CHICAGO (March 1, 2022) - Loyola, which finished tied for second place in the league standings, one game behind Northern Iowa, but slipped to the No. 4 seed by virtue of tiebreakers, faces fifth-seeded Bradley Friday afternoon in the quarterfinal round of the Missouri Valley Conference Championship. The Ramblers, who have claimed seven of their last 10 games on neutral floors, have won 24 of their last 25 games versus teams from the state of Illinois. 

Since joining The Valley for the 2013-14 season, the Ramblers are 10-6 (.625) all time at Arch Madness and claimed the championship in 2018 and 2021. Loyola is aiming for back-to-back Arch Madness titles and would become the ninth team overall, and first since Bradley in 2019 and 2020, to capture consecutive MVC Championship crowns. 

This is the lowest seed Loyola has had at the MVC Championship since 2016-17 when it was seeded fifth and fell to Southern Illinois, 55-50, in the quarterfinal round.

Drew Valentine, the youngest coach in NCAA Division I basketball at 30 years of age, is the second skipper in program history to pilot Loyola to 20 wins in his first season on the job, joining Tom Haggerty, who guided the Ramblers to 23 victories in 1945-46. A win Friday versus Bradley would tie Valentine with Haggerty for the most wins by a Loyola first-year coach, with 23.

For the first time in program history, the Ramblers have posted five consecutive seasons of 20 or more wins and are averaging 24.2 victories per year during that stretch.

Loyola – Bradley – The Series

Longtime rivals Loyola and Bradley are pairing up for the 70th time in a series that started in 1928. Despite the Braves holding a 37-32 edge in the all-time series, the Ramblers have claimed 15 of the last 20 matchups between the clubs.

Loyola has won five of the previous six meetings with Bradley that were played on neutral floors. This will be the fifth time the teams have met in Arch Madness (2014, 2016, 2018, 2019), with the Ramblers earning the win on three prior occasions. When the teams last met at the MVC Championship, Bradley won a defensive struggle, 53-51, in the semifinal round in 2019.

This season, the teams split the regular-season series with the home team winning each contest. Three weeks ago in Peoria, Zek Montgomery and Mikey Howell tallied 12 points apiece to lead the Braves to a 68-61 decision on February 9.

Scouting Bradley

Bradley has won nine of its last 12 outings, but has split its last four contests, heading into this weekend's action in St. Louis.

The Braves are 1-3 on neutral floors this year, but have won six of their last seven games at Arch Madness and boast tournament titles in 2019 and 2020. 

Friday's game will be a battle of two of the top defensive teams in The Valley. Both Loyola and Bradley rank in the top three in the conference in scoring defense, field goal percentage defense and three-point field goal percentage defense.

Junior guard Terry Roberts averages 14.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.5 steals per game, but the Ramblers have held him to 8.5 ppg on 7 of 22 shooting from the field this season. Sophomore forward Rienk Mast contributes 11.6 ppg and 8.3 rpg and against Loyola this year has tallied 13.0 ppg, 10.5 rpg and 2.5 bpg.

Up Next

A victory over the Braves would send the Ramblers into Saturday's semifinal round where they would face No. 1 seed Northern Iowa, No. 8 seed Illinois State or No. 9 seed Indiana State at 2:30 p.m. CT.