Sunday, February 6, 2022 1:00 p.m.
JQH Arena, Springfield, Missouri


The Ramblers get a chance for redemption and an opportunity to nail down a quality win when they travel to Springfield, Mo. for a Sunday afternoon road game at Missouri State. The Bears, behind 40 points from Isiaih Mosley, beat the Ramblers 79-69 on Jan. 22 at Gentile Arena. The loss by the Ramblers was their first at home after 30 consecutive wins at the Joe, and knocked Loyola out of the AP Top 25.

These two teams have a history of handing each other embarrassing losses. Last year, Loyola demolished MSU in back-to-back games on their own floor. Loyola won the first game 72-46 (allowing no one on MSU to score in double figures), and the next day the Ramblers won 70-50. It was a pretty ugly shellacking by the Ramblers, the stinging memory of which may have been evoked by Coach Dana Ford just prior to their recent game at LUC. Only eight months after appearing in the Final Four, the Ramblers were issued an emphatic smack-down by MSU in Springfield, 70-35. And Loyola's first MVC win was a totally unexpected 89-57 drubbing against an MSU team that was 11-2 coming into their first-ever visit to Rogers Park.

After their big win over the Ramblers, the Bears stumbled in their next outing, losing to Indiana State 76-72 in Terre Haute. Mosley got 25 points in MSU's loss, and the Bears held ISU to only 42.4% shooting. But the Sycamores exploded for 14 three-pointers on 27 shots (51.9%), and got 12 more points from the free throw line to get the 4-point win. Significantly, MSU's bench only had eight points against ISU, and none of the supporting cast starters (Clay, Black, Patterson) reached double digits.

Last time out, MSU got an impressive win at SIU, pulling away at the end for a 69-54 victory. Loyola had a good game against Illinois State on Wednesday, but struggled a bit at the end. Four precious days of rest since their last game should help the Ramblers, and review of what went wrong against MSU in January should help make Sunday's rematch a bit closer.

The Bears are likely to start 6'9" senior forward Gaige Prim (14.5 ppg, 7.8 rpg), 6'5" junior guard Isiaih Mosley (21.0 ppg, 5.8 rpg),6'4" junior Ja'Monta Black (9.8 ppg, 61 made threes), 6'8" guard/forward Donovan Clay (8.5 ppg, 6.4 rpg), and 6'1" sophomore Lu'Cye Patterson (6.6 ppg, 2.5 apg). The main players off the bench are IUPUI transfer and three-point specialist Jaylen Minnett (8.8 ppg), Isaac Haney, and Dawson Carper.

Since beating the Ramblers two weeks ago, Missouri State has drifted up the KenPom rankings to land at #54 going into Sunday's game. With UNI's win over Drake on Saturday, the winner of this game will have sole possession of first place in the MVC.


Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... 2_6_22.pdf

Missouri State game notes: https://missouristatebears.com/document ... tes_25.pdf

TV/Streaming video: ESPN2 https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/ ... ected/true

Radio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=104&type=Live

Live stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=369879

Vegas odds: MSU by 1.0

Must-win game. Q1 chance. Shot at revenge. Grab sole possession of 1st. Get it done, Ramblers.

Good day for a couple of our opponents today. DePaul beat #21 Xavier on the road, Vandy beat #25 LSU at home and ASU beat #3 UCLA at home. Every little bit helps.

Any word on Marquise?

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MBB Scholarship Chart

It’s time to really see what this team is made of. We’ve had games against Michigan State and Auburn and even SF, but this game is the first one that really means something. Mo St. came into Gentile and ended our win streak. From the start, they were looking at our bench after every basket and playing like they weren’t scared of us at all. They wanted it more than us. I want the players to be pissed when they head out on the floor today. We’re stepping up to the A10, show the MVC that we’re a class above them. If we lose today, we don’t even control our own destiny in the MVC anymore. All the talk of the tournament, we need to take care of regular season business first. Today is the day to make a statement to the whole MVC. Go out and dominate. Show Missouri State that they don’t belong with us. You can’t control what has happened to this point in the season, but set the standard for the rest of the way.

Fantastic post, not much more to add. Go out and show Missouri State who is the class of the league. Go Ramblers!

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MBB Scholarship Chart

Knight in early foul trouble. I guess this will be the Gaige Prim game as he just backed down Welch with ease.

The good so far: We are changing up our defense. Good to see that we are trying something different to limit Mosely.

The bad so far. Shooting. We only win this game if we make shots. And so far we are cold.

One shot attempt combined for Lucas, Norris, Clemons, Knight, Schwieger... the guys who need to score

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MBB Scholarship Chart

6 points. 6 TOs. 5 fouls. Halfway though the first half. Brutal.