CHICAGO (January 14, 2020) - Coming off a rout of Evansville last Saturday, Loyola, which is tied for first place in the Missouri Valley Conference race, welcomes former associate head coach Bryan Mullins' Southern Illinois squad to Gentile Arena Thursday night. The Ramblers' 3-1 start to MVC play matches last year as their best since joining the league for the 2013-14 campaign. Loyola has prevailed in 20 of its last 22 Valley home games and is 18-2 in such contests since the start of the 2017-18 season.

In its last two meetings with Southern Illinois in Chicago, Loyola is averaging 77.0 points per game, while connecting on 57.9 percent (55-for-95) of its field goal attempts and 44.4 percent (12-for-27) of its tries from three-point range.

Loyola has won its last 10 home games versus opponents from the Land of Lincoln, including each of its last six at home versus in-state MVC rivals.

Loyola – Southern Illinois – The Series

Thursday's game will be the 16th meeting between the teams in a series that started in 1981. The Salukis own a slight, 8-7 edge in the all-time series, but the Ramblers have prevailed in three of the last four matchups.

Since joining the Missouri Valley Conference, Loyola is 5-8 against SIU. When playing in Chicago, Loyola is 4-3 all time against Southern Illinois and has captured each of the last two outings at Gentile Arena.

In the last meeting between the in-state foes, Cameron Krutwig and Clayton Custer scored 17 points apiece for the Ramblers, but it wasn't enough as the Salukis earned a 63-53 victory in Carbondale on February 24, 2019.

Scouting Southern Illinois

Southern Illinois has won four of its last six contests, but is coming off a 67-48 loss at Bradley last Saturday. The Salukis, who lead the MVC in scoring defense (60.6), are 0-6 in true road games this year and 1-8 overall away from home. 

Senior guard Aaron Cook, who has missed the last 10 games with a broken hand, leads the Salukis with 15.0 points per game, while freshman forward Marcus Domask has impressed, putting up 14.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg and 2.7 apg, while shooting 54.7 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from three-point territory. He is the only freshman to rank in the top 15 (sixth) in the Valley in scoring this season.

First-year head coach Bryan Mullins has plenty of new faces on his roster, with nine new players, including four freshmen.

Familiar Faces

Southern Illinois head coach Bryan Mullins spent six years on Porter Moser's staff at Loyola, helping the program to three postseason berths, including a trip to the NCAA Final Four in 2018.

Salukis assistant coach Jevon Mamon served as Loyola's director of basketball operations in each of the previous two seasons and fellow assistant Pat Monaghan was on former Rambler coach Jim Whitesell's staff during the 2010-11 campaign.

Up Next

Loyola travels to Illinois State January 19 for a game that will be televised nationally on ESPNU. Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m. CT.