Loyola Ramblers Preview – https://loyolaramblers.com/news/2025/11 ... tates.aspx

North Texas Stats and Intel - https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/sc ... /2026.html

Record: 2-0 (American MBB)
Coach: Daniyal Robinson
PS/G: 84.0 (145th of 365)
PA/G: 53.5 (36th of 365)
SRS: -7.50 (262nd of 319)
SOS: -34.50 (302nd of 319)
ORtg: 124.5 (82nd of 365)
DRtg: 79.3 (55th of 365)
Preseason Odds: Championship +100000


North Texas Mean Green (2-0) vs Loyola Chicago Ramblers (1-1) – 4:00pm CST NOW Arena, Hoffman Estates, IL

After Thursday night’s snooze fest and shocking loss to Mercyhurst (75-65), the Ramblers look to immediately recover against the North Texas Mean Green. Today’s game is a neutral contest at NOW Arena (formerly Sears Centre), located approximately 25 miles northwest from the city. Despite the neutral site location, the venue should be convenient for many suburban Rambler diehards to attend. Ticket availability as of this morning remains excellent. There is a pregame alumni reception too.

Loyola took their first loss of the year on Thursday night to the nation's 360th ranked team, a true autobid season-ender for most programs unless they win out in March. The Ramblers were trailing by 7 at the break and didn’t end up getting any closer in a 73-65 loss after a 39-38 second half. Justin Moore led the way this time with 25 points, eight assists and four rebounds. Rubin added 16 points with seven boards, and Ola-Joseph finished with 13 points, five rebounds and one assist in 24 minutes of work on the floor in the defeat.

"Mercyhurst came in here confident and recovered from a loss to Northwestern earlier this week. They bounced back and the coaches put their team in a position to win," said head coach Drew Valentine. "We came out with a lack of fire, competitiveness, and toughness. I have to do a better job of putting the guys in a position to win."

The Mean Green enter the weekend at 2-0 after downing New Mexico Highlands (88-54) and Northwestern State (80-53) on their home court earlier this week. Prior to the season tipping off, the Mean Green were projected 7th in the American Conference preseason poll. The team posted a 27-9 overall record and 14-4 conference finish last year. They made it to the NIT semifinals along with the Ramblers and fell to UC Irvine by two, 69-67.

The Mean Green will be a challenging opponent for the Ramblers, as their lineup features 5 players who are scoring in double-figures through the first two games (4 of them are guards).

The Mean Green also run a 4-guard lineup with center, just like the Ramblers.

6-2 Sr Guard Will McClendon leads the Mean Green thus far at 12 ppg, and is also the team leader in rebounding @ 5rpg. 6-2 soph guard Je’Shawn Stevenson @ 10.5ppg; 6-3 freshman EJ Horton @ 10ppg; and 6-4 junior guard David Terrell @ 10ppg.

Sunday will be the second time North Texas and Loyola Chicago have ever met. The Mean Green faced the Ramblers in 2021. They fell 57-49 at Loyola Chicago's Gentile Arena. UNT's new head coach Daniyal Robinson was Loyola Chicago's associate head coach under Porter Moser from 2013-15.

North Texas' 2025-26 roster features three players from Chicago: Dylan Arnett, EJ Horton and Je'Shawn Stevenson. None went to a high school closer than 30 miles of NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates. However, Arnett graduated from DePaul Prep, which is just five miles from Loyola Chicago's campus on the shores of Lake Michigan in the Edgewater neighborhood. Horton went to Wendell Phillips Academy in the Bronzeville neighborhood on Chicago's south side and Stevenson graduated from Robert Lindblom Academy in the West Englewood neighborhood also on the south side of Chicago.

This game will be challenging and is difficult to project. The Mean Green manhandled their two opponents this week, while the Ramblers have yet to figure things out lineup-wise, rebounding, hustle plays or defensively. North Texas has lost 5 of its last 6 games against non-AP ranked opponents at a neutral venue while the Ramblers have lost 7 of its last 8 games played at neutral venues. The Ramblers have been shockingly sluggish through two games so far, and should really wake up and bring the fire for today.


North Texas Probable Starters – 6-9 F Dylan Arnett, 6-2 G Will McClendon, 6-2 G Je’Shawn Stevenson, 6-6 G Demarion Watson, 6-4 G David Terrell

Loyola Probable Starters – Rubin, TBD, TBD, Moore, Dotson


LAST 10 GAMES FOR BOTH SQUADS
N/A


Watch / Listen – Sunday evening’s game is regionally broadcast on Marquee Sports and ESPN+ with Jordan Bernfield and Nick DiNardi on the call, and can be listened to Rambler Sports Network with our friends Sudikoff and CT.

Postgame Show - Tune in to Sudikoff on RSN, followed by TalkinBlers Spaces on the X: https://x.com/blerstalking?s=21


Odds: Loyola -1.5 (as of 10am 11/9)

Like to say that the first half did us in but we did come back and led in the 2nd.
Bad timing is our 1 of last 8 in FG to NT 3 of their last 3

Lost at the buzzer, tough loss.

Seems like a lot of people are already losing interest after this disastrous start. Few thoughts:

-Rubin should not have been sitting that long in the second half. Richardson has been really lackluster so far. Gets burned consistently on defense, not a great rebounder and too slow footed on offense. He did have one really nice pass in the 2nd half. Hoping Xavier can give some really strong minutes when Miles needs a rest.

-Another bad game from Moore. Poor decisionmaking and execution. Really need our PG to give us a whole lot more. The one possession where we were down 1 and chucked up three or four 3's (including two by Moore) was brutal to watch. Especially with how great our paint scoring was.

-Love is a certified star. Best Loyola freshman I can recall. Keeps this effort up and he will be a strong FOY candidate in the A10.

-Rubin's 2nd half was a beautiful sight. A monster on defense--no shot was safe in or near the paint. And had some great post moves.

-Tavarez is too streaky for my liking. Obviously carries us in the CSU game, but since then, he is 2-15 from deep.

-I am not sure what Harris brings to the team. Has played 26 minutes and score one free throw. And gets burned a ton on defense. Suspect he will be buried on the bench soon enough.

-It is November 9 and our at-large chances are basically dead. Fun.

Ton of other thoughts on the coaching, effort (or lack thereof in the 1st half), etc. But those are on top of my mind.

Don't recall Krutwig?

He does seems like he could be our best guard/wing freshman since Milton Doyle.

I agree with you that it seems like people are losing interest, which is too bad. The second half was a positive, imo. There's still plenty to play for, and it seems like Drew is figuring out who is actually going to give effort out there. I hate calling out players, but I'm not talking about a teenager here, and these guys are getting paid, so wtf is up with Dominick Harris? Too cool for school?

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As one of the foremost purveyors of Cameron Krutwig memorabilia (my basement has some real fun Krut stuff), that is an embarrassing oversight by me! Don't think Krut quite had the hops Love does...but don't think Love quite has the fancy down low footwork Krut had!

How dare you! Krutwig could easily jump over a phone book!

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MBB Scholarship Chart

I love the fight in the team that got them back in it (and in the lead) in the 2nd half. I think without that, a lot of fans would be giving up already. I hate all the attempted 3 pointers when we still have 15 seconds on the shot clock. A player like Amos will hopefully give us that forward who can attack the rim and open up options. OlaJoseph is close to doing that.

I loved the defense for most of the game and it was good to see us keep a team in the 60's. A few less fouls and they would have been in the 50's.

It appears this is the type of team that plays to the level of their opponents. Not a sign of a championship team, but I think there is plenty of reason to think this squad can still go toe-to-toe with the top of the A10

These types of weeks will test your fandom, enthusiasm, passion and energy levels.

The outcome sucked but was more disappointed that maybe only 500 of our people showed up. Low suburban turnout. We rented the arena to play what was a home game away from home. Pretty easy venue to get to also by car. You'd think the school would help shuttle students, The Pack, or make a better effort to fill the place. North Texas isn't appetizing, but still. 4pm tipoff was a good time.

So gamewise, halftime score was 34-20. By then atrocious 3pt shooting and bricked FT's were going to be the difference in the game.

Second half much better. Miles was back. Great defense and pressuring. At that point the offense re-prioritized attacking the lane and pounding the paint with Miles and Chuck.

4-5 minutes left, up-5 @ 55-50. Looked great. Then squandered away a 5 point lead and played from behind to final buzzer.

Awful execution and decision-making when we were down-1. Absolutely zero reason for anyone to be hoisting up threes (and very bad ones) in that situation.

It appeared like a travel / non-call on the Texas game winner. Got what they deserved again.

Did not think Chuck would get the starting role so soon but he's been by far the best and most consistent and given the highest effort of everyone in the first 3 games. His play was game-changing and outstanding in the second half. There was a good 5-minutes he controlled and influenced the game again.

So far in 3 games Dominick Harris has produced 1 point on free-throws. Richardson is a liability and very slow.

If there's a positive, lose what you can now and don't screw up from January thru March.