On Saturday, Loyola (Chicago) welcomes Kent State at Joseph J. Gentile Arena. The game gets underway at 3 p.m. EST. The Ramblers have not played the Golden Flashes since the 1996-97 season, when they won 74-59.

The Ramblers fell 85-76 to Valparaiso on Feb. 19. Christian Thomas finished with 15 points and 8 rebounds in the loss. While contributing 6.5 rebounds per game, he also scores 11.6 points per game. For the Golden Flashes, Chris Evans put up 18 points and 14 rebounds in the 78-75 loss to Ohio on Feb. 16. He puts up a team-leading 17 points per game, 7.6 rebounds per game, and 2 steals per game. From a tempo-free perspective, Kent State is strong in free throw rate at 44.3 percent. This is good enough for second in the conference and 15th in the nation.

Kent State StatSmack

  • Loyola embarrassed Kent State by 15 points the last time they played (Nov 30, 1996).
  • Loyola allows fewer rebounds (30.6 allowed per game vs. 34.0 allowed per game) than Kent State this season.
  • The Loyola basketball team finishes what they start, with a better graduation rate than Kent State (75 percent vs. 47 percent).
  • The Loyola assist leader (Cully Payne, 105 assists) has more assists than the Kent State assist leader (Kris Brewer, 65 assists).
  • The Loyola blocks leader (Ben Averkamp, 28 blocks) has more blocks than the Kent State blocks leader (Chris Evans, 18 blocks).
  • Loyola players are more experienced than Kent State players (12,289 minutes played vs. 10,889 minutes played).
  • You'll do better on next semester's exams, right? Loyola currently has a higher Academic Progress Rate (976 to 944) than Kent State, per the NCAA.
  • Loyola has a better scoring defense (61.7 allowed per game vs. 68.2 allowed per game) than Kent State this season.