Wednesday, February 8, 2017 7:00 p.m.
Ford Center, Evansville, Ind.
Loyola defeated Evansville 67-61 on Jan. 21 before the largest crowd of the year (3006) at Gentile Arena. The fans showed up to watch Sr. Jean Dolores Schmidt receive induction into the Loyola Hall of Fame, and to see the Ramblers start a three-game conference winning streak. Evansville played the Ramblers close throughout, and took the lead briefly with six minutes left to play, then tied the game with four minutes left. Ultimately, the Ramblers pulled away as Bruno Skokna scored seven of his 13 points in the closing four minutes. The Purple Aces eventually ended their nine-game losing streak last time out with a somewhat shocking 74-66 win over Missouri State.
The Ramblers have lost their last two games, an overtime road loss to Missouri State and a home loss to Southern Illinois. The two losses to fellow middle of the pack teams have put a dent in Loyola’s once-promising chances of getting a three seed for Arch Madness.
In the previous matchup between the two teams, Loyola held the Aces’ leading scorer Jaylon Brown to just six points in the first half and 16 for the game, a good 4 ½ points below his season average. Ryan Taylor, the other big scoring threat was also held below his average. Six-three junior guard Duane Gibson almost single-handedly kept UE in the game with 21 points and nine rebounds on 8-for-12 shooting. Loyola was led by Aundre Jackson with 17 points; Milton Doyle, Ben Richardson, and Skokna also scored in double digits.
The previous Evansville game might have been a win, but the Ramblers didn’t play all that well. It came during a spell when Clayton Custer wasn’t feeling well, a seven-game span where the 6’1” sophomore guard scored only 38 points and was held to two points or less in three of those games. Donte Ingram was held to less than half his season average and got off only four field goal attempts. And the closeness of the game throughout (or perhaps illness?) kept both Cameron Satterwhite and Vlatko Granic out of the game entirely, as Loyola only checked in 8 players. Loyola is likely to have more players available to play at 100% in the rematch.
As the Ramblers are playing in southern Indiana on Wednesday night, Loyola fans will want to keep an eye on the score in Cedar Falls between UNI and SIU. The winner of the game between those two teams takes a step forward as the front runner for the three seed at Arch Madness. If Loyola fans are confident in beating SIU in Carbondale, they may want to hope it’s SIU coming out a winner. If not, they might be rooting for the Panthers, since Loyola will likely have an RPI tiebreaker over UNI.
LINKS
- Loyola game notes (PDF)
- Evansville game notes: Pending
- TV/Streaming video: ESPN3
- Vegas odds: Pending
- Ramblermania message board game thread
