The No. 1 seed Illinois Fighting Illini will be taking on the No. 8 seed Loyola Chicago Ramblers in the second round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament. This game will be televised on Sunday at X p.m. ET.
Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.
Game date: March 21st
Game time: 12:10 p.m.
TV channel: CBS
Location: Bankers Life Fieldhouse
Odds: Illinois -7, 132.5
No. 1 Illinois 24-6 (16-4 Big Ten): Automatic Bid
KenPom rating: 3 Overall, 8 Offense, 5 Defense
NET ranking: 3, (12-5 VS Quad 1)
Leading scorer: Ayo Dosunmu 20.7 ppg
The No. 1 seed Illinois Fighting Illini did not have any problems with the No. 16 seed Drexel Dragons, winning 78-49 on Friday afternoon. The Illini will now await the winner of Loyola-Chicago vs. Georgia Tech.
The Illini led 39-21 over the Dragons at the half and did not look back. Center Kofi Cockburn was the game’s leading scorer with 18 points and added five rebounds. Standout guard Ayo Dosunmu had a double-double consisting of 17 points and 10 rebounds. As a team, Illinois shot 57.1 percent from the field and had four players score in double figures. The Illini led by as much as 33 points over the CAA champions.
No. 8 Loyola Chicago Ramblers: 25-4 (16-2 Missouri Valley): Automatic Bid
KenPom rating: 8 Overall, 38 Offense, 3 Defense
NET ranking: 10 (3-2 VS Quad 1)
Leading scorer: Cameron Krutwig 15.0 ppg
The No. 8 seed Loyola Chicago Ramblers overcame a five-point halftime deficit to defeat the No. 9 seed Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 71-60 on Friday.
The Ramblers received outstanding performances from their starting backcourt of Lucas Williamson and Braden Norris. Williamson scored a game-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field and 4-of-7 from three-point range. He also added six rebounds and four assists. As for Norris, he was electric from the perimeter with 16 points (4-8 FG, 4-6 3pt) and eight assists.
With those two players carrying the offensive workload, Loyola Chicago did not need Cameron Krutwig to do major damage inside the low post. The Ramblers’ leading scorer posted 10 points and five rebounds. Despite not shooting as efficient as the Yellow Jackets from the field (57.4%), Loyola Chicago shot 40.7% from three-point range and won the rebounding battle (30-17).
