Loyola Chicago ‘Blers

Day I toured LU I sat behind Sister Jean at mass. She turned around to talk to my parents and I about how great LU would be for me. Then she said to go to the opener that night bc the team was going to be extra special. This was Fall 17. Great person and all-time ball knower. RIP

A lot of good from a lot of players. Tonight showed off how deep into the bench this team could go if needed. After the start to last season, this 2-0 start with two 20+ wins feels pretty great

Some crazy West Georgia 3s, a taunting technical, and some ill-advised Loyola shots are keeping West Georgia in this. This should not be a single digit game

So Diallo looks legit

Loyola had full advantage when the offense was focused on inside work. WHY did the offensive scheme suddenly shift to shooting only 3s?

Loyola looks so good. I’m about to fully buy in. Especially considering what this West Georgia team did to DePaul

They’re making it look too easy to score. Have not seen that in a long while 🐺

Also sidenote, DePaul (who is projected to be decent this season) trailed West Georgia for most of the game on Monday and didn’t pull away until the final 10 min. This UWG team definitely won’t just roll over tonight

We simply won’t know how good this team can be until at least Colorado State. But I’d like to be able to move past week 1 knowing that we shouldn’t expect to struggle with low-level teams this season

Tonight’s game is big, because I think it sets the tone for what the team’s floor is. If they can win convincingly again against a low-ranked team, there is a LOT less of a worry that this team will bottom out again. ‘25 Week 1: Barely beat Cleveland State and loss to Mercyhurst

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Largest Loyola victory since November 23rd, 2024. That feels good!

Loyola’s largest win last year was by ELEVEN points. Don’t care if it’s The Citadel, this is definitely a move in the right direction. Last year’s squad simply didn’t do this to anyone

Grotzinger is the X factor. Just haven’t seen a PG as mobile as that in a Loyola jersey

Dayton Williams having a fantastic game

It feels nice to be winning a basketball game by double digits

Bit of a disappointing finish to the half. I’ll have to see how 2H goes to formulate a full reaction from tonight, some flashes of good and bad at both ends

Initial thoughts: - Defense is clamps - Offense has good motion but needs to be more disciplined in execution - High effort so far - We may need to chill on the subbing a bit if the offense can’t get a rhythm…

Loyola has not had a “successful” opening night since 2022. Would really like that trend to change tomorrow night

He also cited Grotzinger as the key piece, and I 100% agree. I’ve been blown away by him in the exhibitions games

At 101 here, the best spot I’ve seen anyone predict Loyola. I’ve seen our range of predictions run from 100-200+, to show how much of a wildcard this team is