Nevada’s Visit to Gentile Arena Highlights Loyola Schedule

Editor: The following is part of a press release from loyolaramblers.com.

(Chicago, IL) – Coming off a magical season in which it won a school-record 32 games and reached the NCAA Final Four for the first time in 55 years, Loyola University Chicago will play one of its most challenging nonconference schedules in decades according to the slate announced today by eighth-year head men’s basketball coach Porter Moser.

The Ramblers will play eight home non-league contests in 2018-19, highlighted by a rematch of last season’s NCAA Sweet 16 game versus Nevada. Four of Loyola’s potential nonconference foes reached the postseason a year ago and 10 notched 17 or more wins, including four that notched 20+ victories.

“Scheduling is difficult every season, and this year was no exception, but we wanted to assemble as difficult a nonconference schedule as possible and I think we accomplished that goal,” Moser said. “People talked about Power 5 conferences going to 20 league games and how much that would impact scheduling and we felt the reality of that situation this offseason as we tried to get games against those teams. We have a nice mix of home and road games, along with some neutral site contests, including a meeting with Maryland. The game against Nevada will be a huge attraction for our fans and we are excited to be starting a series with a fellow Jesuit school in Saint Joseph’s.  Our students make a difference and play a huge role in our success at home, so we wanted to get as many games at Gentile Arena as possible in order to maximize the impact of our crowd.”

Moser’s squad opens up the 2018-19 campaign on November 6 when it hosts UMKC in the first of four straight home games to kick off the season. The Ramblers welcome Furman, a 23-win team a year ago, to Rogers Park on November 9 before closing out the homestand with games versus Niagara and Grambling State, which are both part of the Fort Myers Tip-Off.

Loyola takes to the road for the first time in 2018-19 when it heads to Florida for the remainder of the inaugural Fort Myers Tip-Off, November 19 and 21. A date with Richmond, a member of the Atlantic-10 Conference, starts things off in the Sunshine State and the Ramblers will face either Jesuit rival Boston College or Wyoming in the final game of the tournament two days later.

Following a short break for Thanksgiving, Loyola plays host to Nevada (November 27), a team that is widely regarded as a Top 10 club, in a Missouri Valley/Mountain West Challenge game at Gentile Arena, for what will be one of the top matchups in college basketball during non-league play. In March, those two teams played an epic thriller in the NCAA South Regional semifinal round in Atlanta, with Marques Townes’  three-pointer with less than seven seconds remaining sealing the Maroon and Gold’s 69-68 victory that propelled the Ramblers into the Elite Eight.

Loyola opens up the month of December by making the short trip across town to the Near West Side, where it will tangle with former conference mate UIC, another club that won 20 games and played in the postseason a year ago. Four days later, Mid-American Conference rival Ball State will pay its first-ever visit to Gentile Arena before the Ramblers head to Baltimore, where they will square off with Big Ten Conference foe Maryland on December 8.

The Ramblers close out the nonconference ledger by playing two of their final three games at home, prior to Loyola heading to the east coast for a showdown with fellow Jesuit institution Saint Joseph’s at The Palestra, one of college basketball’s most iconic venues, in Philadelphia.