Game 27: GMU (18-8 / 7-6) at Loyola Chicago (19-7 / 11-2) on Saturday, February 24, at 4:30 PM.

[Patriotsince81]

The game is on USA.

KenPom: Gives us a 41% chance of winning.
GMU - 96
Loyola Chicago - 105
NET:
Mason - 85
Loyola - 99

We are 1-2 (.333) against Loyola Chicago all-time.

We lost the first meeting of the season 85-79 at EBA on February 7. We had an 8 point lead at the half and then gave up 49 points in the 2nd half. A disappointing defensive effort to say the least. They shot 15-21 (71%) overall and 5-7 (71%) from 3 in the second half. We held them to 37.5% shooting in the first half. Sheldon Edwards scored a career high 27 points to lead the Ramblers, he averages 6.6. Keyshawn Hall and Darius Maddox paced us with 20 and 18 respectively. Baraka Okojie scored 15 coming off the bench in 29 minutes of action.
Box Score: https://gomason.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2023-24/massachusetts/boxscore/12645

Loyola Chicago is currently 19-7 on the season and 11-2 in A10 play. They are 12-2 at home, 6-3 on the road, and 1-2 at neutral sites.

Wins: Eastern Illinois (89-65), New Orleans (73-70), Boston College (71-68), Chicago St. (62-53), Harvard (75-53), Goshen College (115-64), Charleston southern (72-59), Central Michigan (73-35), St. Louis (80-73), Duquesne (72-67), St. Joe’s (78-75), UMass (79-78), Fordham (65-61), St. Louis (77-62), Davidson (76-63), GMU (85-79), GW (81-73), St. Joe’s (64-59), Rhode Island (77-67)
Losses: #10 Florida Atlantic (75-62), UIC (72-67), #8 Creighton (88-65), Tulsa (88-77), South Florida (77-64), Richmond (58-56), vcu (74-67),

Schedule: https://loyolaramblers.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule
Roster: https://loyolaramblers.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster
Stats: https://loyolaramblers.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2023-24

Probable Starters:
6’5” Des Watson (13.1 ppg) - Junior
6’6” Phillip Alston (13.0ppg) - Senior
6’0” Braden Norris (8.5 ppg) - Grad Student
6’10” Miles Rubin (5.8 ppg) - Freshman
6’4” Sheldon Edwards (6.6 ppg) - Senior

Reserves averaging double figure minutes:
6’4” Jayden Dawson (8.2 ppg) - Sophomore
6’8” Dame Adelekun (9.3 ppg) - Grad Student
6’4” Greg Dolan (4.1 ppg) - Grad Student
6’7” Patrick Mwamba (2.8 ppg) - Grad Student

Team Stats:
Loyola averages 73.9 points per game while giving up 67.5.

The Ramblers shoot 46.1% from the floor and 35.5% from 3.
Opponents are shooting 39.9% from the field and 34.7% from 3.

The Ramblers shoot 70.6% from the free throw line.

They have out rebounded opponents by 3.4 boards per game and average 12.8 turnovers per contest.


Thoughts: They find a way to win both low and high scoring games. On paper they don’t look that tough but they have been to date. “The total is truly greater than the sum of its parts”, is pretty accurate in their case. Tough one on the road. Win this and things get real interesting.

Discuss.

 

[tblack33]

Making the trip out for this Friday morning. Flying extra high after tonight. Like the matchup, tough place to play but we’ve got a shot.

 

[Mason2005]

Us 65
Them 78

 

[dr. gunnie]

Making the trip out for this Friday morning. Flying extra high after tonight. Like the matchup, tough place to play but we’ve got a shot.

See you there!

 

[phoenix-arizona]

'' Flying extra high after tonight''

I just flew in from DC and boy are my arms tired.

 

[bravesfan]

Sucks that the week I'll be in DC for work, the team is on the road...

I guess I'll be watching from the Gaylord.

 

[DRK331]

This game is the Watch Party that is free and open to the public

More info here:

Watch Party - Patriot Perks

Come to our Basketball Watch Party to cheer on the Patriots while enjoying discounted food and drink at Patriot Perks' restaurants.

patriotperks.gmu.edu

This game is the Watch Party that is free and open to the public

 

[jruby]

If Tony plays 10, get the w. Loyola’s only advantage is fouling every play until the refs stop calling fouls. They can do it as they go 10-11+ deep. I wouldn’t call what they do playing defense, I would call it keep hacking until it doesn’t work anymore.

Hit foul shots and take care of the ball come out with a W. Can’t have the 20+ turnover type game and win vs them. They won’t give any easy baskets and they will make you earn it at the stripe but winnable game.

 

[HoopsAdmin]

 

[tblack33]

Think we need to go deep. Talent wise I think our top 5 are better than theirs, but their style of play negates the talent differential. Need to hit our open jumpers, and limit turnovers and I think we’ll be in this. Decently rough place to play, nice small gym that is always packed and loud. I’m excited.

Mason by 6. Or Loyola by 11. Haven’t decided yet.

 

[GreenLantern]

Us 74
Them 73
OT

 

[phoenix-arizona]

Fantastic AI art. Have to get a shot of Jeppson's Malört into his hands.

 

[99 Patriot]

Not only did they beat us on our home floor, they talked a lot of sh*t while doing so. Will be interesting to see how our guys respond. Hoping we took it personally and return the favor while making that old nun cry.

 

[bravesfan]

It's clear @HoopsAdmin did not use Gemini to generate that image...

 

[GMUgemini]

Think we need to go deep. Talent wise I think our top 5 are better than theirs, but their style of play negates the talent differential. Need to hit our open jumpers, and limit turnovers and I think we’ll be in this. Decently rough place to play, nice small gym that is always packed and loud. I’m excited.

Mason by 6. Or Loyola by 11. Haven’t decided yet.

This is my thoughts as well:

Two keys of the game: 1, we need to have fewer than 13 TOs. 2, we have to do a better job defending the pick and roll (awful awful defense in the second half)—in other words, we need to have our normal 2 point defensive performance.

Edit: BTW, if we can see the kind of defensive performance from Ronnie and Malik that we saw against Dayton I really like our chances. Malik giving us a solid 12 odd minutes of hard-nosed post defense will really help Kelly and Hall to do what they do on offense.

 

[GMU79]

This is my thoughts as well:

Two keys of the game: 1, we need to have fewer than 13 TOs. 2, we have to do a better job defending the pick and roll (awful awful defense in the second half)—in other words, we need to have our normal 2 point defensive performance.

Edit: BTW, if we can see the kind of defensive performance from Ronnie and Malik that we saw against Dayton I really like our chances. Malik giving us a solid 12 odd minutes of hard-nosed post defense will really help Kelly and Hall to do what they do on offense.

Yes, and I really think we have improved as a team since we first played them.

 

[mkaufman1]

This is my thoughts as well:

Two keys of the game: 1, we need to have fewer than 13 TOs. 2, we have to do a better job defending the pick and roll (awful awful defense in the second half)—in other words, we need to have our normal 2 point defensive performance.

Edit: BTW, if we can see the kind of defensive performance from Ronnie and Malik that we saw against Dayton I really like our chances. Malik giving us a solid 12 odd minutes of hard-nosed post defense will really help Kelly and Hall to do what they do on offense.

If I recall their big guy (Alston?) kept going at Kelly and Kelly really didn't defend aggressively due to foul trouble. I think we also were without Malik being available.

Having Malik available for a solid 8-12 minutes of defending the 5 could really help us especially if they plan to pound the post like they did last time.

5 games left and 2 of them are against top 5 programs. Really hoping to finish strong and no let down after that awesome performance the other day against Dayton.

 

[HoopsAdmin]

It's clear @HoopsAdmin did not use Gemini to generate that image...

I've tried Gemini, but I just don't get good results generally. Does it not allow beer?

 

[psyclone]

If I recall their big guy (Alston?) kept going at Kelly and Kelly really didn't defend aggressively due to foul trouble. I think we also were without Malik being available.

Having Malik available for a solid 8-12 minutes of defending the 5 could really help us especially if they plan to pound the post like they did last time.

5 games left and 2 of them are against top 5 programs. Really hoping to finish strong and no let down after that awesome performance the other day against Dayton.

Totally agree with this analysis. Previous game Kelly fouled out and we were untypically "gun shy" playing defense. Their bigs just backed us down and scored at will. CTS not letting that happen again, I bet.

 

[Walter]

I've tried Gemini, but I just don't get good results generally. Does it not allow beer?

Just not pale ale