CHICAGO (February 20, 2020) - Loyola aims for its fifth straight win, which would match its longest streak of the season, when it travels to preseason Missouri Valley Conference favorite Missouri State Saturday afternoon. The Ramblers are 14-11 (.560) on the road in league play since the start of the 2017-18 season. Over the last 21 contests, Loyola is 16-5 (.762), with four of those five losses coming by five points or less.

For the first time in over 70 years, Loyola has won 18 or more games in four consecutive seasons. The last time the Ramblers had accomplished the feat was at the beginning of the post-World-War-II era, from the 1945-46 through 1948-49 seasons.

Prior to Porter Moser's arrival on the Loyola campus at the start of the 2011-12 campaign, the Ramblers had notched just one 20-win season (21 wins in 2006-07) in the previous 26 years. However, with one more victory, Loyola will notch its fourth 20-win campaign in the last six seasons.

This marks only the second time in program history that Loyola has won 10 or more conference contests in three consecutive years. The only other time that has occurred was the 1982-83 through 1984-85 seasons, when the Ramblers were members of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, and won 12, 10 and 13 league games, respectively.

Senior guard Bruno Skokna needs one more win to match the 2018 senior class of Donte Ingram and Ben Richardson as the winningest in Loyola history (90 wins).

Loyola – Missouri State – The Series

The Ramblers and Bears are meeting for the 15th time in a series that began in 1964. Loyola holds a slight 8-6 advantage in the all-time series, but Missouri State has captured four of the last six matchups between the teams. Since joining the Missouri Valley Conference, Loyola is 7-6 versus Missouri State.

Eight of the previous 14 meetings between the teams have been decided by six points or less, including a 62-58 Loyola victory on January 4 in Chicago. In that game, the Ramblers forced 19 Bears turnovers and got 23 points from Cameron Krutwig to snap a two-game slide versus MSU.

In Springfield, Loyola is just 2-4 against Missouri State and last season suffered its worst loss of the year, a 70-35 setback, at JQH Arena. The Ramblers have lost three straight in Springfield since a 75-62 victory there on February 21, 2016.

Scouting Missouri State

The Bears have won two of the last three and three of the last five contests, with their last two setbacks coming by a combined total of six points.

Missouri State is 9-4 at home this season but is only 4-3 at JQH Arena in Valley action. However, the Bears have won their last two contests in Springfield, easily defeating Illinois State (80-60) and Drake (97-62).

The tandem of senior guard Keandre Cook (146 ppg, 4.8 rpg) and junior forward Gaige Prim (13.3 ppg, 4.6 rpg) leads Missouri State. As a team, the Bears are the top offensive rebounding club (10.1 per game) in the MVC in conference play.

Up Next

Loyola plays its final regular-season home game of the 2019-20 season Tuesday (Feb. 25) when it hosts Drake at 7 p.m. That contest will be televised on NBC Sports Chicago. Prior to the contest, the Ramblers will recognize senior guard Bruno Skokna, who will be playing in his final game at Gentile Arena.