Loyola Chicago’s vaunted defense did live up to the hype on Saturday.
Unfortunately for the Ramblers, Oregon State’s was better.
The Beavers hindered and frustrated the Ramblers from the start, guaranteeing a 65-58 victory to overthrow the Elite Eight as the 12th seeder. Loyola had no answers for zone 2-3 of the state of Oregon, which smothered the Ramblers in and out all day.
Beavers choke Ramblers inside and out
When Loyola looked at the post, he found a swarm of defenders on the ledge. When he shot over the zone, he missed. Meanwhile, Oregon State’s attack has achieved just enough to guarantee victory. And so, the story of the NCAA tournament in Loyola is over, a game after a defeat at No. 1 in Illinois, which generated predictions of a championship run from the 8th seed.
Loyola entered the game with the most petty defense of college basketball and gave Oregon State a big dose of it from the start. The Beavers won the lead, but failed to kick when the Ramblers forced a breach of the shooting clock. Oregon State did not score their first field goal until a Rodrigue Andela tray with 13:50 remaining in the first half.
But Loyola’s attack was only marginally better up to that point and maintained a 7-3 lead after Andela broke the goal drought. Before the end of the time, Oregon State found an offensive pace, recovering from a series of 11 to 0 and taking a lead of 24 to 16 in the interval.
The 11-point advantage seemed insurmountable
When the Beavers increased their lead to 33-22 four minutes into the second half, the lead seemed too big for Loyola to overcome. Was.
Both offenses increased the pace in the final stages of the game, but Oregon State never left Loyola with a single ball possession while extending his unlikely run to the Midwest Regional Final.
The Beavers extend the success story of Pac-12, which advanced four teams to Sweet 16. And they wouldn’t be in the tournament if it weren’t for an unexpected race in the Pac-12 tournament championship. Without automatic conference bidding, they would not have qualified for the NCAA tournament field. Now they are three wins away from a national championship.
Approximate figures for Loyola
The box score was bad for Loyola. The Ramblers shot 33.3% of the field and hit only 5 out of 23 (21.7%) attempts at 3 points. Many of these ranged mistakes were in open shots. If Loyola hit just a few of those flaws, he may have moved on.
The break story was even worse. The center Cameron Krutwig hit three of Loyola’s total of four goals in the opening stanza, with the Ramblers kicking 1 of 9 from a distance of 3 points. The second part was an upgrade, but it was not enough.
Krutwig, who was part of the 2018 Loyola team that made a surprise run for the Final Four, ends his career with a 14-point rebound and 10 rebounds.
Ethan Thompson was the best player on the field. The Oregon State Guard was an offensive oasis in an arid desert, connecting 6 of 13 field goals and 2 of 3 attempts at 3 points on the way to 22 points. Warith Alatishe was the only other Beaver to score double digits, with 10 points, in addition to 11 rebounds, the game record.
More from Yahoo Sports: