LOYOLA SCORES BIG UPSET IN NCAA TOURNEY
INDIANAPOLIS — The Loyola Chicago defense had the Illinois offense out of rhythm the entire game and Ramblers center Cameron Krutwig was a huge presence under the basket as the No. 8-seeded Ramblers upset the No. 1-seeded Fighting Illini 71-58 on Sunday at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Illinois trailed 33-24 at halftime and the Ramblers had an answer for everything Illinois tried in the second half to secure the 13-point upset.
“A tremendous amount of credit goes to Loyola. First 10 minutes of that game, they got us on our heels,” Illinois head basketball coach Brad Underwood said. “We never really recovered. We had stretches, but they just rocked us, and again, we missed some easy opportunities. We’re not going to win many games when (Trent Frazier) is 1-for-10 and (Ayo Dosunmu) had a tough night.”
After six quick points from Krutwig, Ramblers guard Bradan Norris drained a 3 to give Loyola an early 9-2 lead. A Marquise Kennedy 3-pointer at 12:10 remaining in the first half extended the lead to 15-9 as the Ramblers’ defense had Illinois turning the ball over left and right. The Illini had nine firsthalf turnovers and finished with 17.
Adam Miller hit a 3-pointer and a Kofi Cockburn dunk with 8:54 remaining got the team energized, but they still trailed by as many as 14 in the first half.
Loyola’s Keith Clemons hit a 3 to make the score 33-19, but a 3-point play by Cockburn followed by a dunk by Illinois’ center on a beautiful pass from Andre Curbelo got the Illini to the half on a positive note even if they were down by nine, 33-24.
Krutwig, the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year, led Loyola with eight points, six rebounds, four assists and a steal in the first half. He finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and four steals.
“Krutwig is outstanding, tremendous matchup. He dominated the game. He’s a difficult matchup and an awfully good player who makes everybody else better,” Underwood said.
Cockburn had seven points in the first half to lead Illinois. Dosunmu was a non-factor early with four points and four turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
“Loyola guarded (Ayo). I mean, they got up into ball screens very hard and were very aggressive on him and made him pass the ball or try to pass the ball,” Underwood said. “He got downhill a few times and missed a couple of easy ones early, but again, it was a tough night. Ayo doesn’t have six turnovers very often, and they made it tough for him to get to the rim.”
But Dosunmu, the USA Today Player of the Year, scored the second half ’s first points, then back-to-back buckets for