Thursday, January 16, 2020 7:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Ill.

Coach Bryan Mullins and his Southern Illinois Salukis head to Rogers Park for the rookie coach's first showdown with his former boss and many of the players he helped recruit. Mullins is credited with designing much of Loyola's defensive scheme, and his passion for defense is on display at SIU. The Salukis have the stingiest defense in the MVC (just slightly better than Loyola) and the sixth most deliberate tempo in Division I.

While SIU's defense has been very solid, they've had problems with scoring. With a brand new coach and the second least-experienced team in the MVC, SIU has had predictable struggles on the road (they're 0-6 in true road games) and away from home (1-8 outside of Carbondale). Add a few injury problems, and the Salukis are about what most observers expected-- a good home team thanks to their defensive mindset, but woeful away from home.

Coach Mullins starts one center, one forward, and three guards. The center is Northwestern grad transfer Barret Benson, a 6'10" big man who leads the team in rebounds (5.5 per game), blocks (0.9 per game), and shooting percentage (53.7%). Joining him in the front court is one of the top candidates for MVC Freshman of the Year, Marcus Domask, a versatile 6'6" forward out of Wisconsin who leads the team in scoring (14.5 per game), three point percentage (43.4%), made threes (33), free throw percentage (87.5%), and made free throws (42). Domask is also second on the team in rebounds (4.8 per game) and third in assists (2.58).

At the guard spot, one of the holdovers from the Barry Hinson regime-- 6'2" senior Aaron Cook-- was an early season starter before breaking his hand after only five games. Cook is about due back from his injury. Starting in his place the past 11 games has been another impressive freshman, 6'1" Lance Jones out of Evansville. Jones is averaging 6.1 ppg and leads the team in assists. Ronnie Suggs, Jr., a 6'6" grad transfer from Missouri, averages 5.8 per game for the Salukis. Eric McGill, a 6'2" senior, rounds out the starting lineup and averages 9.5 per game in his third season at SIU.

Last time out, reserve forward Sekou Dembele was knocked out for the season with a broken tibia in SIU's 67-48 loss at Bradley. That leaves only 6'6" freshman forward Karrington Davis, 6'4 sophomore guard Harwin Francois, 6'2" freshman guard Trent Brown, and 6'5" junior guard Brendan Gooch as available scholarship players. Only Brown, Davis, and Francois are averaging double digit minutes.

The Ramblers should be fresh and well-rested as none of their players logged more than 26 minutes in their 78-44 win over Evansville on Saturday. Fourteen Ramblers saw time on the court against Evansville, with 10 players scoring in the contest. Loyola shot 70.5% as a team from the floor against the Aces, but aren't likely to find the going as easy against SIU. The Salukis have held their opponents to 41.3% shooting on the season, and a league-best 28.9% from three-point territory.

The most obvious matchup of the night on Thursday will be how a savvy senior with Big 10 experience, SIU's Barret Benson, matches up with Cam Krutwig. But another matchup to watch is how Loyola defends SIU's freshman phenom Marcus Domask. Expect to see Loyola's best defender Lucas Williamson on Domask, but Tate Hall (two inches taller than Williamson and a little beefier) might get the gig. Either way, watch Domask-- he will be a top player in the league for the next three years.


Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... _16_20.pdf

Southern Illinois game notes: Pending

TV/Streaming video: NBC Sports Chicago, ESPN + https://www.espn.com/watch?id=2dd50c23- ... cago-US-EN

Radio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=19&type=Live

Live stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=280007

Vegas odds: Loyola by 10

Likely have two tickets available to give away for tomorrow's game if anyone wants them. Seats right behind the student section (well, right behind the blocked off rows behind the student section so you can see over them without standing).

Please PM me if interested. Will be downtown all day tomorrow and can meet.

Tribune: Bryan Mullins Returns to Loyola

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MBB Scholarship Chart

What the hell does "sitting 12 inches over" mean?

He was referring to moving from the assistant coach's chair to the head coach's chair. Out of context, the quote doesn't make any sense.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

Thanks ahunte.

I thought it might be some new, general purpose Millennial slang roughly equivalent to "Copacetic" or "Groovy".

Millennial #1: "How are you doing?"

Millennial#2: "Sitting 12 inches over! Just posted a photo on Instagram of me drinking a latte at Starbucks and already got 6 likes."

I feel like I would be under the 119.5 and take SIU +10, good thing I don't game where my heart resides.

Benson is the only SIU player with any size to match up Krutwig. I think this might get 'respectfully ugly' in Mullin's return to Gentile. They just don't have the depth.

Still available. Would rather these didn't go unused, but it is getting kind of late....

I'll take the tickets off your hands, but you have to give me some beer money too.