Illinois basketball takes on a scary Loyola-Chicago Ramblers program in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
This is a talented Ramblers bunch, but Illinois does have the firepower to end things quickly on Sunday. These two teams are polar opposites, though. It will be a battle from the tip.
Here are four keys for the Illini to beat the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers.
1. Control the pace of the game
Illinois hasn’t run into a ton of teams this season that have slowed the ball down. Usually, college basketball teams are running up and down the court trying to score as many times as possible. That isn’t Loyola-Chicago, though.
The Ramblers are here to slow the pace of the game down to where efficiency is the key to getting the victory. But Illinois can’t let that happen or they will be in a dogfight the entire night.
Coming into the game, Loyola-Chicago is actually one of the slowest teams in college basketball. They play at an extremely slow pace, and as a result, they don’t have nearly as many possessions. The Ramblers currently average 64.8 possessions per game this season, which ranks No. 345 out of 348 teams.
Loyola-Chicago will try to control the pace of the game, but how will the Illini combat this tactic? I believe it is a multi-pronged process. There isn’t one thing that will take the Ramblers out of their game.
Team rebounding will be important so Loyola-Chicago doesn’t have the ball as often. That means both offensive and defensive rebounding. Not turning the ball over, which the Illini have been better at as of late. These two things, among others, will enable Illinois to get out and run past the Ramblers.