Saturday, February 25, 2023 5:00 p.m.
Chaifetz Arena, St. Louis, Mo.


Loyola takes the trip down I-55 to meet Saint Louis Saturday afternoon, with each team fresh off a tough loss in games they'd led much of the way. The Ramblers lost 71-69 to Fordham on Wednesday, while the Billikens lost 81-78 at Richmond on Tuesday after leading by as many as 15 points late in the first half.

When Saint Louis played the Ramblers on Jan. 18 at Gentile Arena, it was the first game for Loyola with their current starting lineup of Braden Norris, Jalen Quinn, Ben Schwieger, Phillip Alston, and Bryce Golden. And the Ramblers started out strong in that game, building an early 18-12 lead. But SLU narrowed the gap through the middle of the first half and surged at the end to take a 38-34 lead into the locker room. Coach Travis Ford’s guys were effective and methodical in the second half, building their lead up to 76-57. The story was inside shooting, where SLU held the Ramblers to 36.7% shooting inside the arc. The Billikens shot 63.6% from two-point territory. But there were some positive signs in that game for Loyola, notably that the Ramblers won the turnover battle 13-9.

Loyola has stuck with that starting lineup since the SLU game. In the 17 games before that matchup, Loyola averaged 16.2 turnovers per contest; that’s been reduced to 12.5 since. In the first five conference games the Ramblers gave up 85.4 points per game and were 0-5 in conference play; since the starting lineup change they are 3-7 (including one OT road loss) and giving up “only” 70.4 points per game. So… improvement. And maybe also better recognition of what it takes to compete and win in a new league.

The Billikens will start 6'0" senior point guard Yuri Collins, 6'4" junior Terrance Hargrove, 6'5" sophomore guard Gibson Jimerson, 6'6" senior forward Javonte Perkins, and 6'9" senior center Francis Okoro. Collins is not only one of the most dynamic players in the A-10, he leads all of college basketball in assists (10.2 per game) while ranking second in scoring (11.6 per game) for the Billikens. They're a different team when he's running the floor. Jimerson leads the team in scoring (14.2) as a killer three-point threat who can drive to the hoop; he shoots 39.4% from distance and grabs 3.5 rebounds. Pickett averages 11.4 points per game, and Perkins is a small forward who scores 11 on average. Okoro is the rim protector, leading the league in offensive rebounds (3.3), tied for the league lead in total rebounds (8.9) and leading the team in blocks (1.4); he averages 7.0 points per game.

The Billiken bench is strong and experienced with 6’9” big man Jake Forrester, 6'6" senior Javon Pickett, and 6'3" sophomore guard Sincere Parker leading the way. Son of and namesake of SLU legend Larry Hughes is a 6’4” combo guard who plays high single digit minutes and scores 1.9 per game.

Most Saint Louis fans came into this season with sky-high expectations. They pushed back whenever Dayton was talked about as a clear favorite in the league. They went out and got an extremely challenging non-con schedule that matched their expectations and ambitions—seven games against top 100 KenPom teams, and five of them against teams in the top 40. SLU went 3-4 against the top 100 teams and got a Quad 1 win against Providence. SLU was once 8-4 against a tough schedule (wins over Providence, Memphis and Drake) with a KenPom in the low 60s.

But in the last non-con game, SLU lost at home to SIU-Edwardsville, who made an improbable 18-point comeback over the last 11 minutes to win. They lost their second conference game at UMass, where even the Ramblers were able to eke out a rare W. They lost their best defensive player and clutch scorer to a career ending injury. And the league strength hasn’t been nearly as robust as most thought before the season, thanks in large part to the Ramblers, but also to these issues of attention to detail and closing out games forcefully. It seems like the league as a whole believed all the hype about itself and mailed it in too often.

So here we are coming into this game, which was one of the most anticipated games of the season when the schedule first came out, which is now a meeting between KenPom 104 and KenPom 255. SLU is 13-3 on the season at home, and Loyola is 2-7 on the road. Saint Louis will probably still get a double-bye in Brooklyn—their only chance at the postseason—unless they lose focus in this one. SLU has a season-ending home game with Dayton. The Ramblers are just looking for positives and hoping for a nice flourish nearing the end of a tough season.


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

Saint Louis game notes: https://slubillikens.com/news/2023/2/24 ... urday.aspx

TV/Streaming video: CBS Sports Network https://www.cbssports.com/

Radio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=146&type=Live

Live stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=428254

Vegas odds: SLU by 11.5

Nice preview and almost a summary of the season for both teams.

Hopefully it goes better than the women's matchup today.

_________________
MBB Scholarship Chart

Please make the officiating make sense.

Pretty uninspired 1st half. Disappointing.

There were a few tremendously bad calls against us, but overall... wtf are we doing?

_________________
MBB Scholarship Chart

Another snoozefest.

Hopefully Rubin can rebound.

_________________
MBB Scholarship Chart

Seems like fan interest is petering out for the seasons, players seem pretty unenthusiastic. Of course it's been obvious for a while this is a lost season, it's just kind of a bummer to have everything fart out like this before it's even March -- after 5+ seasons where the team was giving you a reason to follow along until the end.

This season is deja vu all over again for those of us who sufferred through the era of Will Rey, Ken Burmeister, Larry Farmer and Jim Whitesell.

_________________
Let's go Braden!