Loyola Chicago and Kent State play in NIT matchup
Kent State Golden Flashes (24-11, 12-8 MAC) at Loyola Chicago Ramblers (24-11, 13-7 A-10)
Chicago; Wednesday, 7 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: Loyola Chicago and Kent State play in the National Invitation Tournament.
The Ramblers' record in A-10 play is 13-7, and their record is 11-4 in non-conference games. Loyola Chicago is seventh in the A-10 scoring 73.6 points while shooting 45.7% from the field.
The Golden Flashes are 12-8 in MAC play. Kent State ranks eighth in the MAC with 12.6 assists per game led by Cian Medley averaging 4.0.
Loyola Chicago averages 8.5 made 3-pointers per game, 1.4 more made shots than the 7.1 per game Kent State allows. Kent State averages 5.0 more points per game (73.9) than Loyola Chicago allows (68.9).
TOP PERFORMERS: Jayden Dawson is shooting 41.2% and averaging 13.8 points for the Ramblers. Des Watson is averaging 14.4 points over the last 10 games.
Jalen Sullinger is shooting 42.6% and averaging 15.8 points for the Golden Flashes. VonCameron Davis is averaging 12.5 points over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Ramblers: 8-2, averaging 73.0 points, 34.2 rebounds, 15.4 assists, 5.9 steals and 4.8 blocks per game while shooting 44.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 69.1 points per game.
Golden Flashes: 7-3, averaging 80.2 points, 36.8 rebounds, 12.4 assists, 7.4 steals and 2.7 blocks per game while shooting 47.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 73.7 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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SOUTH BEND, Ind. — If it's a road game, Marcus Freeman flips open his laptop on the charter bus, then continues the ritual on the team plane. If it's a home game, Notre Dame's head coach heads straight to his office after his news conference. He pulls down the blinds around his second-story office, then turns on the monitor mounted to the wall, left of his desk. Advertisement For these two-plus hours, Freeman isn't much different than the Kent State linebackers coach who broke into the business 14 years ago. Football tape is football tape, whether it's a national championship game between Notre Dame and Ohio State or a midweek matchup in the Mid-American Conference. Film gets Freeman closer to those roots, before the celebrity of Notre Dame, before he became one of the faces of college football. Watching the game back is also the only way Freeman can sleep after games. 'It's a way to decompress, win or lose,' the 39-year-old Freeman said. 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The Irish did it with different personnel, tight end Cooper Flanagan and running back Devyn Ford instead of tight end Eli Raridon and running back Jeremiyah Love. But how well the Irish blocked it and how the Aggies defended it were slightly different too, enough to leave Leonard just a few inches short, one of the only times Notre Dame's quarterback was stopped on fourth-and-short all season. This play works if right guard Billy Schrauth, right tackle Aamil Wagner and Raridon win at the point of attack against the Aggie's two defensive lineman and the linebacker, Taurean York (21), who blitzes inside. York coming inside to engage Wagner puts Raridon in a tough spot, blocking first-round pick Shemar Stewart. 'They ran a different blitz and (Stewart) gets across Eli's face,' Freeman said. 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'This is the guy you gotta get blocked because you never know! Those are the things that I'm watching. Not is it a good play, is it a bad play. Who is finishing the play? That's how we evaluate every play. All 11.' Advertisement Two days after Notre Dame's win over Louisville, Freeman watched Monday Night Football as the Detroit Lions beat the Seattle Seahawks. Midway through the third quarter, Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson called a throwback pass from Amon-Ra St. Brown to Jared Goff that went for a 7-yard touchdown. Freeman made a note. Two months later, he'd revisit it, combined with his memory of a fake punt from about eight years earlier. As the linebackers coach at Purdue (2013-16), Freeman ran the punt team and rarely saw a fake he didn't like, even if head coach Darrell Hazell didn't always agree. One fake aligned Purdue's backup quarterback behind a tight end on the left side of the formation. That quarterback hit the tight end for a first down. 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The former renditions helped the Irish special teams understand how to hit this play because they'd already seen it work. 'You gotta show guys,' Freeman said. 'When you show the players, you show them the vision that we have for this type of play. And then it just evolved.' Here's the thing about the pick that set the stage for Love's 98-yard touchdown. Advertisement It started with a mistake against Virginia. And it didn't have anything to do with Watts. Just before halftime against the Cavaliers, Kiser set up in the middle of the defense, watching quarterback Anthony Colandrea. On the backside of the play, Virginia receiver Malachi Fields — now an incoming Notre Dame transfer — lined up against Leonard Moore. At the snap, Kiser got sucked into the Virginia run game, which Drayk Bowen had covered. And that meant Kiser abandoned the backside hash, his post with Notre Dame in Cover-1. Colandrea hit Fields for a 12-yard gain. Freeman had the play queued up to watch. 'Kiser got his ass ripped for this,' Freeman said. 'He doesn't have the back. That's Drayk's guy. He should be packing it back right to the weakside hash. He doesn't. Look what happens.' Fast forward to the College Football Playoff. Kiser is in the middle of the defense. This time Sneed takes the back and Kiser doesn't false step. Instead, he takes a peek at Indiana slot receiver Myles Price (4), who's breaking behind him with Jordan Clark in coverage. Kiser hauls to the weakside hash. And where does the ball go? To the weakside hash. 'Kiser does an unbelievable job and (Watts) is just making a play. This is all Kiser. He causes this ball to be thrown off-target,' Freeman said. 'Hopefully we beat it enough into their heads: backside hash, backside hash. That's the hardest part of the field to cover.' 'Other than J-Love is a freak,' Freeman said, 'there's a couple things I'm gonna show you.' Before getting into Love's touchdown that will show up on Notre Dame highlight reels for a generation, Freeman wanted to watch Leonard's touchdown run at the start of the third quarter. It's the same play call with different personnel. Love is the lead blocker for Leonard on that play. On Love's touchdown run, it's Mitchell Evans. On the Leonard touchdown run, Jayden Thomas is the edge blocker. On Love's touchdown run, it's Jaden Greathouse. Advertisement But those differences don't matter as much as how Penn State defends it with a defensive back in the box. On Leonard's touchdown, that's Jaylen Reed (1). He stays outside the tackle box. Thomas bluffs a block on defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton (33) to slow him down, then works to Reed as Charles Jagusah pulls across the formation to block Dennis-Sutton. Because Reed stays outside, Thomas can get to him. Love takes linebacker Tony Rojas (13), just enough for Leonard to follow him into the end zone. On Love's touchdown, the defensive back in question is Zion Tracy (7). Film study indicated he'd stay outside the tackle box like Reed did. Except he fills inside. Greathouse bluffs Dennis-Sutton, then Jagusah wipes out the defensive end. But Greathouse can't get to Tracy, putting Evans in a bind. He has to block two defenders: Tracy and linebacker Kobe King (41). He takes out King, giving Tracy a free shot on Love. 'That's where it gets (screwed) up. Mitch doesn't know what to do,' Freeman said. 'He's gotta block most dangerous, but No. 7 didn't stay outside like we thought he would. Then J-Love is just a football player.' What else sticks with Freeman? After Greathouse can't get his block, he doesn't pick up defensive back Cam Miller (5), who stands Love up at the 2-yard line. 'What are you doing? Go block this dude,' Freeman said. 'You're just in the way.' And that's what it took to produce an iconic moment. Penn State adjusting a defender's position, a missed block and a lot of Love. Notre Dame knows Smith is going to run a reverse. His feet tell the story. Advertisement In preparation for the national title game, Notre Dame noticed every time Smith aligned in a tight formation and adjusted his stance at the line of scrimmage, shifting his outside foot forward, the all-world receiver came back across the formation. A reverse, a jet sweep — it didn't matter. Smith gave away where he was heading. Freeman popped on a couple of plays to prove it, showing Smith adjusting his stance and coming back across the formation against Oregon in the Rose Bowl and during a regular-season win over Nebraska. When Smith adjusts his stance on this play early in the second quarter, Christian Gray calls it out, just like he was coached to do. '(Ohio State offensive coordinator) Chip Kelly did a good job and they do self-scout, too,' Freeman said. 'The film study hurt us a little bit there.' Gray comes screaming across the formation to defend the reverse but Smith plants and cuts back into the open field. Walk-in touchdown. The play hurts as Ohio State begins a 31-0 run that leaves Notre Dame gasping for air. Freeman also knows that if Gray had cut back to mirror Smith, he might not have made the play. It might have just looked like Love's touchdown against Penn State. 'That's a hard tackle 1-on-1,' Freeman said. Sure, Smith makes the play against Gray. But just as impactful is Kelly, who is now with the Las Vegas Raiders, making the call against Al Golden, now with the Cincinnati Bengals. Sometimes one NFL coordinator beats another NFL coordinator on the headset. 'There ain't a whole bunch to say here,' Freeman says, before picking apart a half-dozen individual performances on the play. It's an inside zone and Freeman likes what he sees from the offensive line's protection of Carr. But he notices Joe Otting getting too far upfield, so he takes a note to talk to offensive line coach Joe Rudolph about the line not getting lost in the gray area of RPOs. 'Who cares about the catch. Why is (Otting) past the line of scrimmage three yards?' Freeman said. 'I'm looking at all that stuff.' It's easier to pick apart the defense. Moore gets caught moving inside and could have been wiped out by Bauman. Shuler's eyes are wrong, failing to move from Raridon in coverage to Bauman, who gets behind him. Tae Johnson gets sucked into a play-action fake to Kedren Young. Cole Mullins gets caught in between playing contain and rushing Carr, ultimately doing neither. Sneed might be too aggressive crashing the line, not waiting to see if it's a run play. Advertisement 'Adon has to be as deep as the deepest,' Freeman said. 'He's disrespecting Kevin a little bit — 'This dude isn't gonna beat me deep.' Well, it wasn't the catch as much as the throw.' Everyone in Notre Dame Stadium will remember Carr's feathery throw along the sideline, especially as the young quarterback heads into the 2025 season as the favorite to replace Leonard as the starter. And live, that's what Freeman noticed too. Mic'd up for the game, Freeman's initial reaction on the broadcast was, 'Oh, nice throw and catch.' But that's what film study is for. Seeing everything else.
