With great team play and a new attitude, Loyola men’s basketball finishes successful non-conference schedule for a great start to 2014-15 season.
Contrary to just about every prediction (including here), the Loyola’s men’s basketball team is off to a phenomenal start. The Ramblers finished the non-conference portion of their season with an improbable 10-2 record, capped by winning the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic with wins on consecutive nights over Texas Tech and Boise State. Loyola’s impressive turnaround from last season has been stunning and unexpected, and the team appears to be gaining confidence with each game.
Winning away from Home
The Ramblers entered the 2014-15 season burdened by a 19-game road losing streak dating back to January 2013, and a 2-21 record away from home in that span. After a dismal performance at Michigan State in the first road contest, the Ramblers debuted a super-energetic help defense at Texas-San Antonio, where they came out on top 71-57. The first road win in a year and a half was followed by another great performance at Kent State just four nights later, where the poise and teamwork of the young and undersized team was refined a bit more.
After another road win at UIC, followed by the two gutsy performances in Las Vegas, the Ramblers are 3-1 in road games and 5-1 in games away from Gentile Arena in the 2014-15 season. More important, many of the games on the road losing streak last year were the result of blown second-half leads. That hasn’t been the case in 2014-15; the Ramblers beat Boise State after trailing early in the second half by eight points, and have successfully weathered furious home team comeback attempts at Kent State and UIC.
Smothering Team Defense
After the departure of four frontcourt players from last year’s squad, the 2014-15 Ramblers were left woefully understaffed and undersized in the frontcourt. Just one player on the starting lineup stood taller than 6’5”, which presented an enormous challenge for the coaching staff—how to compensate when going up against much larger teams night in and day out. The answer has been three-fold: creating a really unselfish and hard-working team concept; controlling the tempo of games to advantage; and exploiting the gaps between frontcourt and backcourt defense through ball movement, shot selection, and athleticism.
The three-pronged strategy is paying off, and the team is buying in. Through Loyola’s 10 games against D-1 competition this season, the Ramblers’ rebounding margin has been -17, -2, +4, -15, -11, 0, +25, +9, +10, and +6. Notice a trend? It’s all the more phenomenal considering the height deficit the Ramblers are working with.
Meanwhile, the Ramblers have the second best field goal percentage and third best field goal defense in the MVC. Loyola leads the MVC in 3 point field goal percentage (39.8%), and are tops in 3 point field goal defense, holding the opposition to under 30%. Over the last two games– against Big 12 and Mountain West teams– the Ramblers held the opposition to a combined 6-for-51 (11.8%) three-point field goal shooting.
Through their 10 Division 1 opponents this season, the Ramblers have held five of them (including Loyola’s last three opponents) to their lowest scoring output of the season: UTSA, Jackson State, Southern Utah, Texas Tech, and Boise State. And three out of those five games were at road or neutral sites.
Loyola begins MVC play with a New Year’s Eve matinee against Bradley. The Ramblers are getting some notice around the league for their new attitude, great teamwork and impressive start, so they won’t be “sneaking up” on MVC foes when the conference slate begins. Nevertheless, the hard work and intelligent coaching in the early season has put Loyola in a position to potentially reach a postseason tournament for the first time since 1985 if the Ramblers can sustain their energy, teamwork, and confidence through the long grind of MVC play.
