Loyola coach Porter Moser took the floor Wednesday night wearing the gray patterned blazer that brought good luck during the team’s stunning early-season victory at Florida.
And his Ramblers took the court at Southern Illinois hoping to turn a “co-” into a “solo.”
After clinching a share of the Missouri Valley regular-season title Sunday at Evansville, this game against the league’s No. 2 team represented the Ramblers’ chance to win it outright.
And that they did, blitzing the Salukis with great shooting (57.4 percent) and ballhandling (18 assists).
The 75-56 victory gives Loyola (24-5, 14-3) its first regular-season solo conference title since it won the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now Horizon League) in 1987.
“Our guys talked about getting (rid) of the ‘co-,'” Moser said. “I really sensed it at Evansville. It wasn’t fake. The guys said let’s hold off on celebrating.”
The Ramblers will return home to their first full house since 2003, as the school announced that Saturday’s game against Illinois State is a sellout. The Ramblers are averaging just 2,222 fans at the 4,963-seat Gentile Arena.
Moser anticipated a raucous crowd Wednesday at SIU Arena, so he had crowd noise piped into practice Tuesday so the Ramblers could practice non-verbal communication.
Turns out that hand signals were not needed. Loyola raced out to a 21-8 lead, hitting 8 of 10 from the field, 5 of 6 on 3-pointers.
Clayton Custer led the way with 16 points, and Ben Richardson had eight assists without a turnover.
Kavion Pippen, a 6-10 nephew of Scottie Pippen, scored 16 points for SIU.
tgreenstein@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @TeddyGreenstein
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