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DePaul Debut Unsurprising

11/21/03
by John C. Thomas
Loyola kicked off the 2003-04 season with a game on the road, and as is their frustrating custom, the Ramblers lost. Newcomer Majak Kou made an impressive collegiate debut, scoring 18 points to lead the Ramblers, but it wasn't enough as Andre Brown and the DePaul Blue Demons beat undermanned Loyola 73-61 Friday night at Allstate Arena.

Loyola hasn't opened a season with a win on the road since the Ramblers captured the season opener at Western Michigan in the 1990-91 campaign. The Ramblers lost six road openers since then, including losses to the likes of Stephen F. Austin and Loyola Marymount. Friday night, the competition was DePaul, a team that had won 64 of its last 65 season openers.

The Demons immediately served notice that this year's home opener wouldn't mar that gaudy record. Behind ferocious rebounding and some hot early shooting, DePaul raced out to a 17-5 lead before the Ramblers knew what hit them. Loyola cut the lead to eight points at 23-15 with 9:29 left in the first half, and then made a push on an 8-4 run that cut the margin to four with four minutes left in the half.

The Loyola run seemed to re-focus the Demons, who upped the defensive pressure and responded with a 7-0 run to make it 38-27 with 2:40 left in the half. By halftime, DePaul had a comfortable 43-29 lead built in large part on a 28-14 rebounding margin.

The first half was somewhat demoralizing, but the Ramblers did not go away quietly. Loyola seemed to find their shooting touch in the second half, and did a much better job on the boards. The Ramblers scored the first four points of the second half to get within striking distance at 43-33 very early in the second half. But that would be about as close as Loyola could get.

The shorthanded Ramblers- playing without 6'9" center Demetrius Williams-- were absolutely killed on the boards, especially after Anthony Smith picked up his fourth foul with 16:54 left to play in the second half. Without a wide body in the way, DePaul's Andre Brown scored 11 of his game-high 19 points in the second half to keep Loyola from cutting the lead to a single digit.

For the Ramblers, hands down, the bright spot of the evening was the play of Majak Kou. Coming off the bench, Kou led Loyola with 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field, and 4-of-9 from behind the arc (the rest of the team was 1-for-17 behind the arc). The skinny 6'5" freshman also led Loyola in rebounds while playing only 28 minutes, accounting for 1/3 of the Ramblers' offensive boards.

Paul McMillan was the only other Rambler in double figures, and it took him a game-high 17 shots from the field to score his 12 points… so much for unselfish play after the departure of David Bailey.

Loyola has 10 full days off to work out some bugs before its next game December 2nd versus UMKC at historic Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, a game that should foretell much about this year's Loyola squad. The Kangaroos have been tabbed to finish fourth in the Mid-Con, and if the Ramblers can squeak by with a shorthanded road victory against UMKC, the future looks bright for this year's Ramblers-- especially when they regain the services of Demetrius Williams. If Loyola loses to UMKC, Rambler fans may be in for a long, disappointing year, and LU will face the very real prospect of showing up at their home opener 0-3.