Game 9 Preview – Green Bay
Intro/History Between Teams:
Loyola and Green Bay last played each other in 2013. That was Loyola’s last year in the Horizon League and Porter Moser’s second year as the Rambler’s head coach. In that game, Christian Thomas’s 16 points weren’t enough. The Phoenix beat the Ramblers 73-65 that night. Green Bay holds a 26-15 lead over the Ramblers in their all-time matchup.
Main Storyline For This Game:
Will the Ramblers have a letdown game after losing the OT thriller to DePaul? Our Ramblers gave their all over a 45 minute game against the Blue Demons on Saturday. Six players played at least 23 minutes, and four players (Welch, Kennedy, Norris and Schwieger) played 36 minutes or more. Now, they’ve had a few days to recuperate, but they can’t take any team lightly. They’ve shown that they don’t have much wiggle room against any team they play if they want to win. The upperclassmen need to step up and play focused from the get go. We’ve seen big progressions from both Braden and Marquise, but this is the type of game that I want them to try to build a 10-15 point lead early.
Will Drew try anything new in this game? Reportedly, Coach Drew was not upset in his postgame interview. Although there are things to improve on, I feel like there are more things to be excited and impressed with from Drew’s perspective. If I were in Drew’s Shoes (no pun intended) I would try to really hammer down some of the things and rotations that worked against Central Arkansas and DePaul. Until the game gets out of hand, I would run the same rotations we saw this past weekend against DePaul. I want to see the Ramblers improve upon some things that worked this past week.
Hot or Not and Whom to Watch:
HOT: Marquise Kennedy and Ben Schwieger both came off career high scoring outputs this past week. Schwieger scored 26 points against Central Arkansas, while Kennedy scored 26 against DePaul. Schwieger has made 7 of his last 10 three pointers, while Kennedy is 7 for his last 12 from three. If those guys are putting up numbers like that, this team will be just fine on most nights. Both performances were impressive for different reasons. For Schwieger it confirms something we had been waiting to see for 2 years now. It confirms that he is an impressive building block for this team for years to come. And for Kennedy it eases some of our worries that Kennedy might not be fully healthy. Schwieger belongs, and Kennedy is healthy.
NOT: Our hearts might be in shambles after the OT game against DePaul, but we as fans need to give our Ramblers some time to figure things out. We saw a lot of positive improvements this past week. Take some Tums to control the stomach ache, and put your faith into the players and our staff.
Game Time, Broadcast Info, Ticket Availability
Probable Starting Lineups:
Loyola
G: Braden Norris
G: Marquise Kennedy
F: Ben Schwieger
F: Phil Alston
C: Tom Welch
Green Bay
G: Jenkins
G: Tucker
G: Blake
F: Meyer
F: Cummings III
Recently injured/unavailable: None, that I know
By The Numbers:
- Points Per Game
- Loyola: 66.9 points/game
- Green Bay: 59.5 points/game
- Points Allowed Per Game
- Loyola: 72 points/game
- Green Bay: 76 points/game
- Going on a turnover diet
- Loyola: 18.8 TO/game, 3rd most in NCAA (decreased our average by 2 in 2 games)
- Green Bay: their defense only creates 12.8 TO/game
