Loyola-Chicago vs Coppin State College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 11/9/2021

The Coppin State Eagles and the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers meet in college basketball action from the Gentile Center on Tuesday night.

The Coppin State Eagles come into the 2020-21 season looking to build on a 9-13 mark in 2020-21, including an 8-4 mark in MEAC conference play earning the top-seed in the Northern part of the MEAC tournament. Their stay was short-lived as they were eliminated in their opening game by Morgan State. Nendah Tarke is the top returning option for Coppin State and coach Juan Dixon after putting up 9.9 PPG and 4.9 RPG last season and Kyle Cardaci had 9.3 PPG and 3 RPG while shooting just over 40% from three last season. Tyree Corbett had 7.8 PPG and 5.1 RPG for Alcorn State last season as an incoming transfer and Jesse Zarzuela comes in as a JUCO transfer after putting up 22.8 PPG and 6.2 APG for Missouri State-West Plains while shooting 54.1% from three last season. The Eagles will have a lot of rotation minutes going around, but once they get some cohesion, this could be the team to watch in the MEAC this season.

The Loyola-Chicago Ramblers will look to build on a stellar 26-5 mark in 2020-21, finishing 16-2 in MVC conference play to win the regular season crown and the top seed in the MVC tournament. The Ramblers took down Southern Illinois, Illinois State and Drake on their way to winning the MVC tournament title and the automatic bid from the MVC into the NCAA tournament. The Ramblers were given an 8-seed, beating Georgia Tech and upsetting top-seeded Illinois before being upset themselves by Oregon State. The Ramblers lose Cameron Krutwig, who was arguably the face of Loyola basketball for the last few years. The Ramblers do bring back guys like Lucas Williamson (8.8 PPG, 3.9 RPG), Braden Norris (8.5 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 3.2 APG), Aher Uguak (7.3 PPG, 3.9 RPG) and Tate Hall (6.5 PPG, 3.3 RPG) while also mixing in a pair of solid Ivy League transfers. Chris Knight comes in from Dartmouth after putting up 14.8 PPG and 6.3 RPG last season while Ryan Schwieger had 10.7 PPG and 3 RPG for Princeton last year. The Ramblers will have to deal with teams like Drake and Northern Iowa, but the cupboards are full once again with talent for the Ramblers to compete and potentially win the MVC again this season.

I could make a case for either side here, but on opening night, anything can happen, so I’m going to side with the under. One constant is that Loyola-Chicago will go back to playing suffocating defense and Coppin State isn’t the highest-scoring team to begin with but neither were the Ramblers last season. This could be a first to 60 wins kind of game.