Loyola beats Top Seed Illinois to Advance in NCAA Tournament

There were, as usual, some notable upsets in the Round of 64 in the NCAA Basketball Tournament, such as #15 Oral Roberts over #2 Ohio State, #14 Abilene Christian over #3 Texas, and #13 Ohio over #4 Virginia. But all four #1 seeds advanced to the Round of 32.

It didn’t take long for the 1st Number One seed to go down to defeat in the next round. Illinois, the #1 seed in the South Regional (the regions still have these designations despite all the games taking place in Indiana due to COVID) led off the day against #8 Loyola of Chicago. Three years ago, the Ramblers surprised everyone as they made it to the Final Four before losing to Michigan. They didn’t return in 2019, and of course there was no tournament in 2020 due to COVID-19. But they’re back, along with now 101 year old Sister Jean, the team’s Chaplain and most well known fan. She’s been completely vaccinated and is there in person delivering the pregame prayers. The Ramblers beat Georgia Tech in the Round of 64 to advance against Illinois, winners over Drexel.

Loyola jumped out in front early, and Illinois never recovered as the Ramblers rambled to a 71-58 victory. Loyola led 33-24 at the half, and the Illini never had the lead in the game. Illinois could not overtake the stifling Loyola defense. Cameron Krutwig led the Ramblers with 19 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists.

Loyola improved to 26-4; the Ramblers last loss was on February 14th, a 51-50 overtime loss at Drake, a fellow Missouri Conference foe who also made it to the NCAA Tournament. Loyola has been one of the hottest teams in the country, having won 19 of 20.