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No "D," Little "O" Equals Third Straight Loss

1/15/04
by John C. Thomas
The struggling Butler Bulldogs feasted on a porous Loyola defense Thursday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse, setting a season high in points and career highs for two of its starting players. Meanwhile, Loyola failed to score for the first three and a half minutes of the game and managed only four points in the final five minutes to drop their 15th straight game at Hinkle, 72-54.

The host Bulldogs had yet to win a conference game in four tries this year, and were returning home after 24 days on the road. The homecoming, and a surprise start by 7’0” freshman Jamie Smalligan gave the ‘Dogs plenty of energy and enthusiasm to start the game.

Smalligan, making only his third start this year, began what looked like a rout by snagging an offensive rebound, hitting a three pointer, and scoring an easy hoop on the next possession. Smalligan set a new career high with 12 points in the first half, and added to it in the second. By the time the Ramblers scored their first basket more than three and a half minutes into the game, it was 13-2 in favor of the Bulldogs.

The early Loyola turnovers and shooting woes continued through the first 10 minutes, when Butler had assumed a 24-7 lead. The Bulldogs came into the game averaging a league low 56.7 points on offense, but through the first quarter of the game they were on pace for nearly 100.

The Ramblers clawed back from the double-digit deficit by forcing turnovers, and Terrance Whiters hit three long distance shots in the latter part of the first half to bring Loyola to within 36-31 at the halftime break.

Loyola made some runs at the Bulldogs in the second half, cutting the BU lead to three points on three occasions-- at 36-33 on the first bucket of the second period, at 47-44 with 8:50 left to play, and at 49-46 with 8:15 remaining.

But in order to fight their way back, the Ramblers got a little too aggressive on defense, and Butler reached the bonus with 8:35 left in the game. The Bulldogs-- who entered the game as the league’s best free throw shooting team-- took full advantage, especially Mike Monserez. Butler’s 6’6” senior forward sank all 16 of his free throw attempts on the way to a career high 25 points. As a team, the ‘Dogs only missed three of their 24 freebies.

While the Bulldogs shot free throws, the Ramblers squandered opportunities on offense. Loyola went five straight possessions without a point while the ‘Dogs were going through a drought of their own. Butler outscored the Ramblers 15-4 for the last 5:35 of the game.

Thirteen Loyola players saw action, but only six dented the scorebook. Paul McMillan led LU with 21 points, Whiters had 15, and Louis Smith had 10. Blake Schilb, DaJuan Gouard, and Demetrius Williams (a trio that entered the game averaging a combined 29.2 points) scored a combined eight points, and the rest of the Ramblers were scoreless.

At the beginning of the season, not many people looking over the Horizon League schedules thought that this game would go Loyola’s way. But given the struggles the Bulldogs had been through coming into the game (losers of five in a row and seven of their last eight), the margin was a bit of a shocker.

In each of the past two games, the opposition has scored a season high. Three opposing players have notched career high point totals in the past two games. Two of the past three losses have extended road court losing streaks that have already lasted a decade and a half. And the average margin of loss in the current three game losing streak stands at 15.3 points per game. The Ramblers aren’t just losing, they’re doing it in record fashion-- completely abandoning the concept of team play both offensively and defensively.

Loyola drops to 6-8 on the year and 2-3 in the Horizon, while the Bulldogs escape the league basement at 5-9, 1-4. Next up for the Ramblers are the surprising Wright State Raiders, who’ve won four out of their last five including road games at Detroit and Cleveland. Game time is 1:00 p.m. central at the Gentile Center.