2020–21 Loyola Ramblers men's basketball team

The 2020–21 Loyola Ramblers men's basketball team represented Loyola University Chicago during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Ramblers, led by 10th-year head coach Porter Moser, played their home games at the Joseph J. Gentile Arena in Chicago, Illinois as members of the Missouri Valley Conference. They finished the season 26–5, 16–2 in MVC play to win the regular season championship. They defeated Southern Illinois, Illinois State, and Drake to win the MVC tournament championship.^[1] As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as a No. 8 seed in the Midwest region.^[2] There they defeated No. 9-seeded Georgia Tech^[3] and upset No. 1-seeded Illinois to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.^[4] In the Sweet Sixteen, they lost to Oregon State.^[5]

2020–21 Loyola Ramblers men's basketball
Missouri Valley regular season and tournament champions
NCAA tournament, Sweet Sixteen
Conference	Missouri Valley Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 12
AP	No. 17
Record	26–5 (16–2 MVC)
Head coach	Porter Moser (10th season)
Assistant coaches	Jermaine Kimbrough Matt Gordon Drew Valentine
Home arena	Joseph J. Gentile Arena
Seasons ← 2019–20 2021–22 →

2020–21 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 17 Loyola Chicago †	16	–	2		.889			26	–	5		.839
Drake	15	–	3		.833			26	–	5		.839
Missouri State	12	–	6		.667			17	–	7		.708
Indiana State	11	–	7		.611			15	–	10		.600
Evansville	7	–	11		.389			9	–	16		.360
Valparaiso	7	–	11		.389			10	–	18		.357
Northern Iowa	7	–	11		.389			10	–	15		.400
Bradley	6	–	12		.333			12	–	16		.429
Southern Illinois	5	–	13		.278			12	–	14		.462
Illinois State	4	–	14		.222			7	–	18		.280
† 2021 MVC tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

On April 3, 2021, Moser left Loyola to accept the head coaching position at Oklahoma.^[6] A few days later, the school announced that assistant coach Drew Valentine would take over as the Ramblers' head coach.^[7]

Previous season

The Ramblers finished the 2019–20 season 21–11, 13–5 in MVC play to finish in second place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the MVC tournament to Valparaiso. All postseason play was canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.^[8]

Offseason

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Reason for departure
Bruno Skokna	4	G	6'4"	175	Senior	Zagreb, Croatia	Graduated
Jalon Pipkins	50	G	6'4"	180	Junior	Paris, TX	Transferred to Purdue Fort Wayne

Incoming transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Damezi Anderson	35	F	6'7"	225	Junior	South Bend, IN	Transferred from Indiana.

2020 recruiting class

College recruiting information

Name	Hometown	School	Height	Weight	Commit date
Jacob Hutson C	Edina, MN	Edina (MN)	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	240 lb (110 kg)	Sep 27, 2018
	Recruit ratings: (N/R)
Baylor Hebb PG / SG	Colleyville, TX	Heritage (TX)	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Sep 9, 2019
	Recruit ratings: Rivals:    247Sports:    ESPN:    (N/R)
Overall recruit ranking:    247Sports: 158
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, On3, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2020 Loyola Ramblers Recruiting Class". ESPN. Retrieved March 24, 2021. "2020 Team Ranking". Rivals. Retrieved March 24, 2021.

Roster

2020–21 Loyola Ramblers men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown G 0 Paxson Wojcik 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 185 lb (84 kg) So La Lumiere Charleston, SC G 1 Lucas Williamson 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Sr Whitney Young Chicago, IL G 2 Jake Baughman (W) 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 180 lb (82 kg) RS Sr Central Catholic Bloomington, IL G 4 Braden Norris 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 180 lb (82 kg) RS So Hilliard Bradley Oakland Hilliard, OH G 5 Keith Clemons 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Sr Wesley Christian Vincennes Norcross, GA F 10 Tom Welch 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) So Naperville North Naperville, IL G 12 Marquise Kennedy 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) So Brother Rice Chicago, IL G 13 Baylor Hebb 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Fr Heritage Colleyville, TX C 22 Jacob Hutson 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 240 lb (109 kg) Fr Edina Edina, MN G 23 Cooper Kaifes 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) RS So Mill Valley Shawnee, KS G/F 24 Tate Hall 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 220 lb (100 kg) RS Sr Greenfield-Central Indianapolis Greenfield, IN C 25 Cameron Krutwig 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 255 lb (116 kg) Sr Jacobs Algonquin, IL F 30 Aher Uguak 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 225 lb (102 kg) RS Sr Harry Ainlay New Mexico Edmonton, AB G 31 Sami Ismail (W) 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 182 lb (83 kg) Jr Carl Sandburg Orland Park, IL F 33 Franklin Agunanne 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 245 lb (111 kg) Jr La Lumiere Abuja, Nigeria F 35 Damezi Anderson 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Jr Riley Indiana South Bend, IN F 45 Will Alcock (W) 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Jr Zionsville Community Zionsville, IN	Head coach Porter Moser (Creighton) Assistant coach(es) Jermaine Kimbrough (Virginia Tech) Matt Gordon (Illinois State) Drew Valentine (Oakland) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
December 5, 2020* 2:00 pm, ESPN3		Lewis	W 76–48	1–0	Joseph J. Gentile Arena  Chicago, IL
December 9, 2020* 2:00 pm, ESPN+		Chicago State	W 88–51	2–0	Joseph J. Gentile Arena  Chicago, IL
December 13, 2020* 1:00 pm, ESPN+		at UIC	W 77–66	3–0	Credit Union 1 Arena  Chicago, IL
December 15, 2020* 7:00 pm, BTN		at No. 12 Wisconsin	L 63–77	3–1	Kohl Center  Madison, WI
December 18, 2020* 5:00 pm, ESPN+		vs. Richmond	L 73–75	3–2	Indiana Convention Center  Indianapolis, IN
December 22, 2020* 12:00 pm, ESPN+		St. Francis (IL)	W 92–55	4–2	Joseph J. Gentile Arena  Chicago, IL
December 27, 2020 3:00 pm, ESPN+		Illinois State	W 90–60	5–2 (1–0)	Joseph J. Gentile Arena  Chicago, IL
December 28, 2020 7:00 pm, CBSSN		Illinois State	W 86–55	6–2 (2–0)	Joseph J. Gentile Arena  Chicago, IL
January 2, 2021* 6:30 pm, ESPN+		North Texas	W 57–49	7–2	Joseph J. Gentile Arena  Chicago, IL
January 10, 2021 5:30 pm, ESPN2		at Indiana State	L 71–76	7–3 (2–1)	Hulman Center (80) Terre Haute, IN
January 11, 2021 6:00 pm, CBSSN		at Indiana State	W 58–48	8–3 (3–1)	Hulman Center (90) Terre Haute, IN
January 16, 2021 5:00 pm, ESPN2		Northern Iowa	W 72–57	9–3 (4–1)	Joseph J. Gentile Arena  Chicago, IL
January 17, 2021 4:00 pm, ESPN		Northern Iowa	W 88–46	10–3 (5–1)	Joseph J. Gentile Arena  Chicago, IL
January 20, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN+		at Valparaiso	W 75–39	11–3 (6–1)	Athletics–Recreation Center (95) Valparaiso, IN
January 24, 2021 3:00 pm, ESPN+		at Bradley	W 69–56	12–3 (7–1)	Carver Arena  Peoria, IL
January 25, 2021 6:00 pm, CBSSN		at Bradley	W 65–58	13–3 (8–1)	Carver Arena  Peoria, IL
January 31, 2021 2:00 pm, CBSSN		at Missouri State	W 72–46	14–3 (9–1)	JQH Arena (1,505) Springfield, MO
February 1, 2021 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at Missouri State	W 70–50	15–3 (10–1)	JQH Arena (1,122) Springfield, MO
February 6, 2021 1:00 pm, ESPN+		Evansville	W 68–55	16–3 (11–1)	Joseph J. Gentile Arena  Chicago, IL
February 7, 2021 1:00 pm, ESPN+		Evansville	W 69–58	17–3 (12–1)	Joseph J. Gentile Arena  Chicago, IL
February 13, 2021 11:00 am, ESPN2	No. 22	at Drake	W 81–54	18–3 (13–1)	Knapp Center (864) Des Moines, IA
February 14, 2021 2:00 pm, ESPN2	No. 22	at Drake	L 50–51 OT	18–4 (13–2)	Knapp Center (921) Des Moines, IA
February 17, 2021 7:00 pm, ESPN+	No. 22	Valparaiso	W 54–52	19–4 (14–2)	Joseph J. Gentile Arena  Chicago, IL
February 26, 2021 8:00 pm, CBSSN	No. 21	Southern Illinois	W 60–52	20–4 (15–2)	Joseph J. Gentile Arena  Chicago, IL
February 27, 2021 5:00 pm, ESPN2	No. 21	Southern Illinois	W 65–58 OT	21–4 (16–2)	Joseph J. Gentile Arena  Chicago, IL
MVC tournament
March 5, 2021 11:00 am, ESPN+	(1) No. 20	vs. (9) Southern Illinois Quarterfinals	W 73–49	22–4	Enterprise Center (830) St. Louis, MO
March 6, 2021 12:00 pm, CBSSN	(1) No. 20	vs. (4) Indiana State Semifinals	W 65–49	23–4	Enterprise Center (938) St. Louis, MO
March 7, 2021 1:00 pm, CBS	(1) No. 20	vs. (2) Drake Championship	W 75–65	24–4	Enterprise Center (1,265) St. Louis, MO
NCAA tournament
March 19, 2021 3:00 pm, TBS	(8 MW) No. 17	vs. (9 MW) Georgia Tech First Round	W 71–60	25–4	Hinkle Fieldhouse (1,072) Indianapolis, IN
March 21, 2021 11:10 am, CBS	(8 MW) No. 17	vs. (1 MW) No. 2 Illinois Second Round	W 71–58	26–4	Bankers Life Fieldhouse (3,670) Indianapolis, IN
March 27, 2021 1:40 pm, CBS	(8 MW) No. 17	vs. (12 MW) Oregon State Sweet Sixteen	L 58–65	26–5	Bankers Life Fieldhouse (3,639) Indianapolis, IN
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Rankings

See also: 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Final
AP	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	RV	22	22	21	20	18	17	Not released
Coaches	—	—^	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	RV	RV	23	23	22	22	18	16	12

*AP does not release post-NCAA Tournament rankings
^Coaches did not release a Week 1 poll.