Thursday, November 23, 2023 n 12:30 p.m.
T-Mobile Center, Kansas City, Mo.


Creighton defeated Loyola 88-65 in the semifinals of the Hall of Fame Classic on Wednesday, setting up the consolation game Thursday afternoon between Boston College and Loyola. Colorado State defeated BC on Wednesday, 86-74.

The Eagles entered the HOF Classic at 4-0, having defeated Fairfield, The Citadel, Richmond, and Harvard before their loss to Colorado State. Boston College was picked to finish 12th out of the 15 teams in the ACC. Loyola has only played Boston College once before, a 78-66 loss at the Ft. Myers Tip Off in 2018.

Loyola played well in the first half against Creighton, shooting 48.4% from the field and 45% from three. The Ramblers played reasonably well in the second half and made only 10 turnovers for the game. When Loyola slowed down the pace of the game midway through the second half, they cut the lead down to low double-digits before the Bluejays went on another run. Jayden Dawson was a surprise, coming back from injury to play 20 minutes, but he showed some rust on his shooting going 1 for 10 from the field. Des Watson scored 15 to lead the Ramblers, and Braden Norris added 14. Miles Rubin was particularly impressive coming off the bench to score nine points to go with seven rebounds, three blocks, and a steal.

BC will likely start 6’3” junior guard Claudell Harris Jr, 6’2” junior guard Jaeden Zackery, 6’6” sophomore forward Prince Aligbe, 7’0” senior forward Quinten Post, 6’7” sophomore forward Devin McGlockton. Post came into the tournament averaging 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds. He scored 22 against Colorado State, but shot only 6 of 15 from the field. Harris had 13, Zackery had 11, and Aligbe was the fourth Eagle in double figures with 10. In case the memories aren’t fresh enough in everyone’s mind, the 7-footer Post was 2 of 3 from behind the arc and is now 10 of 19 from distance on the season. The Eagles were also 20 for 20 on free throws, and they’re now shooting 84.8% as a team, which ranks in the top 15 nationally.

BC sits at 114 in KenPom, a little bit better on the offensive side than on defense. Loyola has fallen to 134 on KenPom after the loss to Creighton.


Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/news/2023/11 ... blers.aspx

Boston College game notes: https://bceagles.com/news/2023/11/22/me ... -city.aspx

TV/Streaming video: CBS Sports Net

Radio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/showcase?Live=156

Live stats: https://www.statbroadcast.com/events/ce ... hp?tid=870

Vegas odds: Pending

This will be the 3rd 7 footer we will have faced this year.?. I am hoping for Mwamba and Quinn to break out of their shells....both were the standouts in the scrimmage but have had a tough time getting going this season....

Preview of the post-game after Zachery makes five threes: "He's a guy that had only made two all year..."

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Miles with some freshman mistakes, it happens.

JQ and Braden must have looked at the last few game threads, picking it up early albeit a stretch of dumb turnovers.

One nice thing about Alston being out, we kick out from drives a lot more. Opens up a lot more shooting for Braden/Dolan.

Only five fouls. Other team missing threes. I'll take it.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

This would be a really good game to win, since the rest of our non-con is below 140 in KenPom. Also a P5 that might win a few ACC games.

Still too many TOs. And of course, our first possession of the 2h is an ugly one. Clean those up and we win.

Love the effort. Afraid Post is going to tear us up this half and we'll collapse and then they'll start hitting 3s.

Mwamba hasn’t been giving us much of anything the last few games. Everything has looked so much better when Dawson comes in for him

STOP TURNING THE DAMN BALL OVER. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH US!?

Turnovers is a staple of Drew's coaching style, all of his teams love em