Illinois Preview and Game Thread -- 3-21-2021

[kato669]

Great article from WaPo on our huge win

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2 ... ournament/

[ahunte1]

Pretty interesting to see that we're getting a lot of respect and new found fans on the GT fan board. We deserve it.

Tougher game than Illinois was!

Evansville was a tougher game than that was.

[ahunte1]

Having gotten past Illinois, our underseed actually works to our advantage now.

We are the 1-seed now.

[JCT]

OK, first of all, I'm still processing the fact that we won. I thought we'd have a good chance to beat the spread because it got up to 7.5...

I take losses really hard, so I spent all night (except for the 3 1/2 hours of restless sleep I got) and this morning mentally preparing myself for a loss. When they cut the lead to 6 in the second half, my doubts kicked in again. I thought Ayo or their outside shooters would go off for 15 quick points, and we'd get a flurry of turnovers and missed free throws a la Valpo last year.

But it didn't happen. We played such great defense, we were prepared so well, and we executed at such a high level that Illinois never got a swagger, looked gassed for much of the second half, and looked like they thought they could mail it in. Huge kudos to the coaching staff.... Think about it.... we found keys to beat Illinois that no other team in the Big Ten could figure out or implement over the past month.

Can't say enough about EVERYONE INVOLVED. Even Jacob Hutson-- a true freshman, a player we thought was going to red shirt this year-- gave us 7 minutes, 5 points, 2 rebounds, and a block. Krutwig, who I thought might get pushed around like a rag doll by Kofi, not only held his own, he was freaking INCREDIBLE. 19 points on 9-of-18 shooting, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals. Krutwig alone had four offensive rebounds and the Illini had five as a whole team. Kennedy was dynamic. Nobody looked intimidated or frightened for even half a second.

With the win, Loyola ties Duke for the highest winning percentage in NCAA Tournament history. Ramblers are 15-5 for a .750 winning percentage.

The last three times we've been in the tournament, we've made at least the Sweet 16.

[shyhyme]

JCT,
I really wanted this one but was also worried and not wanting to have to deal with the loss for so many reasons. Even at the start of the second half when the refs started calling the fouls I had flashbacks to the final 4.
The difference is that we are so good on defense, even better than 2018. Friday I had friends who didn’t watch closely all year asking me why Kaifes was in the game and I said “defense.” And then he made two good plays in a row on defense.
The only way we lose is if we can’t score. The defense is that good. Today cemented that for me.

[Rambler88]

The Loyola Chicago defense, which killed joy all season at the rate of a nation-best 55.7 points per game for others, bothered the Illini into clear discomfort that suggested their own 81.3 points per game weren’t coming this day.

Best line from WaPo story.

[LU Rambler12]

The Loyola Chicago defense, which killed joy all season at the rate of a nation-best 55.7 points per game for others, bothered the Illini into clear discomfort that suggested their own 81.3 points per game weren’t coming this day.

Best line from WaPo story.

Definitely killed joy for the announcers today. Painfully annoying and cringey...they tried to talk up the Illini and will them to a win all game long.

[brot4britu]

Once again BEEEEEUUUUUTIFULLLLLL !!!!!!

[Rambler303]

What a great day to be a Rambler! Great game plan, coaching, effort, and defense! What a special Team, we are moving on to the Sweet 16 again!

[brot4britu]

The "Best conference" is about done for another year -- The Little 10 is YUCK !!
AND BTW Clark Kellogg said ILLINI would rally a beat us !!!! Yeah Right

KEEP GOING RAMBLERS !!!!!