CHICAGO — Next year marks the 100th anniversary of the first men’s basketball game between DePaul and Loyola, a made-for-Chicago rivalry that for years was an annual tradition.
But those days are gone, and after DePaul outlasted Loyola, 78-72, in overtime Saturday in a heart-pounding game at Gentile Arena, Ramblers coach Drew Valentine lamented the fact no game is scheduled for 2023-24.
“Hats off to them, it’s a fun rivalry,” Valentine said. “I hope that we get to continue it. As of now, De Paul, as far as I know, they don’t want to play it. I’m hoping it continues at some point because I think it does a lot for the city, and obviously I think our programs are at a very close level.
“It’d be big time. There’s no way that you can tell me that this doesn’t mean something for fan bases and alums for both programs.”
The North Side schools have met 57 times over the last 99 years, but there were stretches in which one team or both didn’t want to play for one reason or another. The series resumed last season with a 68-64 Loyola win at Wintrust Arena, and Valentine wasn’t sure why DePaul wouldn’t be amenable to keeping it going.
“These are questions you’d have to ask them,” he said. “Clearly the games are very competitive. It’s not like we’re asking for a bye game. We’re asking for a series. The games are competitive and they’re great for the city. We both like to recruit the city, and so if you win the game you get a little recruiting edge. I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to.”
Saturday’s atmosphere in the sold-out arena in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood made it feel like March in December. It even featured an impromptu Taylor Swift singalong from the Loyola student section during overtime. No one left without feeling entertained.
The game had a little bit of everything. DePaul (5-3) bounced back from a 17-point deficit in the first half to force overtime, led by Javan Johnson’s 27 points and 23 from guard Umoja Gibson.
Johnson, an Iowa State transfer who played the entire game, scored the Blue Demons’ first 10 points in overtime, including a pair of 3-pointers that took the last breath from the Ramblers (3-5).
“Javan Johnson didn’t come out for one minute (in) 45 minutes,” DePaul coach Tony Stubblefield said. “I probably could go to jail for that, you know? That just tells you about him as a person. I’m extremely proud of these guys.”
DePaul was without its big man, 6-foot-11-inch center Nick Ongenda, who is out for with a broken left wrist. The absence was noticeable as the Ramblers shot 68% from the field in the first half and outrebounded DePaul 18-8 while taking a 13-point lead into the locker room.
It appeared as though the Blue Demons were down and out, but they wouldn’t accept defeat. DePaul sank 6-of-11 3s in the second half and overtime to pull out the gutty win.
“I feel like we’re the underdogs, and they feel like they’re the upper dogs,” said Gibson, a transfer from Oklahoma. “We want to come out and show everybody what DePaul basketball is all about. This is a new era.”
It was also a new era for Loyola, which wore uniforms with the word “Blers” stitched on their jerseys instead of Ramblers. Whether that shortened version of the nickname is something players wanted is unknown. As it turned out, the only “blur” Saturday was the Blue Demons streaking downcourt after a ‘Blers turnover.
Moments after the game, Valentine walked over to Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, the 103-year-old team chaplain, and told her he was OK with the performance despite the ending.
“I thought we got better today,” he told her. “We’ll be all right.”
With star Lucas Williamson having graduated and gone on to the G-League and Loyola moving from the Missouri Valley Conference to the Atlantic 10, it figures to be a transitional year for the Ramblers. They got a strong performance from Marquise Kennedy, who scored 26 points and hit four 3s.
But the Ramblers committed 16 turnovers, many of them unforced, and will have to improve their ballhandling if they hope to compete in the A-10 and enjoy a taste of March Madness again.
While De Paul is expected to finish at or near the bottom of the Big East again, we’ll see if Saturday’s comeback win in a hostile environment without three injured starters — Ongenda, Yor Anei and Caleb Murphy — can help them gain some confidence.
“That’s what rivalries are all about,” Stubblefield said. “That’s what college basketball is all about. I told these guys, ‘That’s why you come to De Paul, to play at this level, for environments like that.’ I’ve been doing this for 30 years, and that’s as good an environment as anywhere.”
Hopefully the powers that be can come to their senses and keep the rivalry alive, 100 years after it began.
