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1/22/2023 11:12 pm  #1


GW versus Loyola University Chicago (LUC) Thread

Next up:                  Loyola University Chicago (LUC) Ramblers
Time:                      January 25, 2023; 12 PM
Venue:                    Gentile Arena; Chicago IL
2021-22 Record:    18-12 overall; 10-8 in Missouri Valley Conference
2023 Projection:    13th
Current Record:    6-13   
OOC Record:         
5-8   
A10 Record:          
1-5
Common OOC:     Virginia (Loss)
Broadcast:            NBC Sports Digital 

GW travels to Chicago to take on Loyola University Chicago (LUC) Ramblers on Wednesday for a noon tipoff.  This will be the first ever meeting between GW and LUC, who just joined the A10 this year. The Ramblers were picked to finish 13th in the conference in their inaugural year. Their OOC record includes a victory over in-state rival Bradley, and losses to Virginia, Miami, and Marquette. Virginia was the only common OOC opponent that LUC shared with GW. Since opening the A10 with a victory over St. Louis, the Ramblers have suffered 5 consecutive conference losses, the most recent to La Salle (67-51) earlier today.

LUC averages 54.9 ppg on 37% from the field (28.9% from 3-point range) and 75.9% on free throws. Their defense allows 63.1 ppg on 43.4% accuracy from their opponents. The Ramblers are led by veteran guards Maya Chandler (10.5 ppg) and Sam Galanopolous (9.1 ppg), and 6’2” forward Sitori Tanin (8.1 ppg and 4.7 rpg). LUC is a defense first team that forces opponents into 16 TOs per game, with almost half of the TOs coming on steals.
 
GW has no track record with Loyola and this is the A10. Anything can happen.
 
About the game:
 
Assessing the Rambler’s talent is difficult. They are not a particularly long team, and their quickness and athleticism are hard to gauge. LUC will try to make this a defensive, low scoring game. In their six victories, they held each opponent to 56 points or less. No player averages more than 9.7 field goal attempts per game, and scoring has been equally distributed among the starters, who all average more than 7.1 ppg. Six different players have led the Ramblers in game scoring this year, with Chandler, who scored over 20 points on three occasions, leading the way.
 
For GW, the key will be to stay focused defensively and be patient on offense. On paper, it looks like LUC lacks the firepower to put up big numbers on the scoreboard and in the A10 the numbers are worse. The average points per game drops to 48.2 on 31.5% shooting accuracy and the rebounding difference is -12 rpg. Defensively we have to stay disciplined and prevent their guards from getting easy baskets and limit their open looks. If we can keep them to their A10 averages, then even if our offense stumbles, we have a great chance of winning. Offensively, we have to move the ball around, take good shots, and create spacing inside so that Taiwo can do her thing—just like she did against VCU. Lakstigala and Robertson will get their points, but Innis needs to continue take advantage of post-up situations and Brown needs to finish more of her drives. The bench has to play better. Lok has to stay out of foul trouble. If Thornton and Webster continue to play ineffectively, then maybe Engel should start getting some extended minutes. If our defense is lax and we stumble on offense, it could give LUC an opening.
 
LUC provides a good opportunity for a win, but GW will be in unfriendly territory against a team we’ve never played. We can’t afford to let this opportunity slip by.
 
Note: The broadcast on the GW site lists NBC Sports Digital as the provider. I believe the game is available on the NBC Sports Network App, but it’s not clear what other wickets (e.g., TV subscription info) are necessary. If anyone can add any clarification as to how one can access the stream for this game, I’m sure many of us fans would be grateful.

Last edited by xAC (1/22/2023 11:15 pm)

 

1/23/2023 12:25 am  #2


Re: GW versus Loyola University Chicago (LUC) Thread

On the ESPN+ listing of live and upcoming games, GW-Loyola game is shown. That’s not unlike GW games originating on NBCSports Washington that are also shown on ESPN+

 

1/23/2023 8:21 am  #3


Re: GW versus Loyola University Chicago (LUC) Thread

Poog - Thanks. Great news.

     Thread Starter
 

1/24/2023 4:28 pm  #4


Re: GW versus Loyola University Chicago (LUC) Thread

Any idea why this is a noon tip-off?? (Actually it's an 11 AM tip since it's in Chicago) Maybe it's something to do with travel? Playing a game in the middle of the day while classes are in session seems a bit silly (although I remember they played a Valentines Day matinee against SLU at home last year). I guess they're really putting the athlete in student-athlete...

EDIT: It is "field trip day" per the Loyola website. That makes sense and seems like a fun idea

Last edited by gwstudent2024 (1/24/2023 4:54 pm)

 

1/24/2023 6:35 pm  #5


Re: GW versus Loyola University Chicago (LUC) Thread

been several 12PM tipoffs lately.  Are they all for the kids?

 

1/24/2023 10:16 pm  #6


Re: GW versus Loyola University Chicago (LUC) Thread

BC wrote:

been several 12PM tipoffs lately.  Are they all for the kids?

Nope. Weekend, holiday game at Mason, and a staff recognition early start at home with students on break
 

 

1/25/2023 3:03 pm  #7


Re: GW versus Loyola University Chicago (LUC) Thread

GW hangs on to win 75-61.
 
The start of the game was true to form with LUC struggling on offense but playing tough D and forcing GW into some questionable shots. The quarter was halted due to a fire alarm with 1:45 left in the period and GW leading 12-7. After a long delay, the Ramblers whittled down the lead, but thanks to a buzzer beater by Lok, GW closed the period with an 18-14 lead. Lok led all 1st quarter scoring with 6 points, with Innis chipping in 5. GW came out strong in the 2nd quarter and found their offensive groove. Behind Lok’s 11 points and Taiwo’s first half double-double (11-10), GW pushed out to a 47-29 lead. Lackluster defense by the Colonials resulted in a 19-point 3rd quarter for LUC. Thanks to some very efficient offense by Lakstigala (18 points in 3 quarters), GW managed to keep the lead at 64-48 to start the final period. The inability to score at the start to the 4th gave the Ramblers some life.  After LUC cut the lead to 8 at the 4-minute mark, Robertson hit a pair of clutch 3-pointers for our first scores of the quarter to put a little cushion on the lead. The usual back and forth in the final moments led to some GW free throws and the Colonials prevailed 75-61. Robertson finished the quarter with 9 of GW’s 11 points and 16 for the game. Lakstigala led all scorers with 19 points, while Taiwo added a career-high 19 rebounds to go with 12 points.
 
The Colonials played a good first half, but our inability to build on a lead reflects a disturbing trend. After shooting 50% in the first half, GW could only manage 11.8% in the 4th period and finished the second half at 25%.  Luckily, Robertson shows no fear, and will put up shots even after a poor shooting first half. The Colonials did not play well defensively as a team. The LUC front court pushed us around and at times, we left the perimeter wide open. Props to Blethen, who finished with 8 points and 5 boards to pick up the scoring slack from Brown, who was held scoreless. Lok had a great first half, so it begs the question of why we saw so little of her in the second. The probable rationale for Webster’s 19 minutes was to spell Taiwo, especially for interior defense, but today, her defense was not great and her offense was non-existent. The coaches have a challenge moving forward because our remaining schedule has a number of teams with significantly more talent than LUC. GW needs to learn how to play with the lead, so maybe some adjustments to the rotation will help.

At the halfway point of the conference season, GW is -5-3 in the A10, and has already exceeded the total number of wins from last regular season.  Despite some of the shortcomings of this team, a great deal of progress has been made and this weekend’s contest against Dayton is just the next big test of several more to come.

Last edited by xAC (1/25/2023 6:54 pm)

     Thread Starter
 

1/25/2023 4:21 pm  #8


Re: GW versus Loyola University Chicago (LUC) Thread

The game was not available on the ESPN+ app, but the link on the LUC schedule page went to NBC Sports and let you watch the game simply by clicking on the event video. In case you'd like to see the replay, you should be able to get it at this link:

http://stream.nbcsports.com/nbc/?pid=2048047

Last edited by xAC (1/25/2023 6:54 pm)

     Thread Starter
 

1/26/2023 3:22 pm  #9


Re: GW versus Loyola University Chicago (LUC) Thread

Overall I thought WBB played pretty well. Loyola's WBB team looked as lost as the MBB team defensively when they were rotating and we had wide open lanes to operate for much of the game. There were times where we were still having issues rotating along the perimeter which resulted in made threes for the Ramblers but thankfully LUC doesn't have the talent yet so it didn't burn GW too bad. That will still need to be cleaned up against better teams. I haven't looked it up, but I'd imagine our 3-PT defense has to be among the worst in league play.

MBB and WBB combined to shoot 22/39 (56%) from three in two games at Loyola's gym. Love those rims!!

- Good to see Mia have a good game in her return home. She was quiet early on, but started to get it going later. Lakstigala made an impressive three in transition, but many of her threes were assisted and overall better quality shots. Hope to see more of that moving forward. She can create her own shot, but that doesn't always need to be the case.

- Asjah does a good job of getting the team off to great starts. I don't think there's a name for that role (generally people only think of closers) but she is a good opener.

- I sound like a broken record at this point, but Mayowa's rebounding is such a luxury to have and we'll miss that next year. I think if there is something we could have done a bit different in the second half it was playing a little more inside out because LUC started to mix up defenses down low - that hurt Mayowa's efficiency after halftime.

- Good to see Faith be more of a presence offensively. We need balance on the team scoring-wise.

- Both Nyas were really good yesterday:
I thought Robertson was forcing things a bit early on, but she did a much better job later on playing within the flow of the offense. I love when teams leave her open from the corner, especially off an inbounds pass because she's money from three at that spot.

Lok made some big threes to halt any momentum Loyola had in the first quarter. Also impressive awareness to make herself open on that inbounds pass and she is a very underrated passer. Mia, Nya R, and Mayowa might be the three most important players on the team but honestly Lok might be #4 after them. I second xAC that I'm confused why she didn't play more in the second half. Depth is a double edged sword. It's almost like the UMass MBB situation with there being so many players who warrant minutes. I'm also just confused when Jayla sees time at random points in the game. That probably hurts Thornton's rhythm somewhat.

- It was just an unfortunate shooting day for Essence. I thought the shot attempts were good. An 80% FT shooter missing all four attempts is just bad luck honestly.

- Taylor has had a rough season, but hopefully those shot attempts start to fall moving forward. She was a good three point shooter last year, so not sure what happened. We need her size down low to give Mayowa a breather. GW WBB doesn't have much depth up front so she'll continue to get the opportunity to produce, and I'm rooting for her to have success moving forward.
 

 

1/26/2023 5:40 pm  #10


Re: GW versus Loyola University Chicago (LUC) Thread

dmvpiranha wrote:

- I sound like a broken record at this point, but Mayowa's rebounding is such a luxury to have and we'll miss that next year. 
 

No broken record. We’re not saying it enough. Because she’s not a big scorer, she is undervalued and doesn’t get the accolades of some of the others in the A10. She’s the heart of this GW team and as valuable to the Colonials as any other player to their respective team in this league. Can’t imagine playing without her next season.

That said, I don’t mean to be so tough on Webster, because backing up Taiwo means she’s going against top A10 front court talent game-in and game-out. The coaches need to put her in more situations where she can succeed, but since we don’t have that luxury, we still have to appreciate what she’s giving to the team.
 

     Thread Starter
 

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