Evansville Preview and Game Thread -- 2/12/2020

[JCT]

Wednesday, February 12, 2020 6:00 p.m.
Ford Center, Evansville, Ind.


Something has to give in Loyola's Wednesday night men's basketball match-up with Evansville. The Ramblers have only won once in Evansville since 2015, and only twice there since joining the MVC nearly seven years ago. Overall, the Ramblers have lost three straight games on the road and have won only three times this season on opposing courts. Meanwhile, Evansville has lost 12 in a row overall and six straight home games since they knocked off Murray State in overtime on Dec. 21.

The Aces are on their third head coach this season. Loyola beat the Aces 78-44 on Jan. 11 with former Loyola Assistant Bennie Seltzer on the sidelines taking over for Walter McCarty. On Jan. 21, 2020, a familiar name to Loyola fans-- Todd Lickliter-- was named head coach of the Aces. As head coach at his alma mater Butler from 2001-07, Lickliter compiled a 9-4 record against the Ramblers and benefitted from four of those nine wins coming in overtime.

Although they've lost all six of the games since he took the helm, the Purple Aces have shown a marked improvement under Lickliter's leadership. EU came within two points of knocking off Valpo on the road on Jan. 26, and lost by only four to 2nd place SIU at home on Feb. 5. They played competitively against UNI on Feb. 1, cutting a 14-point halftime deficit down to 4 before eventually losing by 80-68.

Six-five senior K.J. Riley, 6'8" junior Sam Cutliffe, and 6'3" sophomore Jawan Newton are the starting guards. Six-eight junior Evan Kuhlman and 6'7" junior John Hall start in the front court. Riley and Cunliffe are the leading scorers at 12.2 and 10.9 ppg respectively. Riley also gets to the free throw line with regularity (only one shot shy of tops in the conference) and hits those shots often, at 81%.

The Ramblers really took it to the Aces last time out by exploiting the mismatches down low. But now the Aces, under Lickliter, have a different starting group with two forwards rather than one. And the Aces have some of the tallest guards at 6'8'", 6'5", and 6'3" that can cause some havoc with outside shooting and/or penetration into the paint.

With SIU one game ahead of the Ramblers and UNI two full games ahead, Loyola needs these games they're "supposed to win" every bit as much as the two games that would be upsets. If the Ramblers can finish out the last third of the season with a 5-1 mark, a two seed for Arch Madness seems like a good possibility.


Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... _12_20.pdf

Evansville game notes: https://gopurpleaces.com/documents/2020 ... df?id=7984

TV/Streaming video: ESPN + https://www.espn.com/watch?id=b2d3f26a- ... ille-US-EN

Radio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=27&type=Live

Live stats: https://gopurpleaces.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary

Vegas odds: Loyola by 7.5

[shyhyme]

This game really makes me nervous.

[ahunte1]

This game really makes me nervous.

Me too.

[bmh_twosix]

[01grad]

If anyone is by chance driving down to Evansville, I hope you’ve already left or are already there. The weather is not going to be pleasant this afternoon in Central/Southern Illinois and Indiana.

[zha_blers_mafia_17]

Absolute must win. Let's get out to a quick start and never look back! Can't be thinking about the Panthers quite yet.

[Blers42]

Great news for our chances of winning, however if we do get upset and he's not playing its going to be very embarrassing. I'm going to predict that we come out on top on this one, after the ISU loss and sloppy finish to the Valpo game you hope to see some more fire out of the guys.

[brot4britu]

We are now over 8 point favorites We should win this game easilly BUT we must play like 8 pt Favorites !! I hope shall BUT I am not sure we will--Not much heart except for Krut==We hall see--

LUC 72 Aces 65

[ahunte1]

Another concussion victim in practice

[swellafelon]

Another concussion victim in practice

Sounds like they were practicing a literal Hammer Play.
I hope Skokna is okay. He has his own fan club at Gentile, complete with oversize BRUNO signs.