The Creighton Bluejays will welcome a fellow Jesuit university’s basketball team to Qwest Center Omaha in a few weeks, when the Loyola Ramblers head west for a non-televised BracketBusters game. The game, scheduled for Saturday, February 20, will likely start in the evening because of the Nebraska High School Wrestling State Championships taking place at the Q that morning and afternoon.
Historically, the Bluejays and Ramblers have met 16 times, with Loyola holding an 11-5 record against Creighton in the all-time series. The teams last played during the 1981-1982 season, when the Bluejays dropped a 2-point game in Chicago, 80-78. During the two teams’ meeting in December 1952, Elton Tuttle scored 38 points for the Bluejays, the ninth highest single-game total in Creighton basketball history.
Entering this week’s games, Loyola finds itself on a bit of a slide, having lost 4 straight and 7 of its last 8 games. The Ramblers recently dropped a heartbreaker at home to nationally ranked Butler, and they will face the Bulldogs again a week from today.
Like Creighton, Loyola beat Bradley in Peoria. In fact, Loyola’s win against the Braves came in the midst of the Ramblers’ 11-2 start to the season. But once Horizon League play began, the Ramblers slithered toward the bottom of the conference, where they are 3-8 through 11 games.
Currently, junior guard Terrance Hill (12 points, 4.8 rebounds per game), sophomore forward Walt Gibler (11.1 points, 5 rebounds per game), and guard Marcus Thomas (6.5 points per game; 42% from 3-point range) pace the Ramblers, who are in the top 100 nationwide in 3-point field goal percentage (36.5%). Hill and Thomas have both attempted more than 80 3-pointers, while Geoff McCammon (32-70) shoots 45.7% from long range.
White & Blue Review will have more on this matchup as the (relatively useless) BracketBusters weekend approaches.