Wednesday, January 25, 2017, 7:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Ill.
Since Loyola and Bradley last met 18 days ago at Carver Arena, both teams have run into the mire of the MVC season. The Braves started the conference campaign with a somewhat unexpected 3-2 record after beating Southern Illinois, Evansville, and Northern Iowa. Injury, improved scouting, and a rough patch of the schedule have conspired to saddle the Braves with a three-game losing streak and more realistic expectations coming into their game at Loyola. The Ramblers have been treading water since their trip to Peoria, with a 2-2 record in some close games. A double overtime loss at Northern Iowa was especially frustrating, and last weekend’s game against Evansville was more stressful than a home game against an under .500 team should be.
The middle of the conference schedule is a place where a lot of teams start to show what they’re really made of, for both good and ill. Sometimes fatigue sets in. Sometimes weaknesses begin to get exposed or strengths are met with new counteractions. Last year around this time, a Northern Iowa team that started 2-6 in conference went on to win 13 out of their next 14 games. Also last year about this time, an 18-3 Southern Illinois team which was cruising through the conference at 7-1 started a four game losing streak and lost six of their next nine. SIU finished the year with a quarterfinal loss and a 22-10 record.
But for the time being, on Wednesday night, Loyola should be favored to beat Bradley handily. The Ramblers beat the Braves easily on Jan. 7 in Peoria, racing out to a 44-31 halftime lead and beginning the second half on a 10-0 run. Most of the damage was done by Milton Doyle, who scored a career high 35 points to go with a career high 11 rebounds. Doyle’s biggest moment in his freshman year was the buzzer-beating game against Bradley at Arch Madness, and since that shot the Ramblers have won 6 of 7 games from Bradley.
Since the last game against Loyola, junior Donte Thomas has been playing extremely well, upping his rebound and scoring averages considerably. Darrell Brown continues to make a case for Freshman of the Year with a team leading 12.3 ppg, and fellow freshman Koch Bar is still a force in the paint but tailing off a bit on the boards. Luuk van Bree had a 20-point game vs. Northern Iowa. Nate Kennell played well against Loyola, scoring 17 points, but has not seen nearly as much game time in the past few outings. Antoine Pittman is regarded as Bradley’s best defender, and he is back from his ankle injury which caused him to miss the last game against the Ramblers. Pittman will most likely be assigned to Milton Doyle, who will enter the game 23 points away from passing Les Hunter for 12th on Loyola’s all-time scoring list.
LINKS
- Ramblermania discussion
- Loyola game notes (PDF)
- Bradley game notes: Pending
- TV/Streaming video: CSN Chicago / ESPN3
- Radio: WLUW 88.7 FM (Get that WLUW app from Google Play or iTunes.)
- Vegas odds: Pending
