Loyola Chicago vs Dayton Prediction 2/21/25 College Basketball Picks Today

The Dayton Flyers and the Loyola Ramblers meet Friday in college basketball action from Gentile Arena. Here’s a Loyola Chicago vs Dayton Prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Loyola vs Dayton pick.

Dayton Flyers Betting Preview

The Flyers had a rough run going briefly last month, but overall they’ve done quite well this season so far. Dayton won 10 of their first 12 games, taking out St Francis PA, Northwestern, Ball State, Capital, New Mexico State, UConn, Western Michigan, Lehigh, Marquette, and UNLV. A 1-4 stretch came next, however, featuring a lone win over La Salle among losses to Cincinnati, George Washington, UMass, and George Mason. Since then it’s been a nice 7-2 run for the Flyers. The losses have come versus St. Bonaventure and VCU in that stretch. The wins otherwise were over Loyola, Duquesne, Saint Joseph’s, Saint Louis, Davidson, Fordham, and Duquesne. That gives Dayton an 18-8 overall run through 26 games so far this year.

Last weekend versus Duquesne, Dayton was down 44-40 at halftime. The Flyers came back on a 37-32 second-half run though, eventually taking the win 77-76 in the end. Enoch Cheeks led the team with 19 points, five rebounds, and three steals in the comeback victory. Zed Key came off the bench for 18 points with six rebounds and one steal in 19 minutes. Also in double-figures was Malachi Smith with 12 points, three assists and one steal in 26 minutes of work.

Loyola Ramblers Betting Preview

Over on the Loyola side, they were playing pretty choppy last month but otherwise, they’ve done well also. The Ramblers beat Chicago State, Detroit, Eureka, Princeton, Southern Utah, Tulsa, Eastern Michigan, South Florida, and Canisius over their first 10 games, then fell to Oakland, Charleston, Murray State, and VCU in the next four. A 3-3 run came next with wins over La Salle, Rhode Island, and Fordham amid losses to Saint Joseph’s, Dayton, and George Mason. Loyola would win four of the next five games though, taking out Saint Joseph’s, St. Bonaventure, Richmond, and Saint Louis with a lone loss to Duquesne. That would give Loyola a 16-9 run through 25 games to start the year.

Matched up against Davidson on Tuesday, the Ramblers were able to extend their win streak to three. Loyola had a 32-28 advantage going into the second half, then finished off on a 45-41 run that gave the Ramblers a 77-69 victory. Leading the team in scoring was Jayden Dawson with 24 points, three rebounds, and three assists. Des Watson added 15 points with four steals, three rebounds and two assists. Miles Rubin had 14 points with seven boards, while Sheldon Edwards chipped in with 11 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and a steal in 27 minutes of work on the floor. Tops off the bench was Jalen DeLoach with four points and six rebounds in 11 minutes.

Why the Loyola Ramblers will win

• Loyola (IL) has won each of its last 13 night games at Joseph J. Gentile Arena.
• Loyola (IL) has won the first half in 13 of its last 16 games at Joseph J. Gentile Arena against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Why the Dayton Flyers will win

• Dayton has won four of its last five games.
• The road team has won the first half in each of Loyola (IL)’s last three games.

Loyola Chicago vs Dayton Prediction

I’ll just stick with Dayton here, but we should have a pretty good matchup. The Flyers are sitting on consecutive wins right now, and they’ve scored 68 or more points in five straight (a 4-1 run). Dayton didn’t play all that great in their last appearance versus a middling Duquesne team though, and they were lucky to escape with a home win.

The last time these teams saw each other was back on January 18 in a tight 83-81 home win for the Flyers. In that one, both teams shot well (over 47 percent) and had comparable rebounding numbers. Dayton hit 21 from the line, however, and Loyola had just nine made foul shots. The 19 Ramblers turnovers for 19 Flyers points didn’t help either during a sloppy overall game (33 total turnovers). I like another competitive game in the rematch, with Dayton powering it out in the end, but you could call it either way.