Loyola tops No. 1 seed Illinois
Keeping an eye on the NCAA men’s basketbal tournament
If the pregame prayer sounded more like a scouting report, it was. And if Sister Jean didn’t have any plans for next weekend, well, she does now.
Loyola Chicago carried out its 101-year-old superfan’s plans to a T on Sunday, moving to the Sweet 16 with a 71-58 win over Illinois, the first No. 1 seed bounced from this year’s NCAA Tournament.
Cameron Krutwig delivered a 19-point, 12-rebound masterpiece and the eighth-seeded Ramblers (26-4) led wire to wire at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. They befuddled a powerful Illinois offense to return to the second weekend three years after their last magical Final Four run.
A hard habit to break for these Ramblers.
And a classic case of nun-and-done for the Illini.
Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, the team chaplain, who headlined the team’s 2018 run to the Final Four and received both COVID-19 vaccination shots so she could travel to Indianapolis to see what inspiration she could provide in 2021.
Before taking in this game from the luxury suite — sitting in her wheelchair and decked out in her trademark maroon and gold scarf — Jean delivered a pregame prayer that could’ve been stripped straight from a John Wooden handbook.
“As we play the Fighting Illini, we ask for special help to overcome this team and get a great win,” she said. “We hope to score early and make our opponents nervous. We have a great opportunity to convert rebounds as this team makes about 50% of layups and 30% of its 3s. Our defense can take care of that.”
From her mouth to their ears.
Illinois (24-7) earned top seeding for the first time since its own Final Four run in 2005, but fell behind by 14 in the first half. The Illini had 16 turnovers and scored 23 points fewer than their season average. Illinois 7-footer Kofi Cockburn finished with 21 points, but worked hard for every shot.
Loyola guards, Lucas Williamson, above, (14 points) and Keith Clemons (two steals), kept first-team All-American Ayo Dosunmu from finding his comfort zone. He finished with nine points, 11 under his season average.
As for Krutwig, he’s also an All-American — a third-teamer who looked all-world Sunday.
Posting up, pivoting, dishing and causing all kinds of trouble on defense, the 6-9 senior played bigger. He also had five assists and four steals. Krutwig was with Loyola for the last Final Four trip, and is one of only four players in Missouri Valley Conference history to record 1,500 points, 800 boards, and 300 assists.
And a chance for more.
THE QUOTE
“We just executed, played our game and controlled the game from the start. Nobody was really doing anything out of body or out of mind. We just stuck to the game plan.”
— Loyola’s Cameron Krutwig