Ramblers still rolling after huge victory
Loyola’s game Saturday against Norfolk State could’ve been a trap. Three days removed from a landmark victory at highly ranked Florida, the Ramblers hosted a winless team that didn’t figure to provide much of a challenge.
Loyola didn’t show any signs of a letdown, winning 80- 52 to improve to 10- 1.
“We wanted to stay poised and just do what we did against Florida, just play a defensive- minded game, run our plays, run our sets,” guard Marques Townes said. “Coach [ Porter Moser] preached to us before the game just to stay level because the win against Florida was huge, but we just wanted to stay poised, and I think we showed that during the Norfolk State game.”
The ability to stay poised and focused will help the Ramblers, who have battled a slew of injuries yet still are off to the school’s best start since 1965. They received votes in both polls this week, and the program is getting as much attention as it has in years. Players are getting recognized around campus and on social media, but the Ramblers know they have to block that out as much as possible.
After all, it is only December, and the Ramblers are targeting success in later parts of the season. They stress that what happened against Florida and Norfolk State is part of a process, as is the game at Milwaukee on Saturday.
“We are still chasing. We are still hunting the championship. I told our guys, this is just the beginning. We’ve got to stay the ones that are hunting this championship, hunting to play our best,” Moser said. “I think what [ Saturday’s win] says is that this team is hungry. This team plays really hard.”
It also has embraced Moser’s message of constant improvement.
To make sure his players’ minds were right after the Florida win — and in the midst of all the praise they were getting — Moser showed them tape of the Gators game and highlighted places they could have been better. Instead of scoffing, the players took the message to heart.
“They responded. It wasn’t like they were sitting there going ‘ Man, coach, you’re tripping. You’re not showing all of our good plays.’ They know about those,” Moser said. “We wanted to have the mentality of, we need to get better after this game. We can get better next game.”
If the Ramblers keep getting better, who knows how high their ceiling is.
“If we execute our stuff — we have the talent, we have the key pieces to do that — it just shows that we can be a really good team,” Townes said. “We can compete with any team in the country, really.”
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