Loyola center Miles Rubin sets team career blocks record
Loyola center Miles Rubin has set the team's career record for blocks in just his third year with the Ramblers.
Playing college basketball in his hometown is something Chicago native Rubin has never taken for granted. It was at Simeon Career Academy on the South Side where he started crafting a skillset for shot blocking that has set him apart at Loyola.
"Coming in my junior year at Simeon, I feel like that's when I really started to realize that I could really do something big with this. I'm coming into games getting 3, 4, 5 blocks. Not many people can do that," he said.
Now no one else can say they've blocked more shots at Loyola than Miles. Five games into his junior season against Colorado State in November, he recorded the 177th block of his career which set the team's all-time block record.
"This is a big deal. This isn't normal for somebody to come in and break that within a little over two years. I thought he had a chance to be a really special defensive player in the recruiting process and early in his time here, but he's even exceeded my expectation," said head coach Drew Valentine.
"That was a pretty important goal for me. I feel like not many people can do that, and I just want to extend that record where no one can actually beat it again," Rubin said.
Is it addicting to do it over and over?
"I would say that, yeah. I like blocking people's shots. I mean, they don't get to score. They're pretty mad after it. That's pretty funny to me. I'm not a very hype person, I would say, but when I get on the court, it's like something just changes," he said.
Racking up blocks in every game isn't the only way Rubin has been helping the team since he arrived.
"He's a guy that has truly committed himself to being the best player that he can be, and I think that sets the tone and example for everybody that's in the locker room is if your best player and the guy that's giving the leadership advice is really doing it himself," Valentine said.
Valentine telling Rubin to simply be himself on the court has turned out well for the Ramblers.
"He started me as a freshman, which not many coaches do. He trusts me. He puts me in situations where I can go make plays and just, a lot of trust," Rubin said.
That trust has led to a program record being broken for the first time since the 1980s; a record Rubin will continue to re-set in every game the rest of the way.
Rubin is averaging 2.6 blocks per game this year, the most in the Atlantic 10 conference and top 5 in the country.
He has 212 blocks counting for his career. In his freshman year, he set the Loyola single-season record for blocks with 76, then broke his own record the next season with 85. He has 51 so far this year, and his 2.6 blocks per game average is the best of his three years with Loyola.
Unlike his first two years, when Loyola had a winning record each season, it's been a rough go for Loyola this year, with a 5-15 record so far. They'll try to snap a 6-game skid on Saturday vs. Duquesne.