PITTSBURGH — E.J. Liddell scored 16 points, Big Ten freshman of the year Malaki Branham added 14, and seventh-seeded Ohio State shut down 10th-seeded Loyola Chicago from start to finish, winning 54-41 in the first round of the NCAA tournament Friday.
The Buckeyes (20-11) advanced to play Villanova on Sunday in the South Regional while preventing another March run by the Ramblers (25-8), who shot 27% (15 for 56) from the field.
“We knew we were in for a rock fight, and that’s very much what it was,” Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann said, calling it “the best defensive performance we’ve really had in a couple years.”
Braden Norris led Loyola with 14 points, but star Lucas Williamson endured perhaps his worst game of the season. The winningest player in program history finished with four points on one-for-10 shooting and committed three turnovers as Loyola fell in the first round after reaching the Sweet 16 last season and the Final Four in 2018.
“I mean, I’m disappointed in myself,” Williamson said. “I don’t feel like I played to the standard that I put myself at. But, yeah, I mean, like [coach] Drew [Valentine] said, kind of just at a loss for words. Kind of just stunned right now.”
Sister Jean Dolores-Schmidt, Loyola’s 102-year-old chaplain, led the Ramblers in a pregame prayer and took in the school’s third NCAA appearance in five years from the mezzanine but could only watch as Loyola — listed as a slight favorite by FanDuel Sportsbook, a nod to the program’s rise — fumbled away an opportunity to further cement its status as a mid-major power.
Ohio State came in having lost four of its last five games, including a baffling setback to lowly Penn State in the Big Ten tournament last week. The return of forward Kyle Young — who hadn’t played since March 8 because of a concussion — and Liddell’s steadiness helped the Buckeyes avoid a second straight early exit.
Loyola’s 41 points were a season low and the program’s fewest since scoring 39 against Indiana State in 2020. After hearing repeatedly about the Ramblers’ smothering defense, the Buckeyes provided some of their own.
“We love that type of challenge, and we just have to respond,” Young said. “So it was just about who is going to play more physical and tougher with 50-50 balls and things like that.”
While Williamson and company frustrated Liddell — holding him without a field goal in the first half — Loyola could muster little offensive flow as the Buckeyes swallowed up the lane in a game that made up for in intensity what it lacked in aesthetics.
Every Loyola drive to the rim was contested and every loose ball — and there were plenty in an opening half in which the teams combined for as many turnovers as made baskets (15) — seemed to end with Ohio State heading the other way.