Saturday, January 15, 2022 6:00 p.m.
Hulman Center, Terre Haute, Ind.
The Ramblers make their last trip to Terre Haute as a conference foe on Saturday night, hoping to sweep the season series from the Sycamores. Loyola and ISU have played some intense games during their MVC rivalry, including some blowout upsets on both sides.
With their
88-76 win over the Sycamores on Dec. 1, the Ramblers took an 18-17 lead in the all time series with Indiana State that began in 1924. In that game that kicked off the conference season, Loyola got to see the new look and new style of play under first-year Division I Coach Josh Schertz.
Last time out, Indiana State had only 9 players on their trip to UNI and only 7 players available to play. Despite sending four freshmen (at least officially freshmen) and two sophomores out to play the Panthers, ISU had a big lead (55-38 with 12:38 to play!) over UNI in middle of the 2nd half. But lack of depth and inexperience led to a UNI surge to force overtime and a 80-74 decision that dropped the Trees to 1-2 in conference. Cameron Henry and Micah Thomas led the Trees with 18 points, and Julian Larry played all 45 minutes and scored 13. Freshman Quimari Peterson played 25 minutes and logged the first six points of his career. Six-eleven redshirt freshman Simon Wilbar shot all eight of his field goal attempts from behind the arc and hit three.
Indiana State postponed their Jan. 8 game with Drake because of Covid protocols, but elected to take the trip to UNI on Tuesday with only 7 players available. According to the ISU game notes, the probable starters against Loyola on Saturday night are: 6'0" freshman guard Micah Thomas, 6'3" redshirt freshman Julian Larry, 6'4" junior guard Cooper Neese, 6'6" redshirt junior guard/forward Cameron Henry, and 6'11" redshirt freshman forward Simon Wilbar. Unless there are late changes, the likely and available bench players are 6'6" redshirt sophomore guard/forward Xavier Bledson, 6'1" freshman guard Quimari Peterson, 6'10" freshman center Nick Hittle, and 6'5" guard Zach Hobbs.
ISU newcomers Henry (14.4 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 48% fg pct), Thomas (12.8 ppg, 29 made 3-pointers), and Bledson (11.7 ppg, 3.1 apg) have proven to be high-quality MVC players. Two holdovers from the Greg Lansing days, Neese and Larry, have played slightly better than last season and are playing strong leadership roles. Where the Trees are having trouble is closing out games, some of the fine points of playing together as a team with little experience together, and perhaps some scouting lapses. Theoretically, everyone on this team is capable of coming back next year with more experience and a better understanding of the league dynamics. They could be a top team next year if some of the multi-year seniors move on from this year's top teams and the new league teams (Belmont, Murray State, ???) have problems adjusting.
The Ramblers have struggled a bit, but overcome their stumbles in their last two contests. The vaunted, energetic, higher-tempo offense has looked tentative at the start of the past two games, and Loyola has looked a bit stunned by a higher level of physicality in MVC play. Where the Ramblers have looked best over the past two games-- when they came back from double-digit deficits in the middle of the last two second halves-- is when they turned up the defense, and used turnovers and momentum to power their offense.
Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... _15_22.pdfIndiana State game notes: https://gosycamores.com/documents/2022/ ... df?id=7006TV/Streaming video: CBS Sports
https://www.cbssports.com/cbs-sports-network/Radio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=98&type=LiveLive stats: https://gosycamores.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summaryVegas odds: Loyola by 9.5