Loyola had sliced into a large second-half deficit but still trailed Valparaiso by six points with less than four minutes remaining Jan. 11 at Gentile Arena.
During a media timeout, coach Drew Valentine emphasized “belief and trust.”
“I was like, ‘I can’t ask you guys to believe and trust if I don’t believe and trust in you,’” Valentine said during an interview last week. “I said, ‘We’re going to win this game because of that belief and trust.’”
Those two words resonate for the Ramblers and their first-year coach.
“As a player, you always want to feel like you have your coach’s belief and his trust,” guard Braden Norris said. “For him to repeatedly say that down the stretch, (it) is huge for us.”
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Loyola rallied to tie late in regulation and eventually won in double overtime. The 81-74 victory capped an unusual stretch.
The Ramblers won at Vanderbilt on Dec. 10. But their next five games were canceled or postponed because of COVID-19 health and safety protocols within either their program or the opponent’s.
Loyola didn’t play again until Jan. 6, when it worked quickly with San Francisco to put together a game at Salt Lake Community College in Utah after both teams had games against other opponents scratched.
“It was crazy how it came together, how it happened, but we made it work,” Valentine said.
Loyola forward Chris Knight (23) gets instructions from coach Drew Valentine in the first half against DePaul at Wintrust Arena on Dec. 4, 2021. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
The Ramblers won that game 79-74. They returned home two days later and fought back from a 16-point second-half deficit to beat Bradley in overtime. Then came the double-overtime win over Valparaiso, in which Loyola erased a 12-point second-half deficit on the way to its 30th consecutive home win.
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After road victories against Indiana State and Evansville extended their winning streak to 10 games, the No. 22 Ramblers are scheduled to be back at Gentile Arena on Saturday against Missouri State (2:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network).
Valentine — who spent the previous four seasons as an assistant at Loyola before being named head coach in April after Porter Moser went to Oklahoma — has been a steadying presence, navigating the Ramblers through the challenges.
“He’s been there for us ever since he took over the job ... as an assistant too,” Norris said. “He’s really good at keeping us focused on the main goal. We can’t control this COVID thing, no one can. It’s all about staying focused on whoever our next opponent might be, and if that game gets canceled, we’re on to the next one.
“And our coaching staff, including Drew, they do a great job making sure we’re prepped for the next opponent, making sure we’re going to have a good game plan and be in the right spots to try (to) win the game.”
The Ramblers have been racking up wins, with veteran guards Lucas Williamson and Norris among the team leaders.
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Loyola enters Saturday’s game with a 14-2 record, the program’s best 16-game start since a 15-1 mark in 1965-66. The Ramblers’ 5-0 Missouri Valley record is their best start in conference play since opening 6-0 in the Horizon League in 2001-02.
And according to ESPN researcher Jared Berson, when Loyola entered The Associated Press Top 25 this week, the 30-year old Valentine became the youngest coach of an AP Top 25 team since California’s Todd Bozeman (29) in November 1993.
Valentine highlighted the players’ talent and competitive spirit. There’s also belief and trust throughout the program.
“Belief in yourself, belief in your coaching staff, belief in our style of play, belief that Loyola is a really good program,” Valentine said. “And then trust it. Believe in it and also trust it when you’re out there. Whether that’s trust in your teammates, whether that’s trust in yourself, trust in your work, trust that the coach is going to put you in the best position.”
Norris said Valentine begins every game-day shootaround with the two words, often adding “trust your training.”
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“That’s really good for our players to hear,” Norris said. “When your coach has the ultimate confidence in you, you have no choice but to be confident in yourself. And I think that keeps us calm, especially during (the Bradley and Valparaiso) games where we’ve had to come back. We never stopped playing our game, we never got sped up and I think that’s a huge reason we won.”
Throughout this season, Valentine has had several people — near and far — to lean on for advice. That includes his father, Carlton, who was a longtime high school coach in Lansing, Mich.
“My dad is a huge influence on me because of his success as a coach and how much he cares,” Valentine said. “How much he’s invested within our program and how much he obviously invested in me — he’s my dad.”
Conversations with fellow first-year coaches such as George Mason’s Kim English and Jacksonville’s Jordan Mincy also have helped.
“We’re all growing through it together,” Valentine said. “Those are two of my really good friends that I’ve been talking to (and) running things by.”
Loyola coach Drew Valentine hugs family members after a 68-64 win over DePaul at Wintrust Arena on Dec. 4, 2021. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Mincy said the discussions have been valuable in several ways.
“A lot of times we talk about life, along with X’s and O’s,” Mincy said in a phone interview Wednesday. “A majority of it is about life — just trying to balance home life, being a good husband. But at the same time, putting the amount of time you need into a program in order for it to be successful.
“A lot of the time I use the phrase ‘Win by committee.’ Well, you see that every night when you watch (Loyola) play.”
Mincy has guided Jacksonville to an 11-5 record.
“He’s helped us a lot,” Mincy said of Valentine, “talking about defensive principles, being able to make in-game adjustments. ... Being able to walk this same path at the same time is a unique experience that doesn’t usually happen. For us to be able to bounce ideas off each other, whether it’s good or bad, offense or defense, has been very beneficial for a lot of us.”
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Valentine also mentioned Moser, Southern Illinois coach and former Loyola assistant Bryan Mullins and Michigan State coach Tom Izzo as others who have made an impact on him. Valentine was a graduate manager with the Spartans for two seasons before spending two seasons as an assistant at Oakland University, where he played.
Valentine said some of the best advice he received along the way was to “be you and trust yourself.”
He got an added thrill in his fifth game as Loyola coach when the Ramblers squared off with Michigan State — where his dad and brother, former Bull Denzel Valentine, played — in the opener of the Battle 4 Atlantis on Nov. 24 in the Bahamas.
“I was the guy in the video room at Michigan State when I was a GA that (would) be telling everybody, ‘Man, when I get my team I’m going to do this and I’m going to do that,’” Valentine said. “It’s crazy that I didn’t get done there until 2015 — we went to the 2015 Final Four, so we’re playing until April 2015 — and basically 6？ years later I’m the head coach of a team that’s playing Michigan State, not in a buy game but a really competitive game at Battle 4 Atlantis, on national ESPN, basically as a standalone game.
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“It was just really cool for me. It was a big blessing. It felt like, ‘OK, you’re here.’ It’s one of the most fulfilling feelings I’ve ever had.”
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Loyola lost 63-61 in the final seconds and suffered another defeat in their next game against Auburn, currently No. 2 in the AP Top 25.
The Ramblers won their final game in the Bahamas against Arizona State, the start of the current winning streak.
“It’s been fun to see how resilient this group’s been,” Valentine said. “Really fun to see how much they really believe how good they are. We talked a lot in the preseason about how we want to show people the way that we look at ourselves in the mirror. We want to present with our play how good we think we are.
“And so far, early this season, although there’s been some adversity, I think people are starting to see us the way that we see ourselves.”
‘Belief’ and ‘trust’ are key for 1st-year coach Drew Valentine, who has guided No. 22 Loyola to a 10-game winning streak and its best start in 56 years
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