Tuesday, January 18, 2022 7:00 p.m.
Ford Center, Evansville, Ind.

Loyola extends their road trip south to the southern tip of Indiana to face off against the Evansville Purple Aces on Tuesday night. The former conference mates from both the old Midwestern Collegiate Conference and the MVC lead the all-time series by a 28-25 margin, but the Ramblers have won seven of the last eight contests and the last five straight.

In addition to familiarity with Evansville's program from two conference stints, Purple Aces Coach Todd Lickliter was head coach at Horizon League conference rival Butler from 2001-07, during which time he was 9-4 against Loyola with five of those 13 games going to overtime. Lickliter was also briefly a consideration as Loyola head coach when the Ramblers hired Porter Moser.

The Aces are likely to start 5'10" senior guard Shamar Givance, 6'3" senior guard Jawaun Newton, 6'4" senior guard Noah Frederking, 6'8" freshman forward Preston Phillips, and 6'8" senior forward Evan Kuhlman. Givance and Newton are a really dynamic pair in the backcourt, averaging 14.7 and 14.4 points respectively. They communicate and complement each other very well, using speed and energy to give opponents fits on both ends of the court. At 6'3", Newton pulls down a team-leading 6.1 rebounds per game and an impressive 1.6 offensive rebounds per game. Yet another senior, Frederking, chips in 7.3 points and ranks second on the team in steals. Kuhlman averages 6.4 points per game, can make some nifty passes in the paint, and is tied for the team lead in blocks, but he doesn't do much on the boards.

The top guys off the bench share sometimes starter duties with Philips. Six-three sophomore guard Blaise Beauchamp averages 6.5 ppg, 6'7" junior forward Antione Smith Jr. adds 6.2 points per contest, and 6'9" senior forward Iyen Enaruna averages 2.2 points. Six-eight freshman forward Blake Sisley has been getting more playing time lately, as has 6'0" junior guard Gage Bobe. But typically, Coach Lickliter will go nine deep even in close games, depending on who's healthy. Only four Aces have played in all 15 games this season.

Unfortunately for Evansville, having a 6'3" guard as your leading rebounder on a team that already has the worst field goal percentage in the league is not a recipe for success. The Aces as a team are also last in the league this year in scoring offense, field goal percentage defense, 3-point field goal percentage, 3-point field goal defense, and assists.

Last season, UE over-performed and finished with a 5 seed in Arch Madness thanks to the back-to-back home-home, road-road scheduling in reaction to Covid. The Aces have one of the best home-court advantages in the MVC, ranked 31st in all of Division I by KenPom and just a tenth of a point behind Drake. KenPom estimates the Aces get a 3.9-point boost from playing at home; in the already-tightly contested and slower-paced MVC, that's enormous.

That home court advantage has already shown up prominently in Evansville's home games this year-- a 20-point win over IUPUI, a close-ish loss to Top 100 UCF, a two-point nail-biter loss to SIU, and a one-point loss to Drake. But for three points, the Aces could be 2-2 in conference.

Loyola has dug a hole in each of their last three games with poor starts. No, wait-- that's a grossly misleading understatement. Loyola has been shockingly abysmal for the first 15-30 minutes of their past three games, with horrendous three point shooting, turnovers galore, shaky defense, and opposing teams using physicality to undermine the Ramblers' confidence. Nevertheless, those three consecutive double-digit comebacks leave the Ramblers at 13-2 overall, 4-0 in conference, winners of their last nine consecutive games, and busting into the AP Top 25 at #22. Tempting fate by spotting your opposition 15 points or more is bound to come back and bite the Ramblers if they let it keep happening, especially on the road, and yes, even at 0-4 Evansville.


Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... _18_22.pdf

Evansville game notes: https://gopurpleaces.com/documents/2022 ... f?id=10097

TV/Streaming video: NBC Sports Chicago, ESPN + https://www.espn.com/watch/espnplus/

Radio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=99&type=Live

Live stats: https://gopurpleaces.com/sidearmstats/mbball/media

Vegas odds: Loyola by 12.5

JCT...thanks for the preview...you should write for the Athletic.....I dont know but it seems that you can never take a game in the Valley for granted...fingers crosses....The Valley conference season is like watching the Sopranos. everyone's got a gun hidden shomewhere.

Because we've had our clocks cleaned just about everywhere in this conference at one point or another (even at Evansville), I don't take anything for granted, but I would really like to see a 20 point win here to boost our confidence, shake off the slow starts, and give us a bump back into the top 25 in the metrics.

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Appreciate another great preview JCT.

This screams trap game to me. As noted, Evansville has a large home court advantage. Also, it's the 2nd game of a road back to back. It's a midweek game. The players' schedules are changing with class starting. It's easy to look past the last place team.

With all that being said, I can't figure this team out so I hope they surprise me again and control the game for a full 40 minutes.

Need to cruise here, but like @ISUb, it seems we are always in dog fights @Evansville (or just getting our clock rung). We've played only bottom half Valley teams thus far and have struggled in each game. After today, the schedule turns up big time with MoSt/SIU/@SIU/@Drake on tap.

One thing I am really going to miss next year is the excellent previews JCT composes. Outstanding.

I am going to post this on our board (with full credit of course). If you object, I will gladly remove it.

I know we haven't provided much competition of late, but being a fan since before the MCC days, I really hope we see you on our schedule in the future.

Great preview JCT, your previews are one of the main reasons why I come to this board during the season.

Hutson has looked pretty rough lately but with their tallest starter being only 6’8, I feel like this would be a great opportunity for him to get going

I agree...out center position maybe a mix and match 4 headed monster.....who plays may depend on who we play

Big gratitude for the awesome preview, as always.

I think we all need to see a strong presence from the get go from the guys tonight. Given Evansville's success at home, I REALLY don't want to find us in a pinch once again. Agree with above around needing to build some confidence, and not trailing until the last few minutes. Tonight needs to be a big show of force for our guys, so we can shake up the rest of the MVC teams who are gunning for us.

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Merle Webb: Let's win this game for all the small schools that never had a chance to get here.