Tuesday, January 31, 2017 7:00 p.m.
JQH Arena, Springfield, Mo.
Loyola faces Missouri State just 16 days after the Ramblers overcame an 11-point halftime deficit to notch a 77-71 win over the Bears in Chicago. Since then, the Ramblers have won three of four and climbed a game above a pack of four teams tied for 4th. With losses in their last two games– against Drake at home and an overtime loss at SIU– the Bears are stuck at the bottom of that four-team morass, meaning they’ve fallen to what would be the 7th seed on Thursday at Arch Madness. Just after the loss at Northern Iowa on Jan. 18, the Ramblers were in a similar predicament.
Alize Johnson, who impressed everyone in the losing effort at Loyola, has been on a tear since that game, averaging 20.4 points and 12.8 rebounds in the past five games. Dequon Miller has scored in double figures in seven consecutive games while averaging 17.4 points. Miller has scored 16 points in every career appearance against Loyola, despite averaging 12.7 for his career. Chris Kendrix, who played great against Loyola until his over-aggressive foul on a Milton Doyle dunk resulted in a game-changing six-point possession for the Ramblers was demoted to the bench in the Bears’ last outing against SIU.
Loyola’s Clayton Custer was playing despite flu-like symptoms against MSU on Jan. 15, but seems to have finally recovered with a 15-point showing on 5-of-6 field goal shooting and a perfect 3-for-3 from distance. Aundre Jackson suffered a mid-season mini-slump just before Loyola’s last meeting with MSU where he scored just 13 points in three games, shooting only 40% on just 10 attempts. Since then, he’s back to his early-season form, averaging 14.2 points and shooting 72% from the field. Jackson still ranks 5th nationally in overall field goal percentage and 4th in two-point field goal percentage. The top 10 players in field goal percentage includes one 7’6” player, two 7’0” players, five 6’9” players, one at 6’7”, and Aundre Jackson at 6’5”.
One thing that hasn’t changed since Loyola’s last meeting with the Bears is MSU’s problems closing out games. Since blowing their 11-point halftime lead in their loss to Loyola, they had a six-point lead at home against Drake with less than five minutes left and failed to score on three possessions in the final two minutes of regulation of a 72-71 overtime loss. Against SIU on Saturday, they blew a 12-point halftime lead and lost their second consecutive one-point game in overtime. MSU has outscored their opponents by 205 points in first halves of games, but their opponents have outscored them by 17 in second halves. And the Bears are 1-3 in overtime, which includes the one-point losses in their last two games.
Missouri State has the kind of talent that can take over a game and make the opposition look silly for several minutes at a time, but when the clock becomes a factor they have frozen up or faltered many times. The Bears have had sizable second-half leads year over Valpo (8 points), DePaul (13), Indiana State (11) Illinois State (5), Loyola (11), Drake (9), and SIU (11) and got forced to overtime or lost. They have also had a lot of games where they’ve held a lead throughout. The Bears certainly pass the eye test on talent with flying colors, the question is whether they can perform when the clock becomes a factor.
LINKS
- Loyola game notes (PDF)
- Missouri State game notes: Pending
- TV/Streaming video: ESPN3
- Vegas odds: Pending
- Ramblermania discussion
