3 things Loyola-Chicago needs to do to beat Michigan

The Cinderella story of the NCAA tournament, Loyola-Chicago, will enter Saturday night’s game against the Michigan Wolverines as slight underdogs, only because the Ramblers are in uncharted territory. This isn’t their first Final Four appearance — they made one in 1963, but it is just the fourth time in tournament history that an 11-seed has advanced this far.

Despite that, Loyola-Chicago has a legitimate shot to win this game, and it starts with these three key things.

The Ramblers already do this, but their 78-62 victory over Kansas State last Saturday just shows what a great defense can give you with this team. Loyola-Chicago held the Wildcats to just 35 percent from the floor, which let the Ramblers’ offense — which has been shooting at 50 percent this year — build off the momentum of defensive stops on the other end. The closest K-State came to pulling within striking distance to Loyola-Chicago was within 12 points in the second half — the Ramblers led by double-digits virtually the entire game.

That’s a drastic difference from the previous three games the Ramblers played in the tournament, which were decided by just two points or less. Take a look at Loyola-Chicago’s opponents’ shooting percentage in those nailbiters:

Nevada: 41 percent
Tennessee: 46 percent
Miami: 51 percent

If Loyola-Chicago is stingy on defense, the offense can be productive without having to worry about which shots to take if it’s a close game.

“The first focus is defense for us,” Ramblers point guard Clayton Custer said after the game against Kansas State. “Yeah, people talk about our spacing and the way we move the ball and how unselfish we are, which I think that that’s expected because we do do a good job of that. But I think maybe — yeah, our defense is definitely the key to us winning these games.”

Primarily known as one of Loyola-Chicago’s best defensive players, the Ramblers benefitted when Richardson was productive on offense in the Elite 8. He finished with a career-high 23 points against K-State, shooting 70 percent from the floor.

“I always tell Ben he needs to shoot more every single game,” Custer said via the Chicago Tribune.

From the looks of it, Richardson taking his teammate’s advice paid off greatly for their team last week.

“I’ve got to credit my teammates for finding me,” Richardson said post game. “That’s what’s so special about our team. We’ve got so many unselfish guys, and we have so many weapons. And like we’ve been saying, it can be anybody’s night. We’ve shown that so far this tournament. Each one of these guys has had a big night. I was in a rhythm and they were finding me, and so I just kept taking shots. They went down, and it was a big-time game, the biggest game of my life.”

The Wolverine guard, who stands at 6’6, is bigger than all of the Ramblers’ guards, so he’ll be a challenge defensively. Whenever Matthews is hot, his team does well too — in the last two Michigan victories over Florida State and Texas A&M, he’s combined for 35 points and he’s racked up 74 points throughout the tournament. He led the team in rebounds last weekend, too.

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