Tuesday, January 10, 2023 6:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Ill.
Loyola, still in search of their first win as a member of the A-10, returns home on Tuesday for a matchup with one of the top teams in the league, VCU. Coach Mike Rhoades is in his 6th year guiding the Rams, and has his team at 11-5 overall, 2-1 in A-10 play. The Ramblers have fallen to 6-9 with four straight losses and three conference setbacks. VCU brings a 112 KenPom to Gentile Arena, Loyola has dropped to 195.
VCU made seven straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 2011 to 2017, beginning with their First Four to Final Four trip in 2011. They joined the A-10 in 2012-13. Coach Shaka Smart created the Havoc defense at VCU (after inheriting the team from current Dayton coach Anthony Grant). Through Smart's successors Will Wade (2015-2017) and Rhoades (since 2017), the team has made high-pressure defense, points off turnovers, energetic play, athleticism, and positionless basketball their hallmark. Typically, a VCU team needs to have a KenPom defensive efficiency rating in the top 20 and an offensive efficiency significantly better than 200 to make the tournament. Currently, the defense is at 52 and the offense is at 206.
The Rams will likely start 6'1" junior point guard Ace Baldwin, Jr., 6'4" sophomore shooting guard Jayden Nunn, 6'7" sophomore swingman Jamir Watkins, 6'9" sophomore forward/center Jalen DeLoach, and 6'8" senior forward Brandon Johns.
Ace Baldwin may sound like the civilian name of a comic book superhero, but to the VCU fans-- and especially for the Rams' offense-- he's a superhero in real life. In 2021 he tore an Achilles tendon during the summer, but came back to the team (many think before he was fully healed) in December 2021. In mid-November of this season, Baldwin missed four games to have a screw inserted in his right wrist. Fans are hopeful the four-star recruit from Baltimore can return to his anticipated playing level this season. So far, he leads the team in scoring (13.3 ppg), assists (6.3), and steals (2.6) per game. He’s also their top three-point percentage shooter at 48.8%.
Johns, who weighs in at 240, ranks second on the team in points (12.6), rebounding (5.4), and blocks (1.1). DeLoach scores 9.1 point per game on average and leads the squad in rebounds (6.5) and blocks (1.6); he's the only starter shooting below 70% at the free throw line. Jamir Watkins also averages in double-digits (10.9 per game) and adds 4.9 rebounds per contest. Nunn averages 9.2 ppg, is second in steals, and fires in threes at a 42.2% clip.
Coming off the bench are 6'6" senior David Shriver, 6'6" sophomore Nick Kern, 6'5" junior Josh Banks. And Zeb Jackson is not one of those Confederate statues on horseback recently removed from Richmond's Monument Avenue, he's a 6'5" junior who averages 6.1 points and plays combo guard. The wide-bodied Shriver made six of eight threes against Davidson on Saturday and averages 6.2 ppg. Kern puts in 3.1 ppg and is one of six Rams with double-figure steals on the season. Banks scores 4.3 per game and shoots threes at a 39.3% clip. Note that the bench players are all about the same size and three of the four are long and athletic, which makes frequent subbing much easier in the high-energy defensive system.
The concept of “positionless” basketball is when versatile players with speed and athleticism switch off and double on defense, press on the inbounds, create mismatches on offense, and swarm to neutralize opposition advantages. You want to have multiple players who can play everything from the 2 to the 4 spots, tall combo guards, point-forward types, forwards with speed and a lot of length. It's been very successful for VCU, Florida State, and Dayton over the years, especially when they get a cohesive, talented group together and it all clicks. The downside of the philosophy is that the offense (especially field goal percentage and ball handling) can suffer, and it can falter in a half-court game where the refs swallow the whistles. This year VCU has had long scoreless streaks and some turnover problems, especially away from home.
Personally, I would love to see Loyola angle toward this approach. Miles Rubin seems like the perfect player to anchor a transition to this philosophy (too bad his brother didn't keep his verbal to LU), and Dawson, Quinn, Schweiger and Alston make up some other great constituent parts. When it’s working at peak it can drive the home crowd crazy. Plus, the Chicago area is full of talent and athletes that would perfectly fit into this approach but don’t necessarily fit the P5 recruiting profile.
But I digress.
I've said it about 12 times before, but this time-- for this game especially-- I really, really mean it:
Loyola needs to take care of the ball. No-- not just take care of the ball, Loyola needs to win the turnover battle. The Rams force a lot of turnovers, 17.6 per game, which ranks in the top 20 in all of college hoops. But VCU commits a lot of turnovers as well, and the Ramblers need to take advantage. VCU has taken the 14th most free throw attempts of any team in Division I this year, which has won them more than a few games; they had 35 trips to the line in their four-point win over Pitt, and 33 attempts in a three-point win over Kennesaw State, and 37 freebies in a five-point win over Vandy. Keep them off the line.
The visiting Rams are an impressive 10-1 in home games, but they're 1-4 away from their home court and 0-3 in road games (at Memphis, at Temple, at Duquesne). The Ramblers need to value the ball, control the tempo, keep VCU off the foul line, and capitalize on turnovers.
Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... _Notes.pdfVCU game notes: Pending
TV/Streaming video: CBS Sports Network
https://www.cbssports.com/Radio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=134&type=LiveLive stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=426264Vegas odds: VCU by 3.5