CHICAGO - Loyola Chicago opens Atlantic 10 action at Rhode Island on New Year's Eve. The Ramblers and Rams tip-off at 11 a.m. CT in Kingston. Both teams look to build off wins in their non-conference finales.

Wednesday's game will be on ESPN+ and can be listened to Rambler Sports Network with Scott Sudikoff and Christian Thomas.
 
RAMBLINGS
• Loyola finished the non-conference season 4-9 after beating Santa Clara in the finale, 80-78.
• Kayde Dotson exploded for a career-high 26 points. He drained five threes and went 7-8 from the line. It marked his first career 20-point performance. He added four rebounds and an assist.
• Justin Moore scored 15 in the win, going 6-9 from the field with three rebounds and two assists.
• Deywilk Tavarez put up 13 points off the bench with three from the arc.
• Xavier Amos and Alexander Richard did a bit of everything. Amos tallied nine points, six rebounds, one assist, and a team-high two blocks. Richardson added six points, five boards, two assists, and a steal.
• Amos made the most over the last three games, which were his first for the Maroon & Gold. He is averaging 14.7 points per game on 48.1 percent from the field.
• In his first career game for the Ramblers, Amos dropped 18 points on 5-8 from the field with four threes vs. Chicago State. He added three boards, one assist, and two blocks.
• Amos followed up with 17 points and a season-high seven rebounds vs. San Francisco.
• Dotson is on a five-game double-figure scoring streak. He tipped it off with 10 points vs. Central Michigan. He followed up with 13 points and a season-high six rebounds vs. Princeton.
• The sophomore guard had 12 and 13 points against Chicago State and San Francisco, respectively. Most recently, Dotson scored a career-high 26 vs. Santa Clara.
• Miles Rubin continues to be a force at the rim, leading the Ramblers with 31 blocks this season.
• He leads the A-10 in blocks (31) and blocks per game (2.4). He ranks 12th and 19th in the NCAA in the respective categories.
• Tavarez continues to be one of Loyola's best three-point shooters as he averaged 37 percent from deep this year.
• The New Jersey native has 30 makes this season, which ranks sixth in the A-10. His total attempts (81) ranks fourth in the league.
• Head coach Drew Valentine is in his fifth season at the helm. He has compiled an 87-60 overall record as head coach.
 
SCOUTING RHODE ISLAND
The Rams enter the conference slate at 9-4 overall and won their last two games of the non-conference season over Canisius and Northeastern. Rhode Island forces the second most turnovers per game in the league (14.85) and leads the A-10 with 9.6 steals per game, which ranks 29th in the NCAA. The Rams were tabbed 12th in the A-10 Preseason Poll back in October.
 
Helping the Rams to their steals average is Tyler Cochran whose 40 steals ranks fourth in the country, while his 3.08 spg average sits fifth. Offensively, Jonah Hinton leads Rhody with 15.6 points per game, which is seventh on the league's individual charts. He leads the conference in three-pointers per game (3.08) and total three-pointers made (40).
 
Archie Miller is in his fourth season leading the Rams with a 48-59 record.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Loyola leads the all-time series, 2-1. The Ramblers have won the last two meetings, including an 81-77 win in Gentile last January.