The 2021–22 Loyola Ramblers men's basketball team represented Loyola University Chicago during the 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Ramblers, led by first-year head coach Drew Valentine, played their home games at the Joseph J. Gentile Arena in Chicago, Illinois as members of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC). They finished the regular season 25–7 overall and 13–5 in MVC play, tying for second place in the conference standings.
As the No. 4 seed in the MVC tournament, they defeated Bradley, Northern Iowa, and Drake to win the MVC Tournament for the second consecutive season. With this victory, they secured the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 10 seed, where they lost in the first round to Ohio State.
On November 16, 2021, Loyola announced that the 2021–22 season would be its final season in the MVC, as the program would join the Atlantic 10 Conference in July 2022.
Previous season During a season affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Ramblers finished the 2020–21 season with a 26–5 overall record and a 16–2 mark in MVC play, securing the regular season championship. In the MVC tournament, they defeated Southern Illinois, Illinois State, and Drake to claim the conference tournament title. As a result, they earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as a No. 8 seed in the Midwest Region.
In the first round, they defeated No. 9-seeded Georgia Tech. In the second round, they upset No. 1-seeded Illinois to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. However, their tournament run ended in the Sweet Sixteen, where they lost to Oregon State.
On April 3, 2021, head coach Porter Moser left Loyola to accept the head coaching position at Oklahoma. Shortly after, Loyola announced that assistant coach Drew Valentine would be promoted to head coach.
Offseason
Coaching changes On April 20, Drew Valentine announced the hiring of assistant coaches Amorrow Morgan, Sean Dwyer, and Patrick Wallace. Former Oakland associate head coach Dan Hipsher was also named special assistant to the head coach.
Departures Due to COVID-19 disruptions, the NCAA did not count the 2020–21 season against the eligibility of any basketball player, meaning that all seniors in that season could choose to return for 2021–22. Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Reason for departure 0 G 6'4" 185 Sophomore Charleston, SC Transferred to Brown 2 G 6'3" 180 RS Senior Bloomington, IL Graduated; chose not to return 13 G 6'2" 170 Freshman Colleyville, TX Transferred to Colorado State 23 G 6'3" 195 RS Sophomore Shawnee, KS Transferred to Samford 25 C 6'9" 255 Senior Algonquin, IL Graduated; signed to play professionally in Belgium with the Antwerp Giants 31 G 6'1" 182 Junior Orland Park, IL Transferred to Highland CC (IL) 33 F 6'9" 245 Junior Abuja, Nigeria Transferred to SMU
Incoming transfers Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous School 13 F 6'7" 205 Senior Matthews, NC Transferred from Princeton 23 F 6'7" 225 Senior Madison, WI Transferred from Dartmouth
2021 recruiting class
Roster
Schedule and results After losing several game to cancellations and postponements due to COVID-19, Loyola and San Francisco agreed to play a game on January 6, 2022, on the campus of Salt Lake Community College. |- !colspan=9 style=| Exhibition
!colspan=9 style=| Regular season
!colspan=12 style=| MVC tournament
!colspan=12 style=| NCAA tournament
Rankings
*AP does not release post-NCAA Tournament rankings.^Coaches did not release a Week 1 poll.
References