Ten months after a shocking upset of Tennessee sent Loyola to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16, the Ramblers are back atop the Missouri Valley Conference and red-hot entering the crucial months of the college basketball season.
Loyola routed Valparaiso 71-54 on Tuesday at Gentile Arena to tie the Crusaders at 4-1 in conference play, with the tiebreaker now in hand. Although the majority of the conference schedule remains — and the Ramblers must meet Valpo on the road in early February — Loyola now looks to be the MVC favorite again.
“As the season goes on — and the same thing happened last year — we start to find a groove,” sophomore guard Lucas Williamson told reporters Tuesday. “We start to lock in and key in on all the little things that help us win, and that’s just a part of our culture.”
Last season, Loyola started 1-2 in MVC play before winning 14 of its final 15 regular-season games, sweeping through the conference tournament and beating Miami, Tennessee, Nevada and Kansas State in the NCAA Tournament en route to a Final Four appearance.
The return of key guards Clayton Custer and Marques Townes, young center Cameron Krutwig and now-famous team chaplain Sister Jean from that Cinderella squad seemed to set up the Ramblers for another special season in 2018-19. Chicago Magazine named the team “Chicagoans of the Year.” Loyola scheduled a rematch against Nevada, a neutral-site game against Maryland and a trip to the Ft. Myers Tip-Off tournament to fuel the hype.
“Going into this year, we believe that we can beat anybody that we can play,” Custer said in early November. “That’s the big thing for me, honestly. [The run] gave us a confidence going into this year that we can beat anybody.”
But then that difficult schedule backfired. The Ramblers lost by double-digits against the Wolf Pack and Terrapins, succumbed to Boston College in the Ft. Myers championship and suffered embarrassing defeats at home against Furman and Ball State.
After a heartbreaking road loss to St. Joseph’s on Dec. 22 to conclude nonconference play, Loyola — at 7-6 — had lost its perceived status as the MVC’s team to beat.
The Ramblers came out blazing in a 79-44 demolition of Indiana State in their Jan. 2 conference opener, and have since beaten Drake, Valparaiso and rival Illinois State, losing only to Evansville on the road. Loyola is up to 85th in Kenpom’s national rankings, 30 spots higher than any other MVC team.
The return of Williamson, the designated replacement for 2018 tournament star Ben Richardson, from a hand injury has played a major role in the turnaround — the former Whitney Young star is one of the team’s best defenders and had 11 points and seven rebounds Tuesday. A higher volume from freshman sharpshooter Cooper Kaifes, who is 6-for-9 on three-pointers over the last two games, has also helped.
“When Lucas got injured, some of the guys like Cooper and [transfer forward Aher Uguak] got a lot more playing time,” coach Porter Moser told reporters Tuesday. “That’s what you want this time of year, January and February: getting depth.”
The biggest reason for the Ramblers’ surge has been the team’s ability to do the little things well, a key to their Final Four run.
Loyola ranks 275th nationally in turnover rate and 307th in free-throw percentage, but it’s starting to turn things around in both categories — between Sunday’s win over Illinois State and Tuesday’s victory over Valparaiso, the Ramblers shot 77 percent at the line and committed only 18 total turnovers (they’d averaged more than 13 turnovers per game).
National buzz has subsided tremendously, but the buzz in Rogers Park remains. Students lined up hours before tipoff for Loyola’s first two games this season, prompting several arena policy changes to accommodate the increased demand. The student section has been packed consistently, even in the cozy venue.
Loyola will play Saturday at Indiana State, its first of two consecutive games on the road, before returning to Gentile Arena for an already sold-out game against Southern Illinois on Jan. 27.
