Thursday, January 27, 2022 7:00 p.m.
Banterra Center, Carbondale, Illinois
Just 46 hours after a 59-47 win over SIU at Gentile Arena, the Ramblers travel 342 miles south to face Southern Illinois again on Thursday night. Loyola's win was much closer than the final score for most of the game, but the Ramblers closed out the final minutes of each half with precision. Thursday's Covid makeup game at SIU will be Loyola's final trip to play SIU as a regular season conference foe.
The Ramblers were held to their second-lowest scoring output of the season on Tuesday, but managed to pull out a 12-point win over SIU, who matched their lowest scoring output of the season. Loyola had long stretches without scoring a field goal, but stayed in the game by getting to the line. The Maroon and Gold connected on 14 of their 17 free throw attempts and closed out the two halves on stifling scoring runs. Overall, Loyola shot 42.2%, but the Ramblers held SIU's leading scorer to a season-low tie of only six points in 36 minutes.
Third-year Coach Bryan Mullins will likely start 6'8" junior forward/center J.D. Muila, 6'6" junior Marcus Domask, 6'1" junior guard Lance Jones, 6'4" junior guard Steven Verplanckien, and 6'7" grad transfer Ben Coupet Jr. at guard. Four players from the bench get some considerable time on the court: 6'2" sophomore guard Dalton Banks, 6'9" sophomore center Kyler Filewich, 6'7" freshman forward Troy D'Amico, and 6'2" junior guard Trent Brown.
Domask is back from missing most of last season, and he's one of the most prolific offensive players in the MVC, averaging 15.3 points per game. He's passing better than ever, but given his offensive responsibilities on this team (one of the Salukis' best inside offensive players) his shooting percentage has fallen off a bit. He's making up for it by getting to the free throw line a bit more. The other explosive offensive player for SIU is Lance Jones, the Evanston native who scores 13.8 per game. Domask, Jones, and Verplancken have each hit between 32 and 36 three pointers, with Verplancken one of the most efficient behind the arc in the league at 45.7%. The Salukis' inside presence-- mostly in the form of 6'8" Muila and 6'9" Filewich-- are primarily for defensive purposes, but if they find the ball in their hands under the basket they can finish with authority. Filewich averages 4.4 points off the bench, and Muila scores 3.0 on average.
SIU stays in games with their defense and controlling tempo. The Salukis rank 353 out of 358 teams in Division I in tempo according to KenPom; the Ramblers are at 330. The Salukis like to make their opponents work, and drive the clock down to single digits most possessions. They are also among the best in DI at limiting offensive rebounds by opponents.
Both Loyola and SIU have three games in a five-day swing, starting with Tuesday, then against each other again on Thursday in Carbondale (the December Covid make-up game), folllowed by Sundays games-- Loyola at Drake and SIU hosting Valpo.
The Ramblers lead the all-time series 12-9, but Loyola has lost three of their last four games in Carbondale.
Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... _27_22.pdfSIU game notes: https://siusalukis.com/documents/2022/1/26/Loyola.pdfTV/Streaming video: NBC Sports Chicago, ESPN+
https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/eve ... %3AresultsRadio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=102&type=LiveLive stats: https://siusalukis.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summaryVegas odds: Loyola by 6.5