CHICAGO (January 5, 2022) - After having five consecutive games canceled or postponed due to COVID health and safety protocols, Loyola, which has prevailed in 12 of its last 15 contests versus non-league opponents, will play its first game in nearly a month (26 days) when it faces San Francisco in Salt Lake City Thursday afternoon. The Ramblers have won six of their last nine games at neutral sites.

Loyola is 23-13 (.639) all time versus current members of the West Coast Conference and has won four straight thanks to a pair of wins each against San Diego and San Francisco.

Since the start of the 2016-17 season, Loyola has picked up 10 wins versus teams from power 5 conferences, and this year has posted multiple wins versus power 5 foes in regular-season action for the first time since 1991-92.

Dating back to last season, the Ramblers are 28-4 (.875) in their last 32 games. Three of those losses came to power conference foes and the other was a one-point overtime loss at Drake, which was a NCAA Tournament team in 2020-21. Loyola's two setbacks this season came at the hands of current Top 10 teams, Michigan State and Auburn.

Loyola – San Francisco – The Series

Jesuit rivals Loyola and San Francisco are meeting for the seventh time in a series that began in 1949. The Ramblers have captured three of the last four matchups between the teams, including each of the last two.

Three of the six previous meetings have been determined by three points or less and four have been decided by five or fewer points. Loyola dropped the 1949 NIT final to San Francisco, 48-47, in the first encounter between the teams.

When the teams last hooked up, on November 27, 2010 in San Francisco, Geoff McCammon tied a Loyola single-game record by draining eight three-point field goals to finish with 26 points as the Ramblers rallied for a 63-62 decision.

Scouting San Francisco

Since suffering its lone defeat of the season, a 49-48 heartbreaker versus Grand Canyon, San Francisco has rattled off three consecutive victories, including a 64-52 decision over Southern Illinois on December 22. 

The Dons are 3-1 on neutral floors and 4-1 away from home this season.

Guard Jamaree Bouyea is having a sensational season and leads the Dons with 17.8 points per game and chips in 5.0 rebounds and 3.9 assists per outing, while shooting 44.2 percent (38-for-86) from long distance.

Forward Yauhen Massalski, one of eight players on the San Francisco roster who hail from foreign countries, contributes 13.6 ppg and a team-high 7.9 rpg, and he connects on 60.4 percent (81-for-134) of his field goal tries.

The Dons, who rank 19th in the nation in three-point field goals made per game (10.4), are also one of the stingiest three-point field defenses in the nation, allowing opponents to connect on 28.2 percent (70-for-251) of their triple tosses.

Up Next

Loyola is back at Gentile Arena on Saturday (Jan. 8) when it hosts Bradley at 3 p.m.