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PostPosted: Fri Dec 03, 2021 10:37 pm 
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Location: Chicago, Illinois
Saturday, December 4, 2021 3:00 p.m.
Wintrust Arena, Chicago, Illinois


Two first-year coaches meet in the 57th all-time matchup between DePaul and Loyola on Saturday afternoon, with DePaul holding a 38-18 advantage in the series. It's the first meeting between the two teams since Dec. 29, 2012, when Loyola came out victorious in a 69-61 game at Allstate Arena in Rosemont.

DePaul's new Head Coach Tony Stubblefield is known as a great recruiter, and rose to prominence as an assistant to Lou Henson while at New Mexico State. When Henson had to step down due to health reasons, Stubblefield stepped in as Interim Head Coach and piloted the Aggies to a 2-12 record closing out the 2004-05 season. Most recently, Stubblefield was the top recruiter and assistant at Oregon for 11 years under Dana Altman as the Ducks returned to consistent competitiveness in the Pac 12.

Under Stubblefield, DePaul has a schedule that starts off with eight consecutive home games. Through the first six the Demons are undefeated. But there were a few close calls mixed in there-- a three-point win over Rutgers, a four-point win over Western Illinois, and a nine-point win over Northern Kentucky. The Demons deserve some significant credit in the schedule department, however-- they're playing road games at UIC and Northwestern. Maybe next year, a true road game at Loyola for only the second time since 1988?

The new-look Blue Demons feature an old nemesis, Javon Freeman-Liberty, as their leading scorer and focal point of their local media promotions. The local kid from Whitney Young was pursued by the Ramblers but eventually signed with Valpo. In six games against the Ramblers, Freeman-Liberty averaged 10.5 ppg on 35.8% shooting, while coughing up 3.3 turnovers per game. He's averaging 23.5 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 4.7 assist per game in the early home-cookin' schedule DePaul has played, with a high mark of 33 points in DePaul's 4-point win over the mighty Western Illinois Leathernecks. In his last game against the Ramblers, he scored only six points but Valpo came out with the win at Arch Madness 2020.

Rounding out DePaul's starting lineup are 6'8" forward Brandon Johnson (a grad transfer from Minnesota), 6'7" juco junior Philmon Gebrewhit, 6'6" sophomore forward David Jones, and 6'11" junior center Nick Ongenda.

Jones averages 16.7 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 2.5 assists, but commits 2.7 turnovers per game. Johnson is averaging 12.8 points and 8.3 rebounds while shooting under 50% from the field because he likes to shoot threes at a .158 clip. Ogenda is their shot blocker and rim protector who averages 2.2 blocks to go with his 11.7 points and 3.8 rebounds. Gebrewhit averages 10.0 points and 4.3 rebounds.

The starters play heavy minutes for the Demons, with all but Ogenda averaging in the mid-thirties in minutes per game. The top bench players are 6'5" senior guard Courvosier McCauley (a transfer two years ago from Lincoln Memorial), 5'11" sophomore guard Jalen Terry (a top 100 recruit out of Flint, Mich.), and 6'10 senior forward Yor Anei. They each average high teen minutes and 4-6 points per game.

The limited depth for the Demons means that Freeman-Liberty will probably be playing nearly 40 minutes as he did in the other close games DePaul played. Rambler defenders Marquise Kennedy and Lucas Williamson know Freeman-Liberty well and have a contentious history playing against him, so that will be an interesting matchup to watch. Three things to watch out for is Freeman-Liberty is getting to the free throw line more than in the past, his three point shooting appears to have taken a big step up so far this year, and his weight/strength conditioning is improved from his Valpo days. Keeping DePaul's other high scorers off the board will be another tough mission, but Loyola's depth and fouls to give will probably give the Ramblers the upper hand.

It's bound to be a close game playing a longtime rival with a new coach on their court. How the game is called may be a factor, so Loyola fans at Wintrust need to be extra loud to even out the home court advantage.


Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... 2_4_21.pdf

DePaul game notes: https://depaulbluedemons.com/news/2021/ ... urday.aspx

TV/Streaming video: Fox Sports 1 https://www.foxsports.com/live

Radio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=89&type=Live

Live stats: https://depaulbluedemons.com/sidearmsta ... ll/summary

Vegas odds: Loyola by 5


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PostPosted: Sat Dec 04, 2021 12:32 am 
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Joined: Sat Dec 05, 2020 12:45 pm
Posts: 193
Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan
Hoping we Ramblers show up loud and in big numbers tomorrow! Would be an awesome win!!


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PostPosted: Sat Dec 04, 2021 2:00 am 
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Joined: Tue Apr 20, 2021 3:25 am
Posts: 28
Let's Goooo!!!! Time to face some Demons!!!! Defense and rebounding!


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PostPosted: Sat Dec 04, 2021 3:08 am 
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Joined: Mon May 06, 2013 12:39 pm
Posts: 2494
JFL has been one of the top offensive players in the country this year. I'd love to see Lucas and Uguak hound him non-stop all game long, contesting every single shot. Contain JFL, win the game.


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PostPosted: Sat Dec 04, 2021 9:53 am 
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Joined: Mon Sep 23, 2013 1:02 pm
Posts: 1433
Good morning! If you are a DePaul fan checking our message board, I want to catch you up on what we’ve been up to since we last played on December 29, 2012.

We’ve been pretty busy! Here’s some of the things we worked on:

A Final Four appearance (4 Dance wins)
A Sweet Sixteen Appearance (2 Dance wins)
A No. 1 seed tournament upset
An NIT appearance
A CBI Championship
A Las Vegas Classic Championship
5 20+ win seasons
3 Conference regular season championships
2 Conference tournament championships
2 Top 25 end-of-season rankings
3 Conference Player of the Year awards
178 wins

We’ve also changed up our logo, built a new practice facility, and decided to move to the A-10.

Oh… also since we’ve last played, we’ve beaten at least one team from almost every “power conference:” BIG 10, BIG 12, PAC 12, SEC, and ACC. I say “almost” because we haven’t added a Big East team notch to our belt yet… but hey! We’ve got a chance this afternoon, right?

We’ve been pretty swamped with the winning thing, so I haven’t gotten to check in on you guys too much. Anyone want to chime in and give us a rundown on how ya’ll have been doing?

I don’t remember you guys making a Final Four….
…or a Sweet 16….

… or the tournament…

…or the NIT…

… I thought I saw you guys were in the CBI a couple years ago! Did you win that?

… any early season tournament championships? IF not – no sweat! Those are tough to win. Trust us, we know…. We could only scape 1 lousy win out at the Battle 4 Atlantis…

… I haven’t checked if you’ve had any 20 win seasons, but if you have and didn’t make the dance with that many victories in the Big East then you guys got screwed!

… in speaking of the Big East.. you still like it there? I bet they love having you! We are jealous of you on that one because your likelihood of making the Final Four goes up exponentially in that conference! Since we last played, your conference has had FOUR teams make the Final Four, and the lowly Missouri Valley Conference has only managed to make it there TWICE.

Anyway… Excited to play you guys this afternoon! Go CHICAGO!


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PostPosted: Sat Dec 04, 2021 10:32 am 
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Thanks for the excellent preview, JCT!

Toledo, if you were aiming for sarcasm, irony or, God knows, "humor", it is not sufficient to merely add a bunch of exclamation points and ellipses to an otherwise factual recitation.

Stick to what you do best...long form journalism...and leave the sarcasm to Swella!

And if it was supposed to be trash talk, it sounds like it was written by Sheldon Cooper.


Click here to learn how to add YouTube Videos to your phpBB forum


Last edited by swellafelon on Sat Dec 04, 2021 12:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Sat Dec 04, 2021 12:04 pm 
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Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2015 2:36 pm
Posts: 331
Hey guys,
It only matters what we do on the court today.
No time to pat ourselves on the back.
Let’s do this! I agree make some noise today.
Go Ramblers


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PostPosted: Sat Dec 04, 2021 1:11 pm 
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Joined: Sat May 04, 2013 11:58 am
Posts: 2604
Location: Livin in the middle, between the two extremes
Ramblerguy wrote:
Hey guys,
It only matters what we do on the court today.
No time to pat ourselves on the back.
Let’s do this! I agree make some noise today.
Go Ramblers


I don’t know if I wholly agree with that. If they’re actually selling beers for $2, as they’re advertising, what some do off the court could matter tonight and tomorrow morning.


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PostPosted: Sat Dec 04, 2021 1:15 pm 
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Posts: 4141
Remember to bring your bail bond card and wear clean underwear!


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PostPosted: Sat Dec 04, 2021 1:57 pm 
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Joined: Sat May 04, 2013 8:56 pm
Posts: 31
Actually, we beat Creighton 68-65 on December 5th, 2015. So, we do have a win over a Big East team since we last beat DePaul.


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