Wednesday, December 1, 2021 7:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Illinois

The Missouri Valley Conference season opens early this year with a one-game Dec. 1-2 kickoff to the season. Loyola will play their game at home against Indiana State; Missouri State plays at Illinois State, UNI plays in Peoria, SIU is at Evansville, and Drake hosts Valpo on Thursday. The full conference season will resume beginning Jan. 2.

No other team made more changes in the off season than Indiana State. It began with the firing of their coach of 11 years, Greg Lansing. The Sycamores went 181-164 under Lansing's leadership, including a 2011 trip to the NCAA Tournament and an NIT bid in 2014-- all while being the lowest-budgeted men's basketball program in the MVC every year.

Loyola and Indiana State both have new coaches embarking on their first season heading a Division I program, but ISU's new head coach comes in with a stellar Division II track record. Josh Schertz compiled a gaudy 318-65 record at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee. His tenure there included 11 consecutive 20-win seasons and four consecutive 30-win seasons en route to nine trips to the D-II NCAA Tournament. He was NCAA D-II Coach of the Year four times.

Schertz has brought his high-energy, man-to-man defensive style (and a few of his best and experienced players) to Indiana State. Super-senior and preseason first team member Tyreke Key experienced a season-ending shoulder injury in training for the season, and only a few other holdovers (Cooper Neese, Julian Larry) remain from last year's team. ISU beat Green Bay on the road to open the season, and demolished Old Dominion 77-36 at the Coastal Carolina MTE. But the Sycamores ran into a buzz-saw after that-- a 24-point loss to Oklahoma, a 14-point loss to New Mexico State, and a 22-point road loss at Ball State.

The starting lineup is composed of two holdovers from Lansing's regime-- 6'3" sophomore guard Julian Larry and 6'4" guard Cooper Neese-- plus Lincoln Memorial transfers 6'6" junior guard Cameron Henry and 6'0" guard Micah Thomas, plus 6'10" junior transfer from Oregon State, Dearon Tucker. Loyola fans probably remember Julian Larry (a defensive-minded guard) and Cooper Neese (a high-scoring two guard who averages 14.4 points per game under Coach Schertz' high-energy motion offense). Cameron Henry is an athletic 6'6" guard averaging 14.7 points and 6.9 rebounds along with 4.1 assists. He knows the Schertz system, and thrives in it. Thomas is another LMU transfer who scores well inside or outside-- he averages 15.3 points per game while shooting an average of six threes per game at a 41.7% clip.

But starting lineups don't mean that much under Coach Schertz. The players who get starters' minutes are Neese, Larry, Thomas, Henry, and two other LMU transfers-- 6'6" guard Xavier Bledson and 6'7" forward Kailex Stephens. One thing that ISU players do well is get to the free throw line-- three players have made 19 or more trips to the line, six players have made double-digit trips to the stripe. All together, ISU players have made 122 trips to the line in seven games where they shoot 70.5%. Neese is the most dangerous from the line, getting there 27 times in 7 games and shooting 82%.

The Ramblers are returning from an MTE where they played well but only got one win out of three. One game was decided by a lob dunk with 4 seconds left, another was a fade down the stretch. The win came against a P5 team with a major player missing, but it was an emphatic win that showed the sky-high potential of sophomore center Jacob Hutson.

Loyola might need a lot of their depth to suppress the high-energy attack of the new-look Sycamores. The ISU bench goes pretty deep, and their energy is relentless throughout the game. There are a lot of athletic 6'6" and 6'7" guys running around, and it's hard to run an offense or defense against such an unconventional approach.

The Ramblers are working on a 26-game home winning streak, fifth-longest in Division I hoops. Since the start of the 2017-18 season, Loyola is 34-2 in MVC contests at Gentile Arena. Loyola is 17-17 all time against Indiana State, but the Ramblers have won 9 of the last 12.

Loyola Game Notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... 2_1_21.pdf

Indiana State Game Notes: https://gosycamores.com/news/2021/11/30 ... oyola.aspx

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

Radio/Streaming Audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=88&type=Live

Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=369442

Vegas Odds: Loyola by 18

Given the competitiveness at the top of the MVC this year, we must win all games vs the 'lower tier' teams (especially at home). Let's start things out right tomorrow.

I also went back and re-watched the MSU game. There was a stretch in the 2nd half where Lucas was just unstoppable on offense. Hit a big 3 and then was driving and finishing. It makes that last possession that much more painful. That game is going to sting for a while.

Side note re:ISUb
Jake LaRavia left when coach got canned and transferred to Wake Forest. He had a stellar game last night and hit the winner in OT to beat Northwestern last night.

Hope we're ready to play. This feels like a massive trap game with everyone talking about the DePaul game coming up. Put me down as nervous for this one.

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Thanks for the preview JCT.

I didn't know the new coach brought so many of his former D2 players with him, and that they've had success. Just shows there's not a lot of separation between quality D2 programs and most D1s. Witness Tate Hall as another example.

wonder if Porter gave Drew a scouting report?

JCT, double check your Micah Thomas info.

Watched their game against OK. Cameron Henry is impressive, do it all kind of guard. Cooper Neese can fill it up if we give him a chance. Should be a good one, and high scoring the way their coach historically likes his teams to push it

You are right, swella, Micah Thomas is a 6'0" guard, not a 6'7" forward. I got the incorrect info here...

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/pl ... mas-1.html

He didn't go to Lincoln Memorial either.