March Madness: Tennessee vs. Loyola-Chicago preview, live stream, prediction
Tennessee basketball faces the Loyola Chicago Ramblers in the next round of the NCAA Tournament. Can the Vols advance to the Sweet Sixteen of March Madness?
March Madness is the absolute best time of year. The Tournament started on Thursday, and you’re feeling great about your bracket and then boom it’s busted before you know it.
But, honestly who really cares about how good your bracket is doing if you’re a Tennessee basketball fan. As long as the Vols win, you win.
That’s what March is all about in the college basketball world. Survive and advance, and that’s exactly what the Vols did Thursday as that rocked the No.14 seed Wright State Raiders in a 73-47 win. With the win, Tennessee has the opportunity to advance to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since the 2013-14 season.
They controlled the entire game even after a sluggish start on offense, which by now is nothing new for this team. The offense comes and goes, and that’s usually okay because the defense is so impressive. We’ve been saying it all year, but the defense was terrific all game long and only gave up 47 points. 47 points!
Most Vol fans wouldn’t have cared if Tennessee had won on a last-second shot, just as long as they won the game. Take Arizona fans, for example; I bet they wish their team would have won on a last-second shot. But, they lost as a four seed and are going home.
Speaking of last-second shots. Donta Ingram the senior guard from Loyola-Chicago hit a game-winning three-point shot at the buzzer to give the Ramblers a 64-62 win over the No. 6 Miami Hurricanes.
On top of that, with No. 4 seed Arizona and No. 1 seed Virginia losing on the other side of the South Region bracket in the first round, Tennessee now has an amazing chance to reach the Final Four.
As site expert Caleb Calhoun mentioned, No. 3 seed Tennessee now moves into the driver seat for the top villain team in the tournament. Everyone will be rooting for the Vols to lose. When is the last time that was the case? The Bruce Pearl era?
Before we preview both teams and give our prediction, here is the information you need for Saturday’s game.
No. 3 Tennessee Volunteers vs. No. 11 Loyola-Chicago Ramblers
When: Saturday, March 17, 2018, at 6:10 p.m. E.T.
Where: American Airlines Center; Dallas, TX
TV: TNT
Live Stream: Marchmadness.com
Line: Tennessee -5
Over/Under: 131.5
VIEW OF THE VOLS
Record: 26-8
Last 5: 5-1
Last 10: 8-2
No. 3 Tennessee is coming off an opening round 73-47 thrashing of No.14 Wright State on Thursday. What a great way to start off the NCAA Tournament, the Vols were in the second game of the tournament and proved once again why they should be taken seriously.
No surprise here but Lamonte Turner (19), Admiral Schofield (15), and Grant Williams (14) led the Vols in scoring.
Turner had 19 points on 4-of-11 shooting and made 9-of-10 from the free throw line. In his 33 minutes off the bench, he also dished out nine of Tennessee’s 13 total assists. It’s not surprising for the SEC 6th Man of the Year to lead the team in scoring; he has done that multiple times this year but he has kind of quietly scored in double figures five of the last eight games.
Schofield also balled out, something that Vol fans are getting used to seeing. He had another 15 plus point game while adding 12 rebounds. That marks the second straight double-double for Schofield as he had a 22 point and ten rebound game against Kentucky in the SEC Championship Game.
The defense was sound as they only gave up 47 points. In fact, that was the fourth time in the past eight games where the Vols held their opponents to under 60 points.
VIEW OF THE RAMBLERS
Record: 29-5
Last 5: 5-0
Last 10: 10-0
The Ramblers are coming off 11 straight wins, and none were more significant than this past win against the No.6 Miami Hurricanes. With the game on the line, senior guard Donta Ingram hit a game-winning three-point shot at the buzzer to give the Ramblers a 64-62 win. This was the first NCAA Tournament appearance for the Ramblers since 1985.
Loyola is led by senior Donta Ingram who is the guy that ended Miami’s tournament run. He only scores 11.7 points per game, but Loyola is a team that gets buckets from many different players. In fact, they have five players that average in double figures on the year.
One of those players is a junior guard, Clayton Custer who leads the team scoring 13.4 points per game. He scored 14 on Miami by shooting 4-for-6 from the three-point line.
PREDICTION
The trendy pick is going to be Loyola and while they do have one upset under their belt and it is March so that anything can happen.
Loyola does appear to be better than that eleven seed beside their name, but I don’t think this is the type of Tennessee team that will overlook them. They have their act together and feel like they are the team that’s been overlooked.
The team put out a video the other day telling the national media not to pick them for the tournament now because they didn’t pick them in the preseason. This Tennessee team has a chip on their shoulders, and I don’t think they will take any time lightly.
Tennessee 68 Loyola-Chicago 61.