Game Notes | Live Video | Live Stats

CHICAGO (February 20, 2018) - Loyola can win the Missouri Valley Conference regular season championship outright with a victory over Southern Illinois Wednesday night. The Ramblers have won five straight, and 12 of their last 13, contests. Loyola's eight road wins are its most since 2014-15 (8) and only 13 teams in the nation have won more true road games than the Ramblers.  The Ramblers' 13 conference wins match the school record set by the 1984-85 squad and this is the fifth time in program history that Loyola has recorded 10+ league victories. At 23-5 overall, the Ramblers have recorded the 14th 20-win season in program history and the second in the last four years under head coach Porter Moser. Prior to his arrival for the 2011-12 campaign, Loyola had one 20-win season in 26 years.
 
Series Stuff
Loyola and Southern Illinois are meeting for the 13th time in a series that dates back to 1981. The Salukis hold a slim 7-5 advantage in the all-time series and have captured four of the last six meetings between the teams. When the teams met in Chicago on January 17, Loyola closed the first half with a 16-5 run and never looked back en route to a 79-65 victory behind 25 points and seven rebounds from Donte Ingram and 18 points and nine boards from Cameron Krutwig.
 
Loyola is 2-3 all-time in Carbondale and is seeking its first win at SIU Arena since a 73-59 decision on February 6, 2016. Last season, the Ramblers suffered a heartbreaking 72-70 defeat at Southern Illinois despite 21 points from Clayton Custer. Since joining the Missouri Valley Conference, the Ramblers are just 3-7 against Southern Illinois and seven of those 10 contests have been decided by seven or fewer points.
 
Scouting Southern Illinois
Southern Illinois is one of the hottest teams in the MVC, winning each of its last three, and eight of its last nine, outings. Each of the Salukis' last two victories has come in overtime by a combined total of five points. At SIU Arena, the Salukis are 13-2 this season and 7-1 in league play, with the lone loss coming to Drake (70-67) on December 31. SIU has prevailed in each of its last seven home games, with five of those wins coming by six points or less. Loyola (.516) and Southern Illinois (.469) are the top two field-goal shooting teams in The Valley this season.
 
Junior guard Armon Fletcher is one of four Salukis scoring in double figures with a team-high 14.4 points, to go with 5.2 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game. Loyola assistant coach Bryan Mullins was a standout player at SIU from 2005-09 and led the team to two NCAA Tournament appearances in his career in Carbondale.
 
Up Next
Loyola closes out the 2017-18 regular season on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 24) when it hosts Illinois State at 1 p.m. in a game that will be televised live on ESPN2. The Ramblers will recognize seniors Donte Ingram, Aundre Jackson, Ben Richardson, Carson Shanks, Nick DiNardi, Tyson Smith and manager Evan Funk, prior to tip-off.