The Dayton Flyers and the Loyola IL Ramblers meet Friday in college basketball action from Gentile Arena. Dayton sits at 17-9 on the year so far. The Flyers beat St. Louis last Friday. As for Loyola, they’re sitting at 9-16 after a win over UMass on Tuesday. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Dayton Flyers
Dayton started things out on a pretty good 12-6 run through their first 18 games. Since then, the Flyers have gone 5-3 with wins over Davidson, Richmond, Loyola IL, VCU and Saint Louis. The losses came versus George Washington, Rhode Island and St. Bonaventure.
In the Saint Louis matchup last Friday, the Flyers were up 41-34 by halftime. Dayton posted a 29-22 advantage in the second half and rolled to the win 70-56. Leading scorer Toumani Camara doubled on 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Loyola Ramblers
Over on the Loyola side, they’ve struggled this year and went just 6-12 over their first 18 games. The Ramblers are 3-4 since then, losing to Duquesne, Dayton, Saint Joseph’s and Richmond with wins over St. Bonaventure, George Mason and UMass otherwise.
Matched up against UMass on Tuesday, the Ramblers got off to a nice 41-27 advantage by the break. Loyola had to scramble in the second half but escaped with the win 64-62. Braden Norris was the leading team scorer with 17 points and five rebounds.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I might take a stab on Loyola here. The Ramblers have been pretty sketchy over this current 3-4 run, but they’ve got a few solid efforts and some close losses in that time. Loyola has scored 69 or more points in four of the last five games as well. The last time these teams played each other was back on January 31 at UD Arena. The Flyers escaped with an 85-81 overtime win in that one, so Loyola should certainly be able to stick a cover pace in this one if they play well.