Tuesday is another "biggest game of the year" game against Loyola. Last year, in similar circumstances, Loyola came into the ARC and wiped the floor with the Crusaders in a 20 point drubbing. Will things be different this time around?
Loyola has been the league bottom dweller all year, winning only one game against UIC. The Ramblers have struggled this year, but do have a couple of bright spots on their roster. Walt Gibler has had an outstanding year, but will probably not play due to a shoulder injury. Ben Averkamp has also been playing well all year averaging 14.5ppg. Local product Joe Crisman averages nearly 9 a game, and Jordan Hicks (who led the scoring attack against Valpo last time) is scoring 8 a game. As a team the Ramblers only average 55.6 ppg. They played at Butler last Tuesday and kept the game close before falling by 6.
The big question for Valpo is the health of KVW's knee. He stayed home from the bracket buster trip to get some extra treatment and I think he his ready to go all out. With or without a 100% healthy KVW there is no reason/excuse for Valpo to lose this game. The Crusadesr have too many weapons offensively to be held down by an undermanned Loyola team. Lets get to the predictions.
Looking at team wide PPS:
Valpo: 0.501115
Loyola: 0.360398
Using the PPS Valpo is clearly the more productive team. Valpo should win this game by at least 14 points. I'll go a little over that with my official prediction and say Valpo wins the game and the Horizon League regular season title, 66-50.
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