Saturday, January 13, 2024 3:00 p.m.
Hagan Arena, Philadelphia, Pa.

Loyola hits the road for a Saturday afternoon game against the Saint Joseph’s Hawks in Philly. It’s the conference home opener for St. Joe’s (10-5, 0-2), who has a KenPom ranking of 82. Loyola is coming in off a down-to-the-wire loss at home against Richmond.

This was going to be the year that St. Joe’s bet on Coach Billy Lange bore major fruit. Last year the Hawks had their best season since 2018, going 16-17 overall and 8-10 in conference. In both the A10 pre-season poll and The Almanac, the Hawks were picked to finish fifth. And aside from one bewildering stumble—a 57-54 home loss to Texas A&M—Commerce – the Hawks built their KenPom ranking up to 72 with a 10-3 non-con record. Their two top-50 wins, winning the Big 5 title, and taking Kentucky to overtime in Lexington turned a lot of heads and silenced most of the doubters.

But with the start of A-10 conference play, the Hawks have lost two road games in which they were favored, and blew big first-half leads both times. St. Joe’s faced last-place Rhody on the road to start the conference season, and after amassing a 48-35 lead early in the second half they were out-scored 43-26 over the last 15 minutes of the game. One week later, St. Joe’s led Saint Louis by 20 points (39-19) late in the first half. But behind 20 second-half points by Gibson Jimerson, the Billikens fought back and pulled it out 88-85.

The Hawks will start 6’2”junior guard Erik Reynolds, 6’2” junior Lynn Greer, 6’6” senior Cameron Brown, 6’9” sophomore forward Rasheer Fleming, and 7’0” freshman center Christ Essandoko. Reynolds averages 17.5 ppg and shoots 41.1% from behind the arc. Greer averages 12.7 ppg and leads the team in assists with 4.4 per game while also collecting 4.9 rebounds. Reynolds shoots 89.7% from the free throw line, and Greer fires them in at 84.7%. In the three games against Loyola last season, Greer and Reyolds combined for 110 points.

The rest of the starters have impressive numbers, too. Fleming averages 11.7 points, a team-leading 7.3 rebounds, and a team-leading 1.5 blocks. Cameron Brown chips in 11.0 points and 4.9 rebounds. And the rookie 7-footer Essandoko had 12 points and eight rebounds last time out against Saint Louis; he averages 5.9 ppg and 5.4 rpg.

The top two guys off the bench are experienced 6’8” junior forward Kacper Klaczek (5.1 ppg, 3.6 rpg), and 6’2” freshman phenom Xzayvier Brown, who averages 11.1 ppg while shooting threes at 48.1%. Six-six freshman forward Anthony Finkley also gets some playing time, averaging 2.1 ppg.

This was supposed to be the easiest stretch of St. Joe’s schedule—two of the bottom tier teams on the road, followed by mid-level Loyola, struggling LaSalle, and sputtering Duquesne at home. Starting off that string 0-2 makes Saturday’s game at Hagan Arena a must-win for St. Joe’s.

The Ramblers should have won last time out against Richmond. Loyola held the Spiders to their lowest scoring output of the season, but the offense missed on several chances down the stretch. An inopportune technical foul and some missed calls in the final minutes didn’t help. The defense for the most part is doing the job-- three of the last nine opponents have scored their lowest season point total against the Ramblers, and Loyola is ranked by KenPom as the 55th best defense, and second-best defense in conference play.

Unfortunately, Loyola’s offense is really sputtering-- down to 229th in KenPom. Philip Alston went scoreless for the first time in a Loyola uniform last time out. Turnovers have drifted back up to resemble last season, including a combined 36 TOs in the last two games. Loyola hasn’t had a game shooting 70% or better from the free throw line since November. So wouldn’t right now be a really good time for one of those mystifying, out-of-nowhere games where everything seems to go in?

Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... eph_s.indd

Saint Joseph’s game notes: https://sjuhawks.com/news/2024/1/12/men ... icago.aspx

TV/Streaming video: ESPNU https://www.espn.com/watch/

Radio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=167&type=Live

Live stats: https://sjuhawks.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary

Vegas odds: Saint Joseph’s by 6.5

again , thanks, I love these previews.
This game again is a toss up to me....if we play well we will be in the game...if not we could get blown out. To me it will be interesting to see how the team plays as an indicator of how Coach Valentines coaches the team after a poor performance loss....does he have a handle on the team? will they play with energy and synergy? Have seen some head hanging this year by Quinn and Watson. Just wondering what the mental, psychological mood of the team is...This is a hard league and we need to be full go I believe to get in the top 1/2
Bottom line though for me is I hope someone takes out that damn wing flapping chicken.

We have the D down, let's watch how we handle the ball and with Alston in possible low minutes (injury?) situation, keeping the fouls down too. I hope Drew has a good feel for his guys as 4 went 30 minutes last game - JQ 29 but let's call it 30. Dame a tiring 16 for that big body of his. As for JQ, love his athleticism et al but how coachable is he for ball handling? It does look like Drew is all in with JQ. I am pulling for him - h_ll, both of them!. Lastly, with St Joe needing a win and at home something may need to go wrong on their end for us to pull this one out. Yes, d_mn good updates JCT and thanks for the prior replies Nate. Go Blers!

Miles Rubin has blocked a total of 37 shots in 16 games this season for a 2.31 average which ranks 16th in the NCAA.

He had 2 blocks vs. Richmond on Tuesday, and he's had 2+ blocks in 11 games this year. Miles has had 3+ blocks in 6 games and 4+ blocks in 3 games.


Des Watson has scored double-figures in 4-straight games, the 2nd time he's done that this season, and the 4th time in his career.

Over the last 3 games, he has tied or set new season highs in:

Points: 24; Rebounds 6 (2x); Assists: 4; Steals: 4; Minutes: 36.


Jayden Dawson keeps setting new career highs:

vs. Richmond, JD played a career-high 33 mins, tallied the 5th 10+ point game of his career (16) &had a career-high 8 boards.

After starting the season 6 for 19 from 3P, Jayden is 23 for 49 (47%) over the last 8 games.


Braden Norris has been almost automatic as of late:

In the last 5 games, Braden is shooting 15 for 22 (10 for 14 from 3PT) with a 2.63 A/TO Ratio.

You want a bigger sample size? Sure.

In the last 10 games, Braden is shooting 20 for 39 from 3PT (51%).

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I think Jayden Dawson might be the best player on the team.

ROAD DOGS strike again! That's a huge win. On the road against a really good team that owned us last year. The revenge tour continues.

Big props to Jayden (he's a star). Rubin (some MASSIVE blocks). Alston (huge bounce back game for him and a show stopping dunk).

This team hasn't hit its peak yet. But is playing really well. Winning is FUN.

Very impressive road W and to come back from (I think) 8 down was outstanding. Made a lot of shots, but good clean looks. Talent is there and today I thought the staff was well prepped today and ran fewer ISO’s than the majority of the year.

Dawson said to ESPN after the game that the team is getting better and it shows. Great win! Drew has done a great job with the portal. Dame, Mwamba, Dawson, Watson, Dolan. They are all pitching in.

Wow. What a big and impressive win. Joes handled us last year - we couldn’t compete with their guards. So we have clearly made some big strides. Makes that poor performance against Richmond really sting doesn’t it?

If he was two inches taller he’d be an NBA guy. Still could be. I always thought back a few years ago if Earl Peterson and Devon Turk could combine their best skills it’d be a great looking player, think that might be JD.

Gritty win. Drew is figuring things out, he’s had some great timeouts the last few games. Still silly turnovers but the identity of this team is forming