CHICAGO - Loyola Chicago returns home after playing its last two on the road. Loyola and Richmond tip-off in Gentile Arena on Saturday at 3 p.m. for the Cerebral Palsy Awareness Game. The Ramblers look to snap a four-game skid, while the Spiders can build off a win from last weekend.
Saturday's game will be on CBSSN with Tom McCarthy (PXP) and Chris Walker (Analyst) and can be listened to Rambler Sports Network with
Scott Sudikoff (PXP) and Christian Thomas (Senior Analyst).
RAMBLINGS
• Dewyilk Tavarez and
Kayde Dotson led the Ramblers at Saint Joseph's last weekend, while
Xavier Amos put Loyola on his back a Fordham.
• Tavarez scored 14 points in front of his home crowd at SJU. Tavarez went 4-10 with all four from three-point range. He added three rebounds, four assists, and one steal.
• Dotson also scored 14 points for the Ramblers. Dotson was 5-11 from the field with four threes. He tallied two rebounds, three assists, and one steal.
• At Fordham, Amos tied his season-high 19 points. He scored 19. He went 10-14 at the foul line. Amos added eight rebounds and one steal.
• After the road trip, Loyola is up to 14 starting lineups this season. No. 13 debuted at Fordham with
Justin Moore, Dotson,
Daniil Glazkov, Amos, and
Miles Rubin. It marked Glazkov's first career start.
• A new five took the court first at Saint Joseph's - Tavarez, Dotson, Amos,
Alexander Richardson, and Rubin. It also marked Richardson's first career start.
• Rubin tallied three blocks on the road last week, upping his season total to 64. He needs three more to move up on the single-season charts to third. He will then hold the top-three spots on the single-season charts.
• Rubin's 64 blocks leads the A-10 and ranks 13th in the NCAA. He is averaging 2.3 blocks per game, which ranks second in the A-10 and 16th in the country.
• Head coach
Drew Valentine is in his fifth season at the helm. He has compiled an 89-73 overall record as head coach.
• Saturday's game marks the second annual Cerebral Pasly Awareness game in honor of head coach Valentine's daughter Hayden. Just after her first birthday, Hayden was diagnosed with spastic triplegic cerebral palsy which affects both her legs and left arm. Now nearing her fifth birthday, Hayden is crushing her daily routine and living her life to the fullest.
SCOUTING RICHMOND
The Spiders pulled off a down-to-the-wire win over St. Bonaventure last weekend to improve to 15-13 overall and 5-10 in A-10 play. Richmond faces a 3-5 road record heading into Gentile this weekend. The Spiders take care of the ball and commit the fewest turnovers per game in the conference (10.0). They also have the second-best three-point defense, holding opponents to 32.5 percent from the arc.
AJ Lopez leads the Spiders in scoring (13.2 ppg). He has 21 double-figure performances this season and is riding a five-game streak into Gentile. Lopez scored 20 in Richmond's win over the Bonnies last week. It was his third game this season with at least 20 points.
Head coach Chris Mooney is in his 21st season leading the Spiders and holds a 373-303 record at Richmond.
SERIES HISTORY
Richmond leads the all-time series, 3-2. Loyola came away with an overtime win last season after scoring 22 points in the five-minute stretch.
