Good win, guys are really digging in and responding when the other teams go on runs. Still plenty of upside to tap into, we have yet to really fire on all cylinders in conference play, but still winning. UMass at home is a great chance to make a statement, and then three very winnable games to close out January.

Good win. They fought and found a way. My theory is that at the D1 level it is hard for one guy, especially a guard to be the whole show. During 40 minutes it catches up to you. It did today as Reynolds looked like he faded towards the end.

Thoughts:

1. This team is frustrating at times, fun to watch, and certainly not boring.

2. Kudos: Dawson is a baller. He has been fantastic on offense and his defense is getting better all the time. Rubin is a kid who always looks calm, but he’s a closet killer. His emotion after the block at the end of the game and the big rebound when he out fought a couple of Joe’s guys was great to see. He’s a game changer on defense and getting better all the time. He also got a 3.5 gpa for first semester! Alston looked lost early and then something turned on and finished in beast mode. The dunk out of the inbound play…freaking SPECTACULAR! Mwamba has been improving the last few games and is settling into his modified role. He’s bring a lot energy with him when checks in. Team played hard and tightened up last 5 minutes.

3. It wasn’t all sunshine and light. We continue to make things hard on ourselves. We were shaky early in 2nd half as we started to force things and for a few minutes got into hero ball mode. Welch’s T was silly. It also killed some momentum we had. It’s the second game in a row we got a stupid T. FT shooting was again horrible. We shot 12-20 (60%). We had 16 TOs, better than last Tuesday, but still too high. One was out of a TO when Norris made a lazy pass that was picked off for a breakaway dunk. We continue to make the game hard on ourselves and with all these close games these are the things that can turn the tide. Difference between comfortable 8-12 point win versus nail biters and tough loses like Richmond.

4. Can’t figure out if we are making progress or if the A10 is not that good.

5. I rewatched the game on DVR and I have to say even though the ESPN crew sounded like they were a Joe’s crew were pretty good. They were not afraid to point out bad calls, both ways and seemed like they did some research.

6. Should be a fun game Wednesday against Frank Martin and UMass. UMass will be coming off a 12 point loss to RI on the road. They will be loaded for bear. We win, we will tie our A10 win total from last year. The kids will be back and hopefully the JOE will be jam packed.

See you all at the Joe on Wednesday! Go Blers!

With 6:13 left, @RamblersMBB trailed 68-59. They finished the game on a 19-7 run.

Over the final 8 minutes of the game, Loyola had 1 turnover.

St. Joe’s was shooting 49% early in the 2nd half and finished the game at 41%.

_________________
Scott Sudikoff (X/IG @Sudikoff)
Voice of the Ramblers
Men's Hoops Radio PXP (X/IG @Rambler_SN)
ESPN+/NBC Sports Chicago PXP
https://loyolaramblers.com/watch
http://www.soundcloud.com/ramblersn

Dawson isn’t a transfer. Assuming just a typo though.

_________________
Scott Sudikoff (X/IG @Sudikoff)
Voice of the Ramblers
Men's Hoops Radio PXP (X/IG @Rambler_SN)
ESPN+/NBC Sports Chicago PXP
https://loyolaramblers.com/watch
http://www.soundcloud.com/ramblersn

Postgame interviews with Valentine and Dawson: https://on.soundcloud.com/bYCsJ

_________________
Scott Sudikoff (X/IG @Sudikoff)
Voice of the Ramblers
Men's Hoops Radio PXP (X/IG @Rambler_SN)
ESPN+/NBC Sports Chicago PXP
https://loyolaramblers.com/watch
http://www.soundcloud.com/ramblersn

If we could get our TOs down to around 8-10 per game. Cut back on the dumb personal fouls that get opponents into the bonus with 10+ min left. And consistently shoot 75+% from the stripe. Then we are a legit top 3 or 4 team in the league. Hell, if we could do two of those three every game, we are in contention for the double bye.

Dayton appears to be the class of the league and a step above everyone. But otherwise, there's no team that really seems better than us. Hope the confidence is growing with the team and they are realizing just how good they are. Drew has them playing hard and never giving up on games. To come back on the road against a really talented (and desperate) squad is incredibly impressive. One of Drew's best wins of his young coaching career.

@sudi, yep, typo or brainft?

The only A-10 team that beat us is now 3-0 in the league. Richmond won last night. Kenpom at 117, looking better.

Drew may be turning the corner with his players now and that includes spreading the playing time. I don’t know of any disgruntlement.

Mwamba is becoming a defensive steady eddy. But it was also fun to see him hit a 3 ball last night.

Norris is back in 2021-22 form. Good to see Alston play strong.

If we keep our heads in the game I don’t see why we can't win 5 of the next 7. This assumes mixing up some plays, decent ball control and movement - and not fouling 3 times within the first 50 seconds to begin a 2nd half! Did that actually happen or was it my imagination???

Let's next take down UMASS and get things started!

Here's another fun fact: our two road victories so far have come against teams that play us at home later in the conference season. Hopefully we'll be able to beat them both again with experience and a big, loud home court advantage.

A-10 is not having a banner year outside Dayton. Looks like it’ll be a 1-bid league so the higher the finish in conference the better the odds to get to the tourney.

Roster wise, this team stacks up with Dayton…hopefully the roll continues.