Saturday, January 20, 2024 12:00 p.m.
Rose Hill Gym, New York, NY
The Loyola Ramblers will travel to The Bronx for an early Saturday afternoon game with Fordham at Noon Central. These two big city Jesuit rivals will face each other for only the fourth time ever, with Fordham holding a 1-2 advantage in the series. Last year, the Rams bested Loyola by a 71-69 score at Gentile Arena.
Less than 64 hours after Loyola’s amazing 79-78 win over UMass, the Ramblers will tip off again—800 miles away. It’s a very short turnaround, especially considering winter weather, the travel logistics, and time zones. Fordham is 8-9 overall, 2-2 in the A-10, and 198 in the KenPom ratings; the Ramblers are 12-6, 4-1, and 121 respectively.
Fordham was picked to finish 7th in the A-10 after their 25-8 record last year under first-year Coach Keith Urgo. Fordham earned a #3 seed in the A-10 Tournament last year, and their 25-8 record was their best season since 1991. But the Rams had one of the easiest schedules in the conference and finished the season at 137 in KenPom-- and they lost their top two scorers and their senior starting big man to graduation.
The Rams will likely start 6’0” Japhet Medor, 6’3” sophomore guard Will Richardson, 6’4” senior Kyle Rose, 6’5” senior guard Antrell Charlton, and 6’9” senior forward Abdou Tsimbila. Top scorer Medor is a grad transfer from UTSA and averages 12.7 points; he’s the team’s most prolific three-point shooter and hits them at 38.1%. Richardson averages 10.4 ppg and has scored a season-high 16 points four times this year, all in Fordham losses. Rose is a top defender who averages 8.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 2.2 steals. Chapman is a 6’5” point guard with impressive defensive skills—he averages 6.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, a team-leading 3.2 assists, and 1.7 steals per game.
In the frontcourt is Tsimbila, who is the defensive counterpart to 6’8” Elijah Gray—a more offensive-oriented power forward. Tsimbila is one of the three top shot-blockers in the conference, and excels in offensive rebounding. Tsimbilla averages 9.2 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 2.7 blocks per game while playing only 23 minutes per contest. Gray puts in 9.9 ppg and pulls in 4.7 boards in an average of 25 minutes per game.
Coming off the bench are 6’6” freshman guard Jahmare Tripp (4.6 ppg), 6’7” sophomore forward Joshua Rivera (10.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg), and 6’7” sophomore forward Joshua Rivera—the Rams’ best three-point shooter by percentage at 43.3%.
Fordham is a good defensive team, ranking 138th in defensive efficiency on KenPom. Their offense is ranked 252nd, which is not good, but only 35 places below Loyola. Curiously, Fordham has been less successful at home than on the road this year. Last year the Rams were 18-2 at Rose Hill Gym. This year they’re 4-6 at home, with losses to lowly-regarded NJIT, Central Connecticut State, and La Salle. Meanwhile, they’re 2-0 on the road in conference games, with a 3-0T win over George Washington and a shocking 80-74 win at St. Bonaventure (that’s a borderline Quad 1 win, folks).
The Rams' big strength is in the communication and cohesion of their defensive unit. There’s a lot of chaos that they cause, and they’re ranked in the top 50 in the country this year in offensive rebounds, steals, and blocks. They’re also 8th best in the country at keeping teams from making three-point attempts. In doing so they earn a lot of fouls and they make a lot of fouls. If the game is close (don’t they all seem to be this season?) Loyola will have to do better than their season average of 67.4% on freebies-- 297th among 360+ teams, and only 62.6% since the Harvard game.
Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... ordham.pdfFordham game notes: https://fordhamsports.com/news/2024/1/1 ... urday.aspx TV/Streaming video: ESPN +
https://www.espn.com/espnplus/player/_/ ... d1e211f887Radio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=169&type=LiveLive stats: https://fordhamsports.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summaryVegas odds: Loyola by 2.5