Ohio State faces a date with Sister Jean in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
As the No. 7 seed in the South Region, the Buckeyes are set to play No. 10 seed Loyola Chicago in the first round of the tournament, presenting what looks to be a challenging 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 to bring a 25-7 record into Selection Sunday. They’ve been successful in their recent March Madness appearances, too, making it to the Sweet 16 last year and the Final Four in 2018.
Loyola is perhaps best known for Sister Jean, the Ramblers’ 102-year-old team chaplain who rose to fame for her appearances at their games during their 2018 Final Four run. She’s still attending the team’s games and plans to be with the team at its NCAA Tournament games once again this year, according to Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune.
On the court, the Ramblers are a well-rounded team that is capable of testing the Buckeyes on both ends of the floor, though they’re not as well-tested against top competition as Ohio State is.
A top-20 defensive team
While Ohio State and Loyola have both averaged the exact same number of points this season – 73.8 per game – the Ramblers have been much better on defense, holding opponents to only 61.7 points per game. Loyola ranks 18th in the country in points allowed per game and 13th in the nation in points differential per game and is rated by KenPom as the nation’s No. 22 defensive team.
Ohio State’s defense, on the other hand, is ranked 160th in the country with 68.5 points allowed per game and is rated by KenPom as the nation’s No. 131 defensive team. The Buckeyes rank 103th nationally in points differential per game.
The Ramblers aren’t a great rebounding team – they rank just 248th in rebounds per game (33.9) – but they’ve held opponents to a field goal percentage of 40.9%, ranking 47th nationally in that category.
Overall, Loyola is ranked by KenPom as the No. 24 team in the country while Ohio State is ranked as the 32nd team in the country, even though Ohio State is a higher seed in the tournament. That said, the Ramblers only have one win this year against a team that’s actually in the NCAA Tournament (San Francisco).
They’re a small-ball team
Like most mid-major teams, you won’t find a ton of size on Loyola’s roster. The Ramblers have only two players who are taller than 6-foot-7 – center Jacob Hutson (6-10) and forward Tom Welch (6-8) – and they’ve combined to play only 21.2 minutes per game.
Of the six Loyola players who have played more than 20 minutes per game, the tallest among them are 6-foot-7 forwards Aher Uguak and Ryan Schwieger. Unlike last year, when Loyola was led by 6-foot-9, 255-pound center Cameron Krutwig, this year’s Ramblers are led by their guard play, with 6-foot-4 guard Lucas Williamson leading the team in scoring (14 points per game), rebounding (five per game) and steals (1.3 per game).
Not having to face off against a true center in round one could be a good thing for the Buckeyes, but considering how much they’ve struggled to defend against guards in recent games, this matchup could be just as dangerous as playing against a big man.
Hilliard native plays key role
Another one of Loyola’s top guards grew up in Ohio State’s backyard. Starting point guard Braden Norris is a native of Hilliard, Ohio, who starred at Hilliard Bradley High School, where his father is the head coach.
Norris leads Loyola with 3.9 assists per game and ranks second on the team (behind Lucas Williamson, who averages 14 points per game) with 10.3 points per game. He’s played the most minutes of any Rambler this season (32.6 per game) and is the team’s most efficient 3-point shooter, making shots from beyond the arc at a 43.5 percent clip.
Norris played a key role in Loyola’s first-round NCAA Tournament win over Georgia Tech last year, scoring 16 points and dishing out assists in the Ramblers’ 71-60 win over the Yellow Jackets, and he’ll now try to lead them to another first-round win over his hometown Buckeyes.
Hilliard native Braden Norris leads Loyola in minutes played and assists per game and is the Ramblers’ second-leading scorer.
When they’re in, they usually win
In each of their last three appearances in the NCAA Tournament – in 2021, 2018 and 1985 – Loyola has won at least two games.
As the No. 8 seed last year, Loyola upset 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 just the fourth No. 11 seed in tournament history to make the Final Four. The Ramblers won their first three games against Miami, Tennessee and Nevada by a combined four points before beating Kansas State by 16 points in the Elite Eight to punch their ticket to the Final Four, where their NCAA Tournament run ultimately ended in a 69-57 loss to Michigan.
The Ramblers had a lengthy NCAA Tournament drought before then, but also made it to the Sweet 16 in 1985, when they beat Iona and SMU in the first two rounds as the No. 4 seed before losing to No. 1 overall seed Georgetown, who was famously upset by Villanova in the national championship game.
Loyola won the NCAA Tournament in 1963.
Youngest coach in Division I
While the Ramblers made noise in each of their two recent NCAA Tournament appearances, both of those came with the leadership of Porter Moser, who’s now the head coach at Oklahoma (who fell short of the NCAA Tournament in his first season coaching the Sooners).
Loyola’s new coach, Drew Valentine, is the youngest coach in all of Division I basketball at only 30 years old. He was a part of both the 2018 and 2021 NCAA Tournament runs as an assistant coach, while he was also a graduate manager for Michigan State 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.
