Sunday, February 4, 2024 12:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Ill.

Loyola welcomes the Davidson College Wildcats to Gentile Arena for the first time ever as an A-10 rival and the first time since a non-conference game in Dec. 2019. Davidson really beat up on the Ramblers last year in Loyola’s first A-10 conference road game, 80-57. Loyola hopes to even the ledger in Sunday’s Mimosa Special tipping off at Noon.

One of the obvious story lines for this game is the fact that Davidson transfer Des Watson has gone from a role player at Davidson last year to a star at Loyola this season. His points per game leapt from 9.4 to 13.0, and his three-point shooting has gone from 27.1% to 41.8%. With at least 11 games left in the season, he’s already exceeded his assist total from last year, he’s two steals away from last year’s total, and he’s two offensive rebounds away from matching last season. In his second-to-last game with the Wildcats last year he got his first KenPom Game MVP recognition, and this year he’s already had four of them for the Ramblers. And then there’s the body language…. It’s obvious this guy is having fun.

Another story in this game is whether Davidson’s second-leading scorer David Skogman is going to be available. The 6’10” senior forward from Waukesha, Wis. signed to play for former Loyola Head Coach Jim Whitesell at Buffalo. After Whitesell was let go, he transferred to Davidson. Skogman had an undiagnosed heart ailment that almost killed him as a high school senior, but has become a healthy and successful college player at a high level. This year, he’s had nagging foot and ankle issues that have caused him to miss three games; two were earlier in the season, and last time out against VCU he was in a boot. Skogman averages 13.3 ppg, 4.9 rebounds, and leads the team shooting 47.1% from three.

Coach Matt McKillop is in his second season after taking over for his legendary father, and has the ‘Cats at 12-8 overall, 2-5 in the A-10. Davidson has wins over Maryland and AAC-leading Charlotte. They’re at 125 in KenPom, just a few spots below Loyola—so home court advantage will need to kick in to help the good guys.

If Skogman isn’t available to start, the most likely starting five are 6’4” senior guard Grant Huffman, 6’5” senior guard Connor Kochera, 6’7” freshman forward Bobby Durkin, 6’11” sophomore Reed Bailey, and (starting in Skogman’s spot) 6’10” sophomore Sean Logan. Davidson is one of a very few teams in the A-10 capable (or willing) to play only two guards. They have seven players on their roster at 6’7” or taller, and four players at 6’9” or taller. KenPom ranks them as the 10th tallest team in D-1.

Huffman is the leader in scoring and assists at 13.5 and 4.9 respectively, plus he adds 5.0 rebounds per game. Kochera (out of Arlington Heights and St. Viator) averages 10.9 points and 3.9 rebounds. In the frontcourt, rookie forward Bobby Durkin is another Chicago-area player from Darien and Glenbard West; he averages 9.5 points and 4.7 boards. Bailey averages 10.4 points and 5.3 rebounds. Logan was the top frontcourt bench player before Skogman’s injury, and is their top shot-blocker with 1.3 blocks per game in addition to 2.9 points and 3.3 boards.

Coach McKillop rarely goes deeper than nine players, so the bench consists of 6’3” sophomore guard Angelo Brizzi, 6’4” guard Archie Spadone, and 6’7” freshman forward Hunter Adam. They each average between 11 and 19 minutes per game, and Brizzi leads the bench players with 6.0 ppg.

Most hard-core Loyola fans have seen Davidson’s unique style of play. They feel comfortable being deliberate in their pacing, but they can speed it up if they need to. The team, and its coach on the sidelines, are masters of manipulating pace to their benefit. They don’t have a lot of team speed (they look to the eye like a lot of lumbering big guys), but they have quickness getting shots off and a high level of discipline in positioning.

The Wildcats are 0-4 in conference play at home, and 2-1 in conference away games so far, but their two road wins were against St. Louis and Fordham. Their home losses have come against Dayton, Rhode Island, Richmond, and VCU. The Ramblers are 3-1 at home and 3-1 away in conference.

The Wildcats are in the top 20 in college basketball in forcing long offensive possessions on their opponents… if the Ramblers can be patient, take care of the ball, hit a few threes, and get to the free throw line they’re likely to win. Davidson does not shoot the three well as a team, and if Skogman is out it should be more difficult. Hey, I’m still honked-off about that 59-56 loss to Davidson on Dec. 22, 2019. Loyola had a 9-point second half lead, but freshman Hyunjung Lee came off the bench to score 19 points, including the three-pointer with seconds left that won it. Payback time.


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

Davidson game notes: https://davidsonwildcats.com/documents/ ... hicago.pdf

TV/Streaming video: CBS Sports Network https://www.cbssports.com/cbssports

Radio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=172&type=Live

Live stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=482157

Vegas odds: Loyola by 4

JCT .. been meaning to thank you for the great job on the previews. I look forward to them! Go Ramblers lets get one tomorrow!

Here’s a big copy and paste of some of my game notes for tomorrow:

Beat Saint Louis 77-62
Shot 47% (now 9-1 when shooting 45% or better)
Allowed just 36% (now 10-1 when opponents shoots under 40%)
Now 10-1 when allowing under 70 points (4-1 when allowing under 60)
19 assists on 26 FGM (73% assist rate) – KenPom: 62.1% A/FGM rate is 10th best in nation
8 blocks (3rd time this season with 8+, season-high is 9)
Des Watson led team with 20 points, Loyola is now 8-2 when a player scores 20+

More Defense
46.2% Effective FG% is 29th best in the country
42.1% 2PT Defense is 2nd best
39.7% "regular" FG% defense ranks 19th in the NCAA

Loyola is 5-1 when they score 10 or more second chance points
Loyola is 9-2 when they win the rebounding battle
Loyola is 6-0 when they win the rebounding battle by 10+

Sean Dwyer, assistant coach "runs" the offense – his relationship with Valentine dates back to being at Michigan State together, and then coaching against each other in the Horizon League (Valentine at Oakland, Dwyer at Northern Kentucky) and both are Michigan natives.

Justin Bradley, assistant coach "runs" the defense

Will Bailey, assistant coach spent the last 7 years at Saint Louis, and prior 6 years at LaSalle, so A LOT of A10 knowledge, but he's a Chicago native, southside, Dunbar High School

Des Watson
3rd 20+ point game of season vs. Saint Louis
Has scored 15+ points 8 times overall
Tied his career high with 37 minutes and 4 assists vs. SLU
Has made 3+ 3PM in a game 5 times this season
A10 numbers are all higher than overall: 15.6 PPG (13.0), 5.5 REB (4.3), 2.6 AST (2.0), 44% FG (43%), 46% 3PT (42%), 71% FT (67%) - BREAKFAST CLUB!

Braden Norris
Last 9 games he's shooting: 19-37 from 3PT (51.4%) and 26-49 FG (53.1%) w/ 38 assists, 18 turnovers
Season-high 39 minutes vs. Saint Louis
Has had 5+ assists 11 times this season
3-6 3s vs. SLU, 5th game this year with 3+ 3PM
62.5% Effective FG% best of his Loyola career
Has played and started in all 116 games of his Loyola Career, averaging 33.6

Greg Dolan
Tied his Loyola career high with 12 points vs. Saint Louis
2.81 A:TO ratio would rank Top 40 if he qualified (need to average at least 3 AST per game to qualify)
At Cornell last year he was at 2.53 which was in fact, Top 40

Phil Alston
Struggling a bit with 3-straight single digit games (he had 1 prior all season, and 6 last year)
23 points vs. UMass though his last big game (with game winning off rebound putback and1 at the buzzer on CBSSN) – was his 8th career 20+ point game
When he was 18 playing, his heart stopped, needed CPR. here's story: https://x.com/Sociologysal/status/17531 ... 24571?s=20

Miles Rubin
4 blocks vs. Saint Louis – his 9th game this year with 4 or more blocks
had a 5-block game vs. New Orleans... was first Rambler to do that since 2010
Ranks 2nd in Block% in the country (13.6%)
First career- double-double at VCU with 11 points, 11 rebounds (and 3 blocks) – has had 3 games with 10+ points
63% FG would be 2nd in A10 if he qualified (not enough shots taken I guess)

Dame Adelekun (yes, when he goes to work, we call it DAME TIME)
A-10 numbers: 16.1 MPG, 10.1 PPG, 61% FG
Overall: 13.7 MPG, 8.5 PPG, 61% FG
2nd in the A-10 in FG%

_________________
Scott Sudikoff (X/IG @Sudikoff)
Voice of the Ramblers
Men's Hoops Radio PXP (X/IG @Rambler_SN)
ESPN+/NBC Sports Chicago PXP
https://loyolaramblers.com/watch
http://www.soundcloud.com/ramblersn

some interesting stuff...will be interesting to see if our pressure man to man can speed them up and cause turnovers....also might be a good game for Jalen Quinn and Des Watson get to the hoop...and maybe Phil re-establishes himself inside...hope the refs let us play
on the side.Davidson has 1900 students of which almost 25% play on the sports team and they are represented by all 50 states...lot going on for a small school.
Also game is darn close to sold out.

Spend some time in North Carolina and Davidson is a very nice school about 25 minutes from Charlotte. As I recall, always highly rated and generally considered the best liberal arts school in the South. Matt McKillop is a good coach but it has to be tough following a legend, especially when it was your Dad. Go Ramblers!

Important game. Tough two game road swing ahead next (@George Mason and @GW). A win here keeps us 2 games ahead of the 5th place team. Need to do all we can to keep in that top 4!

Hope kids come out today. Seeing quite a few Davidson fans the building. Go 'Blers.

It's not just the road swing. Our next 8 games, we'll either be the underdog or only favored by a point or two (aka coinflip games). Win here helps stay ahead of the logjam that's 5-10

It looks like the game of change again out here.

Breakfast club must have not met this week. Woooooof.