Saturday, January 8, 2022 3:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Ill.

The aptly-named Ramblers return home for the first time in over a month to face Bradley on Saturday afternoon. Bradley is making their last trip to Chicago as a conference foe as the Braves and Ramblers meet for the 68th time in a series that dates back to 1928.

When Loyola joined the MVC, Bradley had a commanding lead over Loyola in the all-time series. But Loyola has won 14 of the last 18 meetings between the schools, including four straight. Bradley still has the edge in the series with 36 wins to Loyola's 31.

Bradley got off to a bad start this season, losing their first five games against Division I opponents-- including upset losses to Howard (at home), Brown, and Duquesne. But in spite of the bad losses, the Braves played very competitively in close losses to Colorado State, and at Toledo. And BU won their home conference opener against a highly-touted Northern Iowa team.

Many Bradley fans have become impatient lately. It's Year 7 of the Brian Wardle era in Peoria, and despite three consecutive 20-win seasons from 2017 to 2020, he's still 10 games below .500 at 100-110. Braves fans were exceedingly patient while Wardle tore down and rebuilt the program, but last year's 12-16 season earned an 8 seed at Arch Madness and came with off-court legal/discipline problems and transfers that didn't work out. Wardle still hasn't finished better than a tie for third in his six full seasons, and last year's debacle-- followed by an 0-5 start against D-I competition this season-- has heated up his seat considerably. Adding more fuel to the fire are the fact that this year's two best players are juco transfers (not four-year recruits) and injuries have again scuttled some of the buoyant hopes for the past two years.

Bradley is likely to start 6'3" junior guard Terry Roberts, 6'9" junior forward Malevy Leons, 6'9" sophomore forward Rienk Mast, 6'7" sophomore guard/forward Jayson Kent, and 6'3" freshman guard Connor Hickman. Tops off the bench are 6'4" junior guard Ville Tahvanainen, 6'3" UC San DIego grad transfer Mikey Howell, 7'1" senior forward Ari Boya and 6'6" freshman forward Zek Montgomery. Second-leading scorer 6'6" senior forward Ja'Shon Henry has not played since mid-December.

Roberts, a transfer from Florida SouthWestern State, can really fill up the stat sheet. He averages 15.9 points, 4.0 assists, and 1.6 steals per game to lead the team in each category. He's tied for the team lead in made threes (shooting 38.3% from distance) and shoots 53% on his two-point shots. He also chips in 4.7 rebounds per game. The other juco transfer is Malevy Leons, who averages 11.2 points and creates matchup problems on great shooting inside and from range (41.8%). A Dutch transfer from Mineral Area College, Leons has an impressive wingspan which helps him tally 5.9 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game.

Mast leads the team in rebounds with 7.7 per game and adds 8.1 points in his sophomore season. Fellow sophomore Kent has recently been added to the starting lineup is averaging 7.7 points and 3.1 rebounds. Freshman Connor Hickman is a gym-rat freshman from Bloomington, Ind. who averages 6.7 points, 2.1 rebounds per game, and a high basketball IQ.

Despite the injuries that have cut their depth, Bradley is the kind of mercurial team that can really play to their opposition. They lead the conference in opponent's field goal defense percentage, and the two juco transfers are pretty talented. Jayson Kent is a Chicago-area product with the ability to explode on some teams-- he scored 15 against Drake in Bradley's regular season finale upset last year, and he put in a career-high 18 against Missouri State last time out. And Rienk Mast is a rebounding beast who can really get under the skin of his opponents.

The Ramblers have been riding high since their improbable, impromptu Q1 win over San Francisco. A game against a pretty good conference team with a losing record and a longstanding rivalry is a pretty dangerous trap-- hopefully the coaching staff and a loud, energetic crowd can keep the Ramblers' focus drilled in on the task at hand.


Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... 1_8_22.pdf

Bradley game notes: https://bradleybraves.com/documents/202 ... f?id=14930

TV/Streaming video: Bally Sports https://www.ballysports.com/watch/live/ ... la-chicago

Radio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=96&type=Live

Live stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=369445

Vegas odds: Loyola by 14

Anyone have any idea how full Gentile will be tomorrow? I’m a little worried it may a bit more quiet than normal. Students aren’t back from break for another week yet.

I'm expecting a dog fight. Nothing is ever easy with Bradley, despite us dominating the series in recent years.

Loyola at 13.5 is crazy. I’m hoping Vegas is right !

Will be interested to see Hutty/Knight against Mast/Boya. Valley play will have a lot of big matchups for Hutty, and at this point I’m still not sure where he stacks up against them all

Or Hutty/Knight/WELCH. Tom played great Thursday and for some reason Knight only played 5 minutes?

Ugly start. Going to be a defensive battle

I think the question is being answered...opposing skilled big men are just going to kill us this year. We have no answer for Mast.

Sadly you’re right, we just don’t have the size or skill to handle big boys this year. Would like to see if Welch can contest him more but the big man rotation is all over the place lately.

Saint gets burned on defense three straight possessions. Surprised to see Uguak back out there. Thought he had a concussion.

Might be time to double Mast. Hutty has nothing for him.