Tuesday, November 16, 2021 7:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Illinois

The Ramblers continue their four-game home stand to start the 2021-22 season by welcoming Chicago State to Gentile Arena on Tuesday night. Loyola is 2-0 to start the season with wins over Coppin State and Florida Gulf Coast.

But guess who else is 2-0 on the season? That's right, the new-look Chicago State Cougars under first year head coach Gerald Gillion. The Cougars were winless in an abbreviated 2020-21 season and hadn't won a game since December 4, 2019 heading into this season. But Gillion, a former Samford and Tennessee Tech assistant in his first head coaching gig, has piloted CSU to their best season start in more than 20 years and their first two-game winning streak against D-I schools since 2015.

Coach Gillion has totally cleaned house from last season's squad, with only four players left over from last year's squad and none of the eight players who suited up against Loyola last year remain. Known primarily as a recruiter, Gillion has cobbled together a roster that includes seven freshmen and several juco transfers. Some of his finds seem like they'll make some noise at the D-I level and going through the Western Athletic Conference season.

The Cougars start a comparatively small lineup of 6'1" junior guard Brandon Betson, 6'2" freshman guard Kedrick Green, 6'5" senior guard/forward Coreyoun Rushin, 6'3" freshman guard Bryce Johnson,and 6'6" freshman guard/forward Jahsean Corbett. The top players off the bench are 6'3" senior guard Andrew Lewis, 6'9" junior forward Teddy Bayi Ba Mandeng, 5'10" senior guard Dominique Alexander,6'3" freshman guard Jameon Harris, and 6'10" senior forward Noah Bigirumwami.

The clear stars of this new-look CSU team are Brandon Betson (a juco transfer from California by way of Daytona State College in Florida), and Chicago Westinghouse product Coreyoun Rushin. Betson leads the team in scoring, averaging 20 ppg, and shooting over 50% from the field. Betson has connected on 54.5% of his threes (6 of 11), and leads the team in steals. Based on his first two games, Betson was named WAC Player of the Week on Monday. Rushin, a returning senior who played his first year in D-I at Idaho State, averages 9.0 points and leads the team with 8.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game. In a game last year at Drake, Rushin put in 17 points and snagged 9 boards.

CSU's two wins came against St. Thomas (new to Division I this season) and SIUE. St. Thomas went on to clobber St. Francis (NY) for their first Division I win after losing at Chicago State, and SIUE had just come up short in an upset bid at Marquette before losing 67-56 at CSU. As a team, CSU is shooting 49.1% from the field. They don't take a lot of three point shots, but they're connecting on 40.9% of their threes, which is very good. One of the key differences between this year's CSU team and past years is defense-- they're holding opponents to only 38% shooting from the field, and out-rebounding opponents by 7.5 boards per game. The Cougars play a style that depends on quickness, and one of the noticeable differences between this year's squad and prior CSU teams is hustle. They make a lot of mistakes as a very young team with many newcomers to the D-I level, but they play with a lot of zeal.

Loyola is looking to continue their home court winning streak, which now stands at 24 consecutive games dating back to December 2019. Saturday's 89-77 win over Florida Gulf Coast turned out to be more stressful than anticipated, mostly because of a 34-point explosion by a player who hit nine long-range three bombs. It's uncharacteristic for Loyola teams of the past several years to allow 77 points by an opponent; it only happened once last year (the loss at Wisconsin), and only once the year before (the loss at Furman). Tavian Dunn-Martin's 34 points is the most I can remember by a Loyola opponent for a long time.... AJ Green had 32 in an OT win at UNI in 2020. Giving up 77 at home might be a cause for some concern, because we haven't seen how the new offensive schemes will perform on the road. The last time a visiting team scored 77 or more at Gentile Arena was the opening game of the 2017-18 season, an 84-80 win over Wright State. Hopefully it was just a one-off crazy-good performance by Dunn-Martin, and not a sign the emphasis on defense might be drifting as the offense gets hotter.


Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... _16_21.pdf

Chicago State game notes: https://www.gocsucougars.com/news/2021/ ... -7-pm.aspx

TV/Streaming video: NBC Sports Chicago https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago

Radio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=83&type=Live

Live stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=369440

Vegas odds: Loyola by 33

JCT great preview
my gut tells me that this game is going to be tougher than our heads tell us it is going to be. Key will be Lucas Williamson vs Brandon Betson who has led the Cougars in scoring in both of their victories....One of the things I always checked under Porter was how the opposing teams leading scorer did against us and about 99% of the time we would hold him under his average considerably....
Out of all the Chicago area teams that I would like to see succeed Chicago St. tops my list,,but not tomorrow

Lance Jones of SIU went off against us for 30 last year in the last game of the regular season (the OT win). But Dunn-Martin was really something else. Think I saw that he had 24 of his 34 in the second half. Giving up 77 points at home vs a team like FGCU is mildly concerning. There will obviously be better offenses and better players than Dunn-Martin in the weeks and months to come.

Good to see Chicago St. off to a 2-0 start. I'm sure St. Thomas was excited to get CSU as their first D1 game, almost like a high school team scheduling the easiest opponent for homecoming. I'm sure it felt great for the the Cougs to beat them (also good that Saint Thomas wasn't allured by the prospect of playing for his namesake). CSU has become the butt of many jokes and a bit of a laughingstock/punching bag on social media. Hopefully the guys do not take them lightly--this isn't the same team/program that Loyola has seen in previous years.

I predict we'll win by 25. 88-63. I think our defense will continue to improve. It may take some time for us to get back to where we were last season with holding teams to an average of 57 points.

Might not happen in terms of raw points if for no other reason than we've been playing at a higher tempo so far this season (more possessions).

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I was thinking the same thing. It'll be interesting to follow the points per possession metric this year in comparison to years past. My guess is a great bet in Vegas all year long is gonna be to bet the over in Rambler games this year.

The Over is 2-0 so far!

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My seats open tonight, 104 D 8-11...let me know if anyone wants them!

So for those who are transferring tickets....I went through the process yesterday with the help of the ticket office. and I think once you do it , it is pretty easy to do.....Ticket office was over the top helpful

Gonna be interesting to see....remember how we always used to complain about how we didnt pursue offensive rebounds....and how oxen ball we played on offense....well that all was part of the Moser plan....always get back on defense to be organized and give up no fast break points...and wear them out with your offense by making them play defense for 35 seconds and running then into screen after screen and the result is it made it easier for us to play defense.......looks like the wild, wild west this year! certainly is more entertaining but will also be interesting to see how the stats work out.