Florida Gulf Coast Preview and Game Thread -- 11-13-2021

[JCT]

Saturday, November 13, 2021 1:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Illinois


Loyola welcomes Florida Gulf Coast to the Joe for a first-ever meeting between the two schools. FGCU went Division I in 2007, and the Eagles made a celebrated first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2013 when "Dunk City" made the Sweet 16 as a 15 seed. The Eagles have taken three trips to the NCAA Tournament in their short D-I tenure, the first under Coach Andy Enfield (now at USC) and two more in 2016 and 2017 under Coach Joe Dooley (now at East Carolina).

A former assistant under Coach Dooley, Michael Fly is entering his fourth season as head coach. FGCU was picked to finish 6th in this year's ASUN preseason men's basketball poll, but the Eagles notched a preseason first team player and conference preseason defensive player in TCU transfer Kevin Samuel. The 6'11" shot-blocking machine signed on at FGCU as a grad transfer after testing the NBA draft waters last spring. Samuel, nursing a nagging injury, did not play in FGCU's opener on Tuesday night against NAIA team Florida National when the Eagles opened the season with a 94-57 blowout win. According to Coach Fly after the game, Samuel and fellow transfer Matt Halvorsen (Western Carolina) will be game time decisions against Loyola.

The Ramblers are coming off their biggest point total since 1997, and their most lopsided victory since 1978. Tuesday night's 103-45 victory over Coppin State was initially dismissed as a good performance against a bad team, but the following night CSU had a lead over DePaul until a buzzer-beating three pointer gave the Blue Demons a one-point lead at halftime. Coppin State eventually lost 97-72 to DePaul as they faded in the second half of back-to-back road contests. Loyola impressed observers in the opener with depth, defense, experience, and efficiency.

FGCU is a very experienced team as well. The Eagles are likely to start three seniors, and two juniors. The seniors are 6'11" fifth-year senior center Kevin Samuel, 6'6" guard Austin Richie, and 6'5" guard Caleb Catto. The juniors are 6'8" forward Carlos Rosario and 6'3" guard Cyrus Largie. In their last game, sophomore guard Victor Rosa was the high scorer in the game off the bench, hitting five of his eight three point attempts, and sophomore guard Luis Rolon got a start with Halvorsen and Samuel nursing minor injuries.

Needless to say, whether FGCU plays an experienced, shot-blocking 6'11" center will make a huge difference in the game. If Samuel is available, the Ramblers will have to rely on outside shooting and drawing the big center away from the basket. If Samuel is not available, Loyola can drive and score inside much more easily. There's not that much published info on Samuel's injury, so I believe he will be playing against FGCU's stretch against top-ranking teams: Loyola on Nov. 13, USC on Nov. 16, and Rhode Island on Nov. 23.

Loyola has been bitten by home losses early in the season the past several years. In 2018-19, the Ramblers dropped their second game of the year at home to Furman, 60-58. In 2019-20, Loyola lost their second home game of the year to Coppin State, 76-72.

The non-conference start for MVC teams this year-- in a season that was supposed to feature FOUR top 100 teams vying for the league title-- has nearly fizzled away. The league is 5-9 to start the season, with UNI losing two winnable games at home and Missouri State dropping a home game to a lowly-regarded state rival. The Ramblers need to take care of business against a potentially dangerous FGCU at a time when it might be natural to become complacent and over-confident. It has bit Loyola in the butt in the past, and there's no need for that bad tradition to continue.


Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... _13_21.pdf

FGCU game notes: Pending

TV/Streaming video: NBC Sports Chicago, ESPN3 https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=1e ... ca83bfe743

Radio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=82&type=Live

Live stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=369439

Vegas odds: Loyola by 18.5

[Dansen]

Should be a good one! Didn’t realize they had a player like Samuel, Hutty will have to step it up.

I’m seeing the line at -19 for Loyola.

[ToledoRambler]

Great preview!

A couple of interesting games in the Valley today:

I’m excited to see what UIC looks like at Valpo, and Belmont and Evansville play today.

Tuesday was fun but I’m hoping we get to see Hutty, Welch, and/or Knight have good showings this afternoon. I have no worries about our guard play (especially if Clemons is back), but it would be nice to see if we can play well enough down low before we get thrown into Atlantis

[ToledoRambler]

Disappointed with Hutty early …

Super impressed with Knight early.

Also - wow. Uguak looks like he’s really put in the work in the off-season.

[Johhnyfingers]

I wasn’t able to watch as much last year with law school. But really looking forward to this year. Perfect mix of the veterans and the new group.

[goramblers2011]

Uguak is extremely impressive.

Rough officiating so far. Calling a lot of ticky tack fouls on us and seems like our guys are getting hammered down low without calls.

[goramblers2011]

I never thought I'd see an offense this good at Loyola. We can put up points in droves.

[01grad]

FGCU has pretty good size, and I like that we’re attacking it. Early on, it looks like this offense plays fast and can adjust to whatever defenses show. It’s a very good sign.

Hutty will be fine. Even better that we have depth with Knight and Welch to run different lineups and give a player like Hutty time to watch and grow. Knight looks like a great rebounder and opportunistic scorer.

Speaking of young players that can be given time to grow and learn with this depth….Saint Thomas is going to be good. Really good.

[01grad]

Sluggish start to the second half. But not a bad thing to get punched in the mouth and see if you can respond.

[goramblers2011]

This Dunn-Martin kid is basically Steph Curry. Hitting some unreal shots. Let's see how we respond.