Ohio State faces sister Jean in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Ranked 7th in the South, the Buckeyes will take on the 10th seed Loyola Chicago in the first round of the tournament, representing what appears to be a tough matchup for the Buckeyes on Friday in Pittsburgh.
The Ramblers enter the NCAA Tournament with momentum on their side, having just won the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and posting a 25-7 record on qualifying Sunday. They also had success in their recent March Madness appearances, making it to the Sweet 16 last year and the Final Four in 2018.
Loyola is perhaps best known for sister Jean, the 102-year-old chaplain for the Ramblers, who became famous for her performances at their games during their 2018 Final Four. According to Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune, she still attends team games and plans to be with the team again in the NCAA Tournament this year.
On the court, the Ramblers are a tight-knit team that can test the Bakeevs on both ends of the court, though they aren’t as well tested against top opponents as Ohio State.
Top 20 defensive team
While Ohio State and Loyola have averaged 73.8 points per game this season, the Ramblers have been much better defensively, holding on to just 61.7 points per game. Loyola is ranked 18th in the nation in scoring per game and 13th in the nation in scoring per game and is ranked by KenPom as the nation’s 22nd defensive team.
On the other hand, the Ohio State defense is ranked 160th in the nation with 68.5 points per game and is ranked by KenPom as the nation’s 131st defensive team. The Buckeyes are ranked 103rd in the nation in points per game difference.
The Ramblers don’t rebound very well — they’re only 248th in rebounds per game (33.9) — but they’re holding onto the opposition with a 40.9% field goal percentage, ranking 47th in the nation in that category.
Overall, KenPom ranks Loyola as the No. 24 team in the nation, while Ohio State is ranked 32nd in the nation, although Ohio State ranks higher in the tournament. However, the Ramblers only have one win this year against a team that actually competes in the NCAA Tournament (San Francisco).
This is a small team
As with most mid-level teams, you won’t find a lot of players on the Loyola roster. The Ramblers have only two players over 6’7″ – center Jacob Hutson (6-10) and forward Tom Welch (6-8) – and they play just 21.2 minutes per game combined.
Of the six Loyola players who have played more than 20 minutes per game, the tallest among them are 6-foot-7 forwards Acher Uguak and Ryan Schwieger. Unlike last year, when Loyola was led by 6-foot-9 center Cameron Krutwig, 255 pounds, this year the Ramblers are leading the pack with defensive play, with 6-foot-4 defenseman Lucas Williamson leading in scoring (14 points per match). game), rebounds (five per game) and steals (1.3 per game).
Not having to fight a real center in the first round might be good news for the Buckeyes, but given how hard they’ve struggled to defend against defenders in recent games, this matchup could be just as dangerous as playing against a big man. .
Hilliard native plays a key role
Another of Loyola’s top security guards grew up in an Ohio backyard. Starting point guard Braden Norris is a Hilliard, Ohio native who starred at Hilliard Bradley High School, where his father is the head coach.
Norris leads Loyola with 3.9 assists per game and is second on the team (behind Lucas Williamson, who averages 14 points per game) with 10.3 points per game. He has played the most minutes of any Rambler player this season (32.6 per game) and is the most effective three-pointer shot on the team, shooting from behind the arc with 43.5% accuracy.
Norris played a key role in Loyola’s NCAA tournament first-round win over Georgia Tech last year, scoring 16 points and assisting in the Ramblers’ 71-60 victory over the Yellow Vests, and he’ll now look to lead them to another victory. victory in the first round over his hometown Buckeyes.
Hilliard native Braden Norris leads Loyola in minutes played and assists per game and is the second leading scorer for the Ramblers.
When they’re in the game they usually win
In each of the last three NCAA Tournament appearances – in 2021, 2018 and 1985 – Loyola has won at least two games.
As the No. 8 seed last year, Loyola edged out No. 1 seed Illinois in the second round of the tournament to advance to the Sweet 16 before losing to Oregon State.
In 2018, Loyola was the Cinderella of the tournament, becoming only the fourth No. 11 seed in tournament history to reach the Final Four. The Ramblers won their first three games against Miami, Tennessee, and Nevada by a total of four points before beating Kansas State by 16 points in the Elite Eight to forge a ticket to the Final Four, where their NCAA Tournament eventually ended with score 69-57. defeat by Michigan.
Prior to this, the Ramblers had had a lengthy NCAA Tournament drought, but they also made it to the Sweet 16 in 1985 when they beat Iona and SMU in the first two rounds for a 4th seed before falling behind top seed Georgetown. was famously upset by Villanova in the national championship game.
Loyola won the NCAA Tournament in 1963.
Youngest Division I Coach
While the Ramblers have been making noise in each of their two recent NCAA tournament appearances, both have been under Porter Moser, who is now head coach at Oklahoma (who was unable to enter the NCAA Tournament in his first season coaching ” Suners”).
Loyola’s new coach, Drew Valentine, is the youngest coach in all of Division I basketball at just 30 years old. He competed in the 2018 and 2021 NCAA Tournaments as an assistant coach, and was a Michigan State Chartered Manager when the Spartans made the Elite Eight in 2014 and the Final Four in 2015.
Valentine is the older brother of former Michigan State star Denzel Valentine, the 2016 National Player of the Year.