By PAUL GOTHAM
INDIANAPOLIS, IN — Cameron Krutwig finished with a game-high 19 points, but it was the senior center’s efforts as part of the Loyola Chicago defense that lifted the Ramblers to a 7-58 victory over top-seeded Illinois.
And the performance wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for Krutwig and his teammates.
The Ramblers, rated No. 1 overall by KenPom with an adjusted defensive efficiency of 86.1 points over an estimated 100 possessions, limited Illinois to 28.6 percent (4-of-14) shooting from behind the 3-point arc in holding the Fighting Illini to a season-low offensive output.
“Yeah, it’s been a whole season of that,” Krautwig said. “That’s our defense. Coach said that today, it’s not just a 48-hour scout we’ve been working our whole season on our defense. I guess people kind of forgot or something but we were the No. 1 defense in the country this year. I guess people chalk it up to maybe being a mid-major or something, but we play hard, play the right way, and we follow the scout and follow the scheme…It’s not been a 48-hour thing, it’s been a whole year.”
With an opportunistic defense that collapsed in the post on Illinois big man Kofi Cockburn, Loyola Chicago took the Big Ten champ averaging 50.1 percent shooting from the floor and held it 23 points under its season average.
“They faced Drexel the other day and they were in the low ice, which is not as much pressure,” Krautwig said of the Illini’s first round game on Friday. “We kind of put the high ice on them and forced them to throw that skip, and when Kofi got it down there, you’re not going to hold him catchless. He’s going to catch a bunch of lob passes and stuff, so when he got it we just tried to swarm him, and the game plan worked out, and credit to the coaches, man.”
Cockburn scored 21 points, four over his season average, but only one other Illinois player reached double figures with Adam Miller accounting for 10 points. Leading scorer Ayo Dosunmu was held to nine points , more than 11 under his season average.
Loyola also limited Illinois, a team averaging 14.9 fast-break points per game to just two points in transition on Sunday.
“We knew they wanted to push the pace,” Krautwig acknowledged. “They’re one of the best teams in transition in the whole country. It wasn’t that the game plan was, hey we want to slow it down as much as we can. We wanted to be opportunistic and stuff with running like we always are, but when they couldn’t get out and run and couldn’t find the gaps in transition, maybe that frustrated them a little bit.
“You’re not going to take everything away from them. They’re one of the best teams in the country, so you’re going to have to just pick and choose what you want to take away.”
Loyola also limited Illinois to just five offensive rebounds and four second-chance points – more than eight points under their season average in that category.
“You’re sitting there saying, Krut, you’ve got to ball screen D against Ayo, an All-American but then you’ve got to post D against Kofi, an All-American in the post,” Loyola head coach Porter Moser said. “Have at it, big boy. I thought he was very, very good defensively, as well, against elite players. Those are terrific players.”
Illinois, the Big Ten champion, finished 24-7 under fourth-year head coach Brad Underwood. Led by Thomas Walkup, Underwood’s Stephen F. Austin team, then a No. 14 seed, knocked off No. 3 West Virginia in the 2016 NCAA Tournament.
“They made it very tough for us to run stuff,” Underwood said. “We got out-rebounded. We got out-fought. That’s a good basketball team. Krutwig is outstanding, tremendous matchup. He dominated the game with 19 points, five assists and 12 rebounds. He’s a difficult matchup and an awfully good player who makes everybody else better.”
Loyola (26-4), which advanced to the Final Four as an 11-seed in the 2018 NCAA Tournament, will play No. 12 Oregon State in the Midwest Region semi-finals next Saturday.
“Last time we didn’t have anybody that was on that stage, and it was just so important for our coaching staff to understand that it’s a big stage,” Moser said of his team’s run in 2018. “You can’t get them so tight. Enjoy the moment. So we were always about — when we’re out hanging out with each other in the rooms, the pregame meals, whenever it’s time to enjoy each other, enjoy it. But when it’s film, walking through the ballroom, practice, they are locked in.
“That’s what’s special about this group. I’m feeling the same way about that with this group and continue to learn that and be blessed with enjoying the moment.”
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