Michigan Basketball: 3 keys to beating Loyola-Chicago

Michigan basketball plays against the unlikely Final Four team Loyola-Chicago on Saturday. Here’s how it can avoid being the Ramblers’ latest upset.

The team standing in the way of Michigan basketball and another NCAA Championship game is one few could have predicted. In a region featuring Virginia, Kentucky, Arizona and Cincinnati, No. 11 seed Loyola-Chicago was the team that came out on top.

Loyola had to scrape by early in the tournament with its first three games being decided by a combined 4 points. Then the Ramblers absolutely took it to Kansas State in the Elite Eight with 16-point win.

The Ramblers essentially play like an undersized Purdue team. They like to drive it to the basket and kick it out to the perimeter, where they shoot very efficiently. Almost every rotational Loyola player aside from center Cameron Krutwig is capable of shooting from deep.

The team is shooting just above 40 percent from behind the arc this season. Loyola made half of its attempts from deep against Kansas State.

Everyone on Loyola is a shooter, and the team shares the ball a lot. The Ramblers are a top 25 team in the country for assist rate. They can’t rebound much due to their lack of size, but everything else is rather efficient.

Loyola’s low seeding going into the tournament doesn’t matter. The team made it this far, and the Ramblers are clearly a threat. Even so, Michigan is still the favored team in this matchup and

Here’s how Michigan can overcome Loyola and make it to the championship.