Wednesday saw the Lobos pick up a big win, but also suffer a huge loss. The team took care of a good Loyola Chicago team handily, winning 75-51 to push their record to 3-0. However, immediately after the game, news came out that Devon Williams was diagnosed with a career-ending condition, so any good feelings about this game were short-lived.

Game Recap

The Lobos took control of this game early, starting with an alley-oop from Cullen to Obij. It became clear early that the Ramblers’ plan was to shut down Cullen and Elijah, which they did to a certain extent, but the Lobos were able to show that they are not a one-dimensional team. With all of the focus placed on those, Loyola had a tendency to leave someone open, which lead to a bunch of easy layups and dunks for the Lobo big men and a couple of open threes for Sam. So, without having to rely on their leading scorers, the Lobos jumped out to a big lead in the first half that they never relinquished.

I did wonder for a little bit, especially after halftime, if Loyola was going to be able to shoot their way back into the game. They have a few good three-point shooters on the team and they were uncharacteristically cold in the first half. However, even though they did make a few threes in the second half, they just simply weren’t able to keep up with the Lobos, spending most of the half down by at least 20 points.

All in all, this was another solid performance by the Lobos. Loyola is a good team and will likely win a lot of games this season, so for the Lobos to win so comfortably speaks volumes about their improvement as a team from last year. The best takeaway from this, in my opinion, is that they’ve now showed that they can win in multiple ways. We’ve seen them score a lot on the perimeter, but now we’ve seen them dominate in the post. A well-rounded team is an effective team, so we might be in for an even better season than what was expected.

Players of the Game

As before, I’m choosing my top three players of the game and giving them points (3 for first, 2 for second, and 1 for third).

1. Tim Williams (4 points on the season): I mentioned a couple of games ago in this space that there would be times where we don’t realize until after the fact that he had 20 points and this game was the first of those. Through mostly a combination of layups and dunks, Tim put up 22 points and was basically unguardable for most of the night. He also chipped in 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks, giving an all-around great performance.
2. Sam Logwood (3 points on the season): Sam had his best game of this young season with his 12 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks while also playing some good defense on the perimeter. He went 5-5 from the field, including 2-2 from three-point range, and probably should have had another bucket if not for a bogus traveling violation called on him. So far this season, he’s been lights out from three, going 4-5 and looking confident every time he shoots it. He’s obviously not going to keep that rate up, but he’ll definitely get some looks when opponents are having to sell out to guard Elijah and Cullen on the perimeter.
3. Obij Aget (1 point on the season): Big O did what I had been hoping to see him do all season and use his size to his advantage against a smaller team. He grabbed 8 rebounds on the night and had 8 points, all off of dunks, I think, all in just 20 minutes. It always feels like he’s capable of having these kinds of performances, so if he can find some consistency in doing that it will raise the team’s overall ceiling.

Scattered Thoughts

• All of this seems immaterial after hearing the news about Devon Williams. In case you haven’t heard, he was diagnosed on Wednesday with congenital spinal stenosis, which means that his basketball career is over. You never want to see that sort of thing happen to anyone, but it especially stings seeing it happen to a guy like Devon, who has shown such a strong love of the game and of the team in his time here. I’ll miss seeing him on the court, but I know that he’ll always be part of the Lobo family. His health is way more important than basketball and it is things like this that put the game in its proper prospective.
• Jordan Hunter seems to have taken control of the backup point guard spot for the time being, or at least for this game. He played 11 minutes, scored a couple of points, and dished out a couple of assists. He showed a lot of poise against Loyola’s trapping defense, which is exciting to see out of a freshman. He also scored his points by making a defender look silly with a crossover and then stepping back for a midrange jumper. He’ll be a fun one.
• Conner Joy took advantage of his first regular season action to jack up a three the first time he touched the ball. Because this game just completely went the Lobos’ way, he drained the three, giving him his first points in an official D-1 basketball game and making the remaining crowd go wild. It’s a cool story that he’s even on the team, so it’s just icing on top that he had that moment.

Up Next

The Lobos go back on the road, but this time to a more scenic location. They’ll head to Los Angeles this weekend for a Saturday night matchup against USC. USC came into the pit last season and pulled out a win, so I have to think that the Lobos will be looking to return the favor. The game is only being shown on the Pac-12 Network, so plan accordingly.