CHICAGO (January 17, 2020) - Tied atop the Missouri Valley Conference standings with a 4-1 record, Loyola travels to Illinois State for a Sunday matinee. A victory over the Redbirds would match the 2018-19 team's 5-1 start to Valley play as the best in program history since joining the league for the 2013-14 season. Loyola has won nine of its last 11 contests overall.

Since the start of the 2017-18 campaign, the Ramblers are 12-8 (.600) on the road in Valley competition and have captured two of their last three league road contests.

Loyola head coach Porter Moser spent four seasons as the head coach at Illinois State (2003-07) and assistant coach Matt Gordon was a manager for the Redbird program as an undergraduate student at ISU. Senior walk-on guard Jake Baughman hails from Bloomington and was a standout two-sport athlete (football and basketball) at Bloomington Central Catholic High School.

Overall, Loyola has prevailed in two of its last three true road games and in four of its last five road/neutral matchups. Over the last pair of contests, both wins, the Ramblers are putting up 71.0 points per game and shooting a hearty 62 percent (57-for-92) from the field and 45.5 percent (10-for-22) from three-point territory.

Loyola – Illinois State – The Series

The Ramblers and Redbirds are matching up for the 24th time in a series that began in 1980. Illinois State owns a 15-8 advantage in the series, but Loyola has won four of the last five meetings between the teams. Since joining the Missouri Valley Conference, Loyola is 5-8 against Illinois State.

Nine of the last 11 meetings have been decided by eight or fewer points, including a 65-57 decision that went the Redbirds' way when the teams last matched up in Normal last February.

Loyola is 2-9 all time against Illinois State in Normal and earned a 68-61 victory at Redbird Arena in 2017-18 behind 15 points from Aundre Jackson.

Scouting Illinois State

Illinois State has stumbled in five of its last six contests, including each of the last four, and is coming off an 84-74 loss at Drake Thursday night. 

The Redbirds have been a tough out at home however, posting a 6-2 ledger and winning four of the last five outings on their home floor.

Redshirt senior guard Zach Copeland is having a solid season to date, averaging a team-best 15.3 points per game, and he is coming off a 32-point showing at Drake Thursday night. He connected on 8 of 12 triples tries in that contest.

DJ Horne, a freshman guard, is contributing 11.8 ppg in Valley action, nearly five points per game more than his season average (6.9 ppg), while former Loyola forward Matt Chastain puts up 3.7 ppg and 2.8 rpg for Illinois State.

Up Next

Loyola hosts Indiana State January 22 at 7 p.m.