Loyola Chicago basketball showed why it's a surprise contender on Sunday at Rhode Island
Sunday at the Ryan Center offered a reminder of the differences between a surprise conference title contender and a team still trying to find its way.
Loyola Chicago has been the turnaround story in the Atlantic 10 this season. The University of Rhode Island, while improved from a year ago, simply isn’t up to championship standard as of now.
The Ramblers punished the Rams possession by possession, controlling the glass and flashing superior bench depth while posting a 77-67 victory.
“They have a great identity to their crew,” URI coach Archie Miller said. “They’re older, strong, physical. They were definitely the team that sort of imposed their will in this one today.”
Loyola owned the boards by a count of 43-28 and outscored URI by a total of 34-14 among the reserves. The Ramblers languished at or near the bottom of the league throughout the 2022-23 campaign but have rebounded by cracking double-digit wins in the conference. URI recorded its lone league road win last season in Chicago — neither team was within shouting distance of top programs such as VCU and Dayton.
Loyola has rediscovered the DNA that carried the program to a Final Four in 2018 and a Sweet 16 in 2021. Drew Valentine’s club won its sixth straight and is already nine victories better than last year. The development of players such as Philip Alston and the addition of graduate transfers such as Dartmouth forward Dame Adelekun have made the difference — each finished with 21 points on Sunday.
“Just disappointed in terms of the effort level that’s required at this stage of the season to compete,” Miller said. “We’ve had that at times, but for whatever reason, we get disappointed in certain moments of games. It really hurts us.”
David Green’s dunk early in the second half made it a 35-33 game, but what unfolded from there was a repeating series of the Ramblers pushing the Rams an arm’s length away. Sheldon Edwards buried consecutive 3-pointers to spark a 14-3 run, and Loyola suddenly had its largest lead at 13. Zek Montgomery’s layup with 11:27 to play made it a 51-47 game, but URI never came within one possession over the final 18 minutes.
“We had to work uphill all night long,” Miller said. “Didn’t think we played particularly physical tonight. Didn’t think we played particularly well — especially in the areas you need to in February to win.”
The Rams started sharply from the field. They held a 16-9 lead after a Green layup inside and were 7-for-11 from the floor. URI went sour from there in the first half — just 28.6% shooting into the locker room while the Ramblers built a 35-29 advantage.
“We couldn’t get by them,” Miller said. “I think that’s a credit to them and their team — why they’re winning. They’re very tough-minded defensively.”
Green was a bit of a surprise starter after sitting the final 16:31 in a loss at Massachusetts last Sunday. He rehabbed a right knee sprain throughout the week and was able to return to practice on Saturday. That followed an illness that kept him from making the trip to a road win at George Washington. His second personal foul with 8:10 left in the first half led to more extended bench time in this one.
“David’s foul trouble really hurt us,” Miller said. “We don’t play as well offensively when we have to go smaller. I thought we got really stagnant. We took bad shots, which led to some transition for them.”
Alston added 10 rebounds, six on the offensive glass, for a double-double while Adelekun was one of five other players with at least four. Loyola (19-7, 11-2 Atlantic 10) limited the Rams (11-14, 5-7) to just five offensive boards and 23.5% shooting from 3-point range. Brandon Weston stood out on the stat sheet with 15 points, six rebounds and three assists — all were good for at least a share of team highs.
“He’s added a significant boost for our basketball team,” Miller said. “He’s trying to play hard. He’s playing extended minutes right now and he’s showing quite frankly he’s one of the better players we have.”
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LOYOLA CHICAGO (77): Alston 6-15 9-10 21, Rubin 0-0 0-0 0, Edwards 3-9 1-2 10, Norris 1-4 0-0 3, Watson 4-9 0-0 9, Adelekun 9-11 3-3 21, Dawson 0-5 2-2 2, Quinn 1-1 0-0 2, Mwamba 1-3 0-0 3, Welch 3-3 0-0 6, Dolan 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 28-61 15-17 77.
RHODE ISLAND (67): Fuchs 6-10 1-3 13, Green 3-7 0-0 7, House 4-12 4-7 14, Kortright 2-5 0-2 4, Weston 5-9 5-6 15, Montgomery 3-7 0-0 6, Estevez 1-4 3-4 6, Brown 1-1 0-0 2, Foumena 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 25-56 13-22 67.
Halftime — Loyola Chicago 35-29. 3-point goals — Loyola Chicago 6-24 (Edwards 3-9, Mwamba 1-1, Watson 1-3, Norris 1-4, Dolan 0-1, Alston 0-2, Dawson 0-4), Rhode Island 4-17 (House 2-6, Estevez 1-2, Green 1-3, Foumena 0-1, Kortright 0-1, Montgomery 0-1, Weston 0-1, Fuchs 0-2). Rebounds — Loyola Chicago 41 (Alston 10), Rhode Island 24 (Weston 6). Assists — Loyola Chicago 15 (Norris 8), Rhode Island 13 (Weston, Estevez 3). Total fouls — Loyola Chicago 21, Rhode Island 16. A — 5,407 (7,657).
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI basketball falls to Loyola Chicago Sunday at the Ryan Center
