Sunday, February 19, 2017 3:00 p.m.
Redbird Arena, Normal, Ill.
Loyola travels to Illinois State on Sunday, likely just in time for the return to the starting lineup of MiKyle MacIntosh. The Redbirds were 4-1 without him in the lineup, suffering their only conference loss (an 86-45 humiliation at Wichita State, broadcast nationally on ESPN2). In the span without McIntosh there were also a few close calls, like a six-point home win over Northern Iowa, and ISU’s last outing where McIntosh had to return to the lineup from the bench to help ISU come from behind to win 67-66 at Missouri State.
On New Year’s Day, Illinois State embarrassed Loyola with an 81-59 shellacking at Gentile Arena, in which at least half of the 1678 to show up were Redbird fans. The tandem of Deonte Hawkins and MiKyle McIntosh caused huge problems for the Ramblers, combining to score 30 points on 10-for-18 shooting, and 5-for-9 from three-point territory. The two mobile forwards, standing 6’7” and 6’8” cause matchup problems for Loyola, because they can hit shots from anywhere on the court and have the capability to drive to the basket. The Redbirds shot 57.1% as a team in that game, by far the most efficient performance against the Ramblers by any team this season.
Keeping ISU well under their season average of 44.3% and away from the foul line is going to be rule number one if Loyola wants to stay in game at Redbird Arena. The Ramblers will also need some offensive contributions from the bench; last time out Loyola got only three points from the bench players (excluding Aundre Jackson), and that slim total was equal to the two previous games combined. Loyola hasn’t won at ISU since 1991. ISU is 13-0 at home this year, with an average winning margin of 11.2 points.
LINKS
- Loyola game notes: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/loy … 218aaa.pdf
- Illinois State game notes: http://goredbirds.com/documents/2017/2/ … _Notes.pdf
- TV/Streaming video: ESPNU (http://www.espn.com/watchespn/index/_/i … nois-state )
- Vegas odds: Illinois State by 9
