We're eight point favorites in Vegas.
Loyola and Northern have had one common opponent this year, Milwaukee. The Panthers won by 13 in DeKalb in the title game of the NIU Invitational tournament.
Northern's three wins have all come at home: a 60-59 win over San Jose State, a blowout win over Division II St. Joseph's (IN), and a 64-57 win over Dartmouth. They played Nebraska well on the road in a 63-58 loss, but they're coming off an 80-54 drubbing at #22 UMass on Saturday.
Individually, the players to watch are 6'9" 255-pound junior center Jordan Threloff (9.5 ppg/5.1 rpg), 5'10" sophomore point guard Travon Baker (6.4 ppg/3.0 apg), and 6'6" sophomore wing forward Darrell Bowie (10 ppg/6.6 rpg). The Huskies also have 6'11" junior center Pete Rakocevic coming off the bench averaging 5.1 ppg and 3.3 rpg.
Expect Christian Thomas to have his hands full with Bowie and interior help, and Osborne and O'Leary will have to keep out of foul trouble matching up with the NIU big men. In the backcourt, there aren't really any especially deadly three point threats (NIU shoots only 25% behind the arc as a team), but 6'1" guard J.J. Cravatta shoots 37% from three terrritory in limited minutes. If you're going to put them on the line, Bowie, 6'2" shooting guard Dontel Highsmith, and 6'7" wing Aksel Bolin all shoot below 55%. It should be an interesting test to see if our ostensibly superior guards can offset NIU's substantial interior height advantage.
My guess is Loyola 71, NIU 66.
Loyola game notes:
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/loy ... 217aaa.pdfNIU game notes:
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/loy ... aa_niu.pdfNIU message board:
http://www.csnbbs.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=468?fid=468Watch live:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/Loyola-Ramblers-Athletics