoring offense (66.2), threes per game (5.1), and is alongside of us near the bottom nationally in offensive rating #330 and points per game #347.

The Explorers have had a very rough season so far. La Salle won just four of their first 10 games this year, and have now lost 9 of 12 coming into this matchup. The only victory in that time came versus Rhode Island on January 7. The next four were a 2-2 run with wins over St. Bonaventure and Dayton ahead of losses to Fordham and Saint Joseph’s.

Hosting Saint Joseph’s on Saturday, the Explorers lost 67-58. Rob Dockery was the only player on the team to finish in double-digits, notching a double-double on 26 points with 14 rebounds and five assists in the loss.

Jaeden Marshall leads the Explorers with 12.6 points per game. He has 14 games with at least 10 points scored this season, including four 20-point outings. Saint Joseph's held him scoreless last week, while Fordham held him to six. That was after back-to-back 20-point games vs. St. Bonaventure and Dayton. Jerome Brewer is second in scoring, averaging 11.8ppg on a pretty efficient 49 FG%.

Head coach Darris Nichols is in his first season leading the Explorers, coming from Radford where he led the Highlanders to two 20-win seasons over his 4-year tenure. He inherited a rebuilding situation at LaSalle and brings in a 97% new roster.

Not a whole lot of excitement leading into this matchup of A10 basement dwellers and offensively inept squads. LaSalle plays defense, Loyola does not. So, this matchup might be competitive and close.


LaSalle Probable Starters – 6-9 F Jerome Brewer, 6-6 G Rob Dockery, 6-2 G Jaden Johnson, 6-5 G Ashton Walker, 6-4 G Jaedon Marshall.

Loyola Probable Starters - Rubin, Amos, Anderson, Moore, Dotson


LAST 10 GAMES FOR BOTH SQUADS

Ramblers: 1-9, averaging 65.2 points, 32.8 rebounds, 14.4 assists, 4.3 steals and 3.2 blocks per game while shooting 41.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 79.6 points per game.

Explorers: 3-7, averaging 64.5 points, 28.8 rebounds, 12.5 assists, 6.8 steals and 1.9 blocks per game while shooting 40.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 75.8 points.


Watch / Listen – Tuesday night’s game will be broadcast on Marquee Sports Network with Jordan Bernfield and Kate Constable 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: Loyola -2.5

Clash of the titans

Titans from CHicago get the W.!!!!!!!

We won the ball game!

_________________
MBB Scholarship Chart

Yes we did win yesterday. Some thoughts:

1. We got off to a another ridiculously bad start falling behind 12-0. It was good see the team not quit and to battle back. LaSalle was depleted in that they were missing two of their better players, but hey...we've been playing short handed and Kymani and Chuck were still out yesterday and Justin's minutes were being monitored by the staff. I liked that, whether it was a conscious decision due to Justine's minutes being monitored or change in coaching philosophy that Justine and Kayde were split up a little and not on the floor all the time. SO, no sympathy or apologies for the win.

2. Was it just me? I seemed to notice that we got some good minutes off the bench yesterday and we climbed back into the game and played better with FEWER of the starters on the floor yesterday. The bench guys seemed to bring a little more energy and effort on both sides of the court that kinda gave us a jolt.

3. Some good efforts yesterday that should be acknowledged:

a. Nick Anderson. The kid is fearless and aggressive. He needs some polish but it great to see a Freshman who is out there flying around and contributing.
b. Alex Richardson. He some juice and was active. It looks like his conditioning and movement after the sprained ankle are back to normal. The ball seemed to move better and there was more player movement while he was in the game. Seems like we get into the habit of throwing the ball to Miles, especially on the low block, and standing still and the offense just stops at times.
c. Daniil Glazkov. We all talk about how disappointing he has been, but past few games he has given us some good minutes. He had 6 points (2 3's) and 6 boards yesterday. He's actually making a few 3's recently and when he gets them in the flow of the offense and is ready to shoot it, his shot has looked much better and they are going in. I don't know if the light is starting to go , or if he is just taking a f*ck it attitude and just forgetting the noise and just playing more free now. He got a good frame, he's athletic, and looks the part. The question has always been if he could get into the system and let his ability come forward without the hesitancy. Now, does this mean he is getting it, like Sheldon Edwards did after a slow start OR has he made up his mind he is leaving at the year and wants some tape to show and doesn't care about being yanked anymore?

These 3 guys had an impact on the win.

4. We are a much better team when move the ball, use motion, and slash to the basket. It opens up so much spacing and we get better 3 point looks in flow. We generally have not shot the ball from the arc when we force them or they don't come in the rhythm of the offense. Those "wild" 3's also hurt our ability to get to the offensive glass, which impacts one of our best assets, Joshua Ola-Joseph. It's hard to offensively rebound when you don't know when or where the shot is going to be taken and when and where to get to the glass, especially since 4 of the guys are playing well outside of the paint. As a side note and an illustration of this is Dennis Rodman. Why Rodman you ask? Simple. When the Bulls traded for him it was for his defense, rebounding, and the fact that he could play off ball and did not need a lot of shots or played called for him. When he got to the Bulls his rebounding started off slow. When asked about it, he stated that he just needed to figure out the triangle offense and where the shots were coming from. Rodman, a very good player who was often misunderstood, was a student of the game and understood the geometry of the game. If he knew where the shots were coming from and a shooters tendencies, he could figure out where the ball was most likely to come off the rim and the direction. He thus was always anticipating and constantly moving to get the spots. His rebounding after he got settled in was through the roof.

5. Davidson this Friday. I hope that we continue to see a lot of Nick Anderson, Alex Richardson, and Daniil Glazkov. If Daniil is going to stay or not, we need to know what we got in him. Keep Kymani out and let him get himself together. Davidson is beatable and then we get a week off before SLU comes into town.

6. I heard that our recruiting strategy moving forward might be changing. That we maybe concentrating on the transfer portal and the "agents" who represent kids in the portal. I think this is a mistake. There are a ton of guys who are D1 ready high school players. We see them in the A10 every year. LaSalle last night had a Freshman who was real good. The P5 teams get the one and done, and get the best transfer portal guys. They are not spending funds on very good high schools players that are gonna sit and probably leave. There's a niche there that can be exploited. Also, we signed a JC kid and we have had success bringing them in. There are also very good players who are not at D1 schools who move up and become successful. It would be mistake to shut yourself out of any talent market. IMHO, we need to be more targeted in our approach and firm up exactly what the identity of the team is and recruit to that profile. We offer so many kids that, as I have posted before, I am not sure if the kids who come here are really our first choice.

Definitely agree

Also, Rubin only one foul last night. That may be a first. Especially at 30 minutes of play