Loyola Chicago Basketball: A Half Century of Holy Hoops

Loyola Chicago basketball continues to play hot since the calendar turned to Atlantic 10 play.

Students wrapped around the corridor of the Damen Student Center, waiting patiently (and impatiently) for the doors to open. A student carnival hosted by the Jesuit community. Pizza, arcade games, and freshly printed t-shirts all dawned the big clash, “Jesuit-Jam 2024,” with a logo close to the iconic basketball movie Space Jam. The 50th all-time men’s basketball meeting between two of the most prestigious Jesuit institutions in the country, Loyola Chicago and Saint Louis University.  

Once students and other fans were inside, Loyola Chicago basketball icon and religious leader Sister Jean got them going before tip, leading them in a ceremonial prayer. “As you remember, we beat them on their court; now, dear God, let us beat them on ours.” The already ruckus fanbase exploded with even more cheers and even a tiny “SLU sucks” chant. When asked about the Jesuit Jam, Saint Louis radio broadcaster Bob Ramsey said, “For the fans, it for sure means a lot.”  

When the ball was tipped, it looked like Loyola was on top of their game. Saint Louis got on the board first, but Loyola responded quickly and in a big way with a few makes of their own. As if the students needed another reason to get loud, Des Watson threw a skyscraping alley-oop to the hands of Philip Alston, who took flight and threw down an exclamation point jam. The crowd erupted, and just minutes into the game, SLU head coach Travis Ford called a timeout to get his team to settle in. 

For a brief period, the timeout worked, and SLU got aggressive. The Billikens started running the floor and getting excellent paint touches, leading to easy baskets. Just 8 minutes into the game, Saint Louis was up 18-11 and was sucking the life out of Gentile Arena. 

After some questionable calls by the referee crew halfway through the first half, Loyola Chicago basketball head coach Drew Valentine had seen enough and told the refs how he felt about the call. A quick cross of the hands by the referee signaled a technical foul to coach Valentine, and life was back in the “The Joe.” Students erupted, and after a missed technical free throw, Valentine screamed, “Let’s go,” encouraging the students to get loud. Get loud was the request, and the students delivered. 

With momentum back on the side of Loyola, the Ramblers started stringing together defensive stops and working the ball through its freshman center, Miles Rubin. With just five minutes left in the first half, senior Sheldon Edwards hit a three to give the Ramblers the lead back, and Loyola did not look back. Rambler took a 36-31 lead into halftime.  

In the second half, Loyola started to flex its muscles. Miles Rubin was big on the defensive glass, and the Billikens could not find an answer for Watson. Watson led the Ramblers on the night with 20 points and four assists. 

“Trash, trash, trash!” screamed Loyola student Mallory Simpson, trying to knock the Billikens off their rhythm from the free throw line in the second half. As much as the screaming hurt ear drums around, it did not help much as SLU’s ability to cash in from the charity stripe was the only thing that kept it remotely close for parts of the second half. 

With the inability to stop Watson and a lack of perimeter shooting from Saint Louis, an abysmal 2-for-14 on the night, Loyola ran away with it. With a final score of 77-62, the Ramblers moved to 6-2 in A10 play, while SLU fell to 1-7. The current record of the Jesuit Jam is now 26-24 in favor of Loyola Chicago. It’s a clean sweep on the season of Saint Louis for the Ramblers, and they’re getting hot at just the right time.