Loyola Ramblers Preview – https://loyolaramblers.com/news/2025/12 ... urday.aspx
Princeton Stats and Intel - https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/sc ... /2026.html
Record: 3-7 (Ivy MBB)
Coach: Mitch Henderson
PS/G: 70.9 (306th of 365)
PA/G: 75.4 (221st of 365)
SRS: -7.06 (239th of 365)
SOS: 2.50 (109th of 365)
ORtg: 102.0 (297th of 365)
DRtg: 108.5 (272nd of 365)
Princeton Tigers (3-7) at Loyola Chicago Ramblers (2-7) – 1:30pm CST, Gentile Arena, Chicago IL
As part of a home/home series struck prior to the 2024-25 season, Loyola Chicago welcomes the Ivy League’s Princeton Tigers to Gentile Arena Saturday afternoon. This matchup might finally be the one that propels the Ramblers on a much-needed winning streak, as the Tigers come to town having lost 5-straight games.
Tuesday night the Ramblers were finally victorious, with a team effort lifting them past Central Michigan. Five Ramblers scored double-figures, including a game-high 21 points from Justin Moore. Moore went 10-14 at the FT line, making seven in the final minute to help Loyola Chicago seal it over Central Michigan Tuesday night, 83-72. This marked Moore's second 20-point effort this season. Miles Rubin had another strong game, tying his season-high 16 points on 7-9 from the field. He grabbed a team-best seven rebounds and tallied two steals and a block. Houinsou also brought his swiss army knife capabilities, even taking over at the point guard position at times and recording season-highs in rebounds (5), assists (6), and steals (2).
An energetic second half that featured team victories on the defensive end, offensive glass, from the free-throw line, beyond the arc, and inside the paint made up for what was a very lousy and worrisome first half that saw the Ramblers down 39-31 at the half.
"I am really proud of our guys. It has obviously been a hard month, and we've been trying to get the guys to compete harder," said head coach Drew Valentine. "It wasn't perfect, but I've been asking them to raise their floor. If we play hard for two possessions out of 10, can we raise that to six? And I think we raised our floor tonight with our effort. They locked arms with each other and got it done. It finally looked like they were having fun out there."
In this game, we also watched coach Valentine tighten his substitution patterns, reduce minutes or issue DNP’s on some guys, and improved play brought back glimpses of what had been known as Loyola Rambler basketball.
Princeton visits Loyola Chicago with a 3-8 overall record and on a five-game losing streak, losing at Monmouth 63-58 on Wednesday night. Four of their other 7 losses have been absolute blowouts to Akron, Kansas, Iona, and Bradley. The Tigers are winless on the road (0-4), so advantage to the Ramblers in the odds and prediction. Princeton has been a contending program in recent seasons, earning a very memorable NCAA tournament bid in 2022-23 (23-9 record) before losing in the Sweet-16 to Creighton. They’ve been a contending program other seasons, finishing 23-7 in the 2021-22 season, and 24-5 in the 2023-24 season. Both years they came up short in the Ivy League conference tournament losing in either the semifinal or championship game. Princeton was tabbed fourth in the Ivy League preseason poll after a 19-11, 8-6 finish last season.
The last time these two teams played was on November 15, 2024 at Princeton. The Ramblers won 73-68, led by Rubin in that one.
Princeton is having a down year and are trending near the bottom of the Ivy League. They struggle at scoring, around 70ppg which ranks #306 in D1. They also give up more points than they score, 75.4, and like the Ramblers have a poorly rated offense. This season, Princeton isn't shy from the three-point line, letting it fly 27.8 times per game (making 9.4), which is third most in the Ivy league and 73rd in the country in attempts. 6-0 junior guard, Dalen Davis, of Chicago’s Whitney Young high school, leads them in scoring, 16.5 ppg coming off the bench. Davis has scored at least 10 in every game, including two 20-point performances.
Mitch Henderson is in his 14th season at the helm with a 254-141 record. He’s led Princeton to two NCAA Tournaments since 2011-12.
Princeton Probable Starters – (lots of lineup shuffling going on with them so this one here is based on their most recent game) - 6-8 G Landon Clark, 6-9 F CJ Happy, 6-5 G Jackson Hicke, 6-2 G Jack Stanton, 6-6 G Sebastian Whitfield.
Loyola Probable Starters – Rubin, Houinsou, Love III, Moore, Tavarez
LAST 10 GAMES FOR BOTH SQUADS
N/A
Watch / Listen – Saturday afternoon’s game is nationally broadcast on USA Network with Steve Burkowski and Tim McCormick on the call, and can be listened to Rambler Sports Network with our friends Sudikoff and special guest filling in for CT – Tom Welch.
Postgame Show - Tune in to Sudikoff on RSN, followed by TalkinBlers Spaces on the X: https://x.com/blerstalking?s=21
Odds: Loyola -5.5 (as of 6pm 12/5)
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