Loyola Chicago Ramblers (Game 2)
Date: Saturday March 7th, 2026
Time: 2:00 PM ET
Venue: Joseph J. Gentile Arena (Chicago, IL)
TV: USA
Ranks: 301st (KenPom), 288th (Bart Torvik), 276th (Haslametrics), 295th (EvanMiya)
NET Ranking: 303rd (Q4 Game)
2025-26 Projected Record: 7-24, 3-15 (14th in A10)

Game 1 Result: GW 101, LUC 66 (Johnson 18 points, Autry 17 points, Castro 14 points, Aranguren 12 points, Jones 11 points, Dinkins 11 points)
Team Preview: Link
Loyola Chicago Record Since Last Matchup: 2-11 (Wins vs. La Salle, vs. Richmond; Losses vs. George Mason, @ Dayton, @ St. Bonaventure, vs. Duquesne, vs. St. Joe's, @ VCU, @ Davidson, vs. Saint Louis, @ Fordham, @ St. Joe's, @ Saint Louis)

Offensive Efficiency: 283rd (KenPom), 282nd (Bart Torvik), 281st (Haslametrics), 281st (EvanMiya)
Defensive Efficiency: 301st (KenPom), 280th (Bart Torvik), 290th (Haslametrics), 284th (EvanMiya)
Pace: 262nd (KenPom), 253rd (Bart Torvik), 259th (Haslametrics), 271st (EvanMiya)

Projected Starting Lineup: (Honestly subject to change with it being Senior Day; could see Ola-Joseph, Reese, and/or Richardson start as a result. Also unsure whether Moore or Houinsou return).
#4 G Kayde Dotson (Sophomore; Beaumont, TX) - 10 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 1.8 apg; 38% FG, 37% 3-PT, 77% FT per 25.4 mpg/25 GP
      Game 1 vs. GW: DNP

#0 G Deywilk Tavarez (Junior; Pennsauken, NJ) - 8.9 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 1.6 apg; 34% FG, 31% 3-PT, 88% FT per 22.1 mpg/30 GP
      Game 1 vs. GW: 3 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal; 1-7 FG, 1-6 3-PT in 17 minutes.

#5 G Daniil Glazkov (Sophomore; Krasnodar, Russia) - 3 ppg, 2 rpg; 43% FG, 41% 3-PT, 56% FT per 13 mpg/23 GP
      Game 1 vs. GW: 4 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist; 1-4 FG, 0-1 3-PT, 2-2 FT in 12 minutes.

#13 F Xavier Amos (Senior; Chicago, IL) - 11.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg; 41% FG, 32% 3-PT, 74% FT per 24.8 mpg/16 GP
      Game 1 vs. GW: DNP

#24 C Miles Rubin (Junior; Chicago, IL) - 11 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 2.1 apg, 2.3 bpg; 59% FG, 51% FT per 29.3 mpg/30 GP
      Game 1 vs. GW: 15 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 4 blocks; 7-10 FG, 1-1 FT in 30 minutes.

Projected Bench:
#2 F Joshua Ola-Joseph (Senior; Brooklyn Park, MN) - 7.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg; 39% FG, 27% 3-PT, 72% FT per 21.6 mpg/26 GP
      Game 1 vs. GW: 20 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist; 7-14 FG, 4-11 3-PT, 2-2 FT in 35 minutes.

#8 G Nic Anderson (Freshman; Olathe, KS) - 5.2 ppg, 2.4 rpg; 36% FG, 29% 3-PT, 60% FT per 17.2 mpg/24 GP
      Game 1 vs. GW: 12 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist; 5-17 FG, 2-11 3-PT, 0-3 FT in 31 minutes.

#9 C Alexander Richardson (Senior; Glasgow, Scotland) - 3 ppg, 3.4 rpg; 53% FG, 47% FT per 11.4 mpg/27 GP
      Game 1 vs. GW: DNP

#14 G Caleb Reese (Senior; Warren, MI) - 1.5 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 1.3 apg; 27% FG, 16% 3-PT, 53% FT per 11.6 mpg/20 GP
      Game 1 vs. GW: 2 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals; 1-5 FG, 0-3 3-PT in 23 minutes.

Conference Marks (A10 play only):
Combined Opponent Rebounds: 32.8 RPG (4th)
Team Defensive Rebounds: 23.9 DRPG (5th)
Assists Per Game: 14.12 APG (6th)
Rebound Margin: +1.1 RPG (6th)
Combined Team Rebounds: 33.9 RPG (7th)
3-Point FGs Made: 7.9 3PM/G (8th)
Blocked Shots Per Game: 3.59 BPG (8th)
Team Offensive Rebounds: 10 ORPG (9th)
Opponent FG Percentage: 45.2% (11th)
Team 3-Point FG Percentage: 30.8% (11th)
Team FG Percentage: 41.9% (11th)
Assist/Turnover Ratio: 0.99 AST/TO (13th)
Opponent 3-Point FG Percentage: 37.9% (13th)
Opponent FT Percentage: 76% (13th)
Scoring Defense: 77 PPG (13th)
Steals Per Game: 4.41 SPG (13th)
Team FT Percentage: 63.6% (13th)
Opponent Turnovers Per Game: 8.9 TO/G (14th)
Scoring Margin: -12.3 PPG (14th)
Scoring Offense: 64.7 PPG (14th)
Turnover Margin: -5.29 TO/G (14th)
Turnovers Per Game: 14.2 TO/G (14th)

Individual Leaders (A10 play only):
Rebounds Per Game:
Miles Rubin - 7.5 RPG (3rd)

Field Goal Percentage:
Miles Rubin - 57% (6th)

Free Throw Percentage:
Xavier Amos - 75% (25th)

3-PT Field Goals Per Game:
Deywilk Tavarez - 1.6 3PM/G (22nd)

Assists Per Game:
Miles Rubin - 2.6 APG (19th)

Blocks Per Game:
Miles Rubin - 2.3 BPG (3rd)

Minutes Per Game:
Miles Rubin - 30.1 MPG (22nd)

Keys/Trends:
- Two of Loyola's three A10 wins have come at home, although all three are against teams that are below GW in the standings.

- LoyChi's best strength this year is their ability to rebound while keeping the opposition off the glass. In all three of their wins in conference play (URI, La Salle, Richmond), Loyola has won the rebound battle by an average of nearly 10 rebounds a game. GW narrowly won in that category in the last meeting, 42-39.

- Loyola averaged 8.4 threes made per game last month, which exceeds their conference average. In their most recent loss at SLU, the Ramblers knocked down 12 triples.

- In February, Loyola is averaging 13.3 turnovers a game. That's about one fewer turnover compared to their A10 average, but this is still a squad that struggles to take care of the ball. They are the only team in the league worse than GW in this metric. The good news is that GW isn't bad at forcing turnovers, especially lately. I'm not sure we can bank on the Ramblers coughing it up 20 times like in DC, but there's still opportunity, especially if Justin Moore remains sidelined (connector piece Kymany Houinsou missed all of February as well). Moore has played in just six of Loyola's 13 games since the last matchup. No team has been this bad with turnovers in the league in seven years.

- From an opponent's perspective, they've had little trouble taking care of the ball against the Ramblers. Loyola's last three opponents - St. Joe's, Richmond, and SLU have combined for just 20 turnovers against them. Even this GW team had just eight turnovers in the last matchup! Loyola will be a lot healthier, playing at home, and be motivated to win on Senior Day this time around though. GW needs to avoid the mental unforced errors, because few turnovers will be because Loyola is forcing them.

- This is not a unit that puts up a ton of points (last in the A10 in scoring offense). As a result, the Ramblers need the game to be lower scoring to pull out a win. In their conference wins, they've held every team under 70 points.

- If you think GW is a poor FT shooting team, let me introduce you to Loyola. The Ramblers have shot below 70% from the line in five out of seven games in February (and in the two games they shot above, it was literally barely above 70%). They are somehow not the worst team in the league in FTs (that would be Davidson) but to make things worse for them, foes are shooting over 12% better from the line than Loyola.

- The Revs should have success from beyond the arc against the 'Blers. A10 opponents are shooting nearly 38% from downtown against them. In their three wins, Rhody, Richmond, and La Salle combined to shoot just 25%. I would think that this GW team can hit at least 30% of their attempts, if not better. This trio of teams also combined to somehow shoot under 35% from the field, which is nearly 10 percentage points worse than Loyola's opponent FG percentage in conference.

- Xavier Amos is coming off a season high 25 points with six made threes against SLU. He did not play in the last matchup, but expect him to be one of Loyola's go-to options tomorrow. Amos also assists on the glass, where he's had at least four boards on ten different occasions this season.

- In his last eight games, Miles Rubin has alternated single and double figure scoring performances (unfortunately, he's coming off a quieter game at SLU). Sending doubles his way will be more of a challenge this time around with Amos healthy. Rubin is also a decent passer (3 apg in his last five games). Of course, he's also a tremendous shot blocker, having swatted at least one shot in 28 of 30 games played. Like Slim though he can be loose with the ball. In the last three games, Rubin has turned it over a combined 14 times and has 3+ turnovers in five of the last six games. I thought he won his matchup against Castro last time even though GW had the better team overall so hopefully he has a quieter game tomorrow.

- Kayde Dotson was one of several players to miss the last matchup, but GW will definitely need to be aware of him from 3. Dotson is shooting 48% from 3 over the last two weeks, with an average of 3.25 makes during that time. He's not much of a presence when run off the line. In Moore's absence, Dotson has also handled some passing duties as well. Still, he's not quite been the same player he was prior to his injury. Dotson had scored in double figures in seven straight games before getting hurt against Davidson (the game before they played GW). Since then, he's had just three such performances in nine games.

- Like Dotson, Deywilk Tavarez is not as big of a presence when run off the line, but has helped facilitate the offense without a healthy PG. He arrived at Loyola as a fairly good shooter, but has just had a tough season (31% from 3). Tavarez can have the occasional good shooting performance, but he's scored in double figures just four times in conference play.

- As we saw in January's matchup in Foggy Bottom, Joshua Ola-Joseph is certainly capable of a big performance, but he's had a tough stretch in the last month. When he's played, Ola-Joseph is just 4/15 (27%) from the field and 1/9 (11%) from 3. Since his return from injury, Valentine has been bringing him off the bench (although that might change tomorrow with it being Senior Day).

- Freshman Nic Anderson had to take on a larger role in the last matchup due to the number of injuries Loyola had, but he's returned to a smaller role over the last nine games. He has scored fewer than ten points in ten straight games and made just two threes in February (22% in the month).

- Sophomore Daniil Glazkov returned from injury against GW and at the start of February Valentine increased his minutes. He has even started a couple games for them, although as a non-senior he could return to the bench tomorrow. Since his minutes increase, Glazkov is averaging 23 mpg, which far exceeds his season average (13 mpg). He has been shooting it well from three during this time (45%) so it seems justified although he's scored in double figures just once this year.

- Alexander Richardson is yet another player that was unable to go in meeting #1, but should give Loyola some depth up front tomorrow. He can rebound and get a couple of buckets inside, but his impact won't be too big. Like Glazkov, he's scored 10+ points just once this season.

- While former walk-on Caleb Reese did not stand out scoring-wise in the last matchup, he did post five rebounds and six assists - not too bad. He was able to do the same thing on one other occasion against St. Bonaventure. I'd expect Reese to see some run on Senior Day, but his role has been reduced since the end of January as players started to return for the Ramblers.

Projected Score: GW 83, Loyola 71. 87% chance to win (KenPom). Bart Torvik forecasts an 84% chance at a W. ESPN predicts an 84.6% chance for GW to move to 18-13.

Lot of turnovers and bad shooting. Ugh!
 

Game started feeling like the GW/SLU game from 2008 where SLU only scored 20.

GW still sleep walking through offense.  And agree about Garrett.  He has some utility with his size but his 3 point shot is completely broken.  Which is nuts because the form still looks decent.

Are we going for the NCAA record for missed layups?

31-25 Loyola. Bench the starters and let subs play. Starters don't want to play. Brutal. Gnight.

PATHETIC !!!

Expect us to go into panic mode at any time

Have we ever played against a zone! We look lost-disgraceful performance so far.

Caputo is a one trick pony offensively and defensively who never seems to make second half adjustments. Don't be surprised if we lose the first game in the tournament.