Loyola Chicago Ramblers (6-5) vs. Stanford Cardinal (4-7)
The Loyola Chicago Ramblers and Stanford Cardinal head to Santa Cruz, California, on Thursday night to lock horns in the neutral-site non-conference showdown at Kaiser Permanente Arena with the tip-off at 10:00 PM ET.
The Ramblers and Cardinal have never met before. Stanford opens as a 6-point fave with a total of 127.0 points, so let’s take a closer look.
The Loyola Chicago Ramblers (6-5; 3-8 ATS) are coming off Sunday’s 68-56 home victory over the Albany Great Danes. The Ramblers failed to cover a huge 15.5-point spread but still extended their SU winning streak to three games. Loyola Chicago led wire-to-wire and by as many as 14 points, making 50.0% of its field goals (6-for-16 from deep) and posting a 14/13 assist-to-turnover ratio.
The Ramblers held the Great Danes to 35.2% shooting from the field and 5-for-18 from downtown. Junior forward Philip Alston led Loyola Chicago with a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds, while senior guard Braden Norris notched 12 points and seven assists. Alston is now tallying 13.5 points and 6.0 boards per game in 2022-23, and Norris is adding 10.6 points and 4.2 assists a night.
Philip Alston recorded his first double-double in the Maroon & Gold, and three other players scored in double figures, as the Ramblers led wire-to-wire in a 68-56 win over UAlbany!
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— Loyola Men's Basketball (@RamblersMBB) December 18, 2022
Loyola Chicago is No. 220 in the NCAA NET Rankings and No. 127 in the KenPom rankings. The Ramblers score 102.1 points per 100 possessions (172nd in the nation) on 58.5% shooting from inside the arc (15th) and 33.8% from downtown (188th). They commit a whopping 17.5 turnovers per game, enough for the fifth-most in the nation. On the other side of the ball, the Ramblers yield 98.6 points per 100 possessions (99th) on 48.1% shooting from inside the arc (170th) and 30.3% from beyond the 3-point line (78th).