March Madness: 3 takeaways from Tennessee Vols loss to Loyola-Chicago

Tennessee basketball lost to the Loyola Ramblers in the NCAA Tournament. Here are three takeaways from the Volunteers’ March Madness loss.

Well, that March Madness outcome couldn’t be more disappointing for Vol fans. Tennessee basketball came out of the gate, or I should stay Admiral Schofield did. He had a quick 11 points, and it looked like there wasn’t a player on Loyola’s team that was going to be able to stop him.

Then, he picked up his second foul early in the game and had to sit. The Vols had a led 15-12 when Scofield went out, and while on the bench Loyola was able to come back and take a lead.

Tennessee was down at the half and was never able to get the lead back until late in the game. With only 10 seconds left guess who stepped up for Loyola, Clayton Custer. He took the ball straight to his spot on the floor and made the game-winning shot. Which was the second game-winning shot in a row.

It was a heartbreaking loss and a loss that shouldn’t have happened. Here are three takeaways from Tennessee’ loss in the aecond round of March Madness.

1. Loyola’s Ball Movement was INCREDIBLE

I don’t know how else to say it. The ball movement was absolutely fantastic. They had the Vols jumping out of the gym to try to block every single shot. You would think after the 100th pump fake, Tennessee would stop falling for them, but no they didn’t.

The pump fakes opened the floor and Loyola had open shots after open shots, and they made them. They shot 50% from the field and 40% from the three-point line.

2. Settled for Too Many Three’s

Okay, Loyola was a scrappy bunch, and they did play good defense. They did hold the Vols to only 62 points on 25-of-55 shooting.

But, I didn’t think their defense was so good that the Vols had to shoot 25 three-point shots. Not to mention that most of the shots were late in the shot that they had to force because the offense was just standing around the whole possession.

3. Good Year, Bad Ending

Let’s not kid ourselves, Tennessee wasn’t going to win a National Championship, but they shouldn’t have lost that game. Tennessee was a better team, and they got outplayed, and for this one game, Loyola won.

The Vols ended up with 26 wins in a year they were projected 13th in the SEC in the preseason. The future looks bright as well. Everyone is coming back expect James Daniel III. They should be back, but the loss still stings. I’m already predicting they won’t lose in the Second Round of the Tournament next season.