Saturday, February 1, 2014 3:00 p.m.
SIU Arena, Carbondale, Ill.
The Ramblers have a golden opportunity to accomplish a lot on Saturday night against SIU on their first ever trip to Carbondale. Loyola has perhaps their best opportunity through the end of the season to break a nagging 14-game losing streak that has lasted over a full calendar year, stretching through two seasons in two different conferences. They have a chance to get their first road conference win as a member of the MVC. They have a chance to avenge a 71-67 home loss to SIU on January 8, and thereby repair a piece of damage for a possible end of the season tiebreaker. And they have a chance to pull out of the conference cellar just before a crucial two game homestand against two of the league’s weaker road teams.
Over the course of the Loyola road losing streak, they’ve lost eight games by five points or less and three games by one point. Meanwhile, the Salukis are perhaps the weakest MVC home team at 5-5 overall on the season, 4-5 at home against Division I schools, and only 2-3 in home conference games—including Wednesday’s surprising 19-point win over second place Indiana State. SIU has lost at home to Evansville, Drake, and WSU; their home win against UNI was by two points after trailing by 11 at the half. It won’t get any easier than this to win a roadie through the end of the year.
In SIU’s Jan. 8 win at Loyola (like Wednesday’s shocker against the Trees), the Saluki 2-3 zone gave the Ramblers fits. Senior guard Desmar Jackson scored a season high 31 points and dished six assists, many of them coming on baseline drives to the basket. As a team in that game, Loyola coughed up 17 turnovers, including eight from Milton Doyle. The additional possessions and four more trips to the free throw line helped SIU overcome a 55% field goal shooting effort by Loyola.
The keys to a Loyola victory on Saturday will be keeping the road butterflies away, taking care of the basketball, and keeping SIU from getting into an offensive rhythm. Desmar Jackson averages 19.9 ppg on the year (29.6% of SIU’s total points), ranks second on the team with 5.4 rpg, accounts for 19.1% of his team’s assists, and leads SIU in steals. So much of SIU’s game runs through Jackson’s scoring, assists, and defense, that in D-I games where Jackson has been called for three fouls or more, SIU is 1-11. In games where Jackson stays out of foul trouble, SIU is 5-4. The other player who holds a key to shutting down the Salukis is 6’2” sophomore guard Anthony Beane: when he scores 14 points or more, SIU is 5-2; they’re 2-13 when he’s held to 13 or fewer.
Vegas opening line: SIU by 4.5
Loyola game notes:
http://www.loyolaramblers.com/sports/m- ... 14aac.htmlSaluki game notes:
http://www.siusalukis.com/sports/m-bask ... 14aab.htmlStreaming video (pay):
http://www.siusalukis.com/allaccess/?media=415361Loyola audio:
http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/luc.portal#Saluki message board:
http://www.salukination.net/
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