Ohio State smothers Loyola, advances in NCAA Tournament

Humbled and hobbled, Ohio State walked inside PPG Paints Arena on Friday morning determined to defeat Loyola Chicago, quiet its critics and advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Under one condition, however.

The Buckeyes wanted to do it on their terms.

And so they did, decisively, with a 54-41 victory in front of a sellout crowd, beating down a Loyola team that reached the Sweet 16 last year, the Final Four in 2018 and won 25 games this season.

The victory launched Ohio State into a second-round game Sunday against Villanova with a Sweet 16 berth at stake.

Perhaps the Buckeyes (20-11) didn’t look like a Sweet 16 team late in the season when they lost four of five, including losses to Big Ten bottom feeders Maryland, Nebraska and Penn State. The latter came with the prize of a quick exit from the conference tournament.

Injuries have plagued the Buckeyes, with Kyle Young (concussion) and Zed Key (ankle) missing time recently. Both played Friday, and Young scored nine points with seven rebounds in nearly 35 minutes. Also, Justice Sueing (abdominal), a double-figure scorer the previous three seasons, has missed all but two games.

Coach Chris Holtmann isn’t blaming the losses on bad luck, but he acknowledges — almost welcomes — the ensuing pressure.

“Pressure is a privilege. And we certainly as a group felt pressure to perform at a more consistent level,” he said. “We felt confident we could do it at full strength.”

The Buckeyes set the tone early against Loyola (25-8) and trailed for only 2 minutes, 7 seconds in the first half.

• They played physical, winning the rebound battle, 41-31, forcing 14 turnovers and recording seven steals (four by 6-foot-5 freshman guard Malaki Branham).

• They were not shy about diving for loose balls, even Young who had recently been in concussion protocol. “It was just about who is going to play more physical and tougher with 50/50 balls,” he said.

• They forced Loyola to miss about three of every four shots (a failure rate of 73.2%).

“I’m not surprised,” said Ohio State third-team All-American E.J. Liddell, who led his team with 16 points and 10 rebounds. “I feel like when we start out, the first four minutes, that determines the game. We set the rules.”

“We played with an edge, played like the underdogs. We have to keep playing like that because people have been counting us out, big time.”

Added Young: “We try to hang our hat on being the more physical team, setting the rules.”

It’s no coincidence that Liddell and Young made similar remarks about “setting rules,” emphasizing that it was the Buckeyes who would be in charge of this game.

“Yeah, it’s one of our core tenets we talk about,” Holtmann said. “It’s what we try to do every game. We don’t always do it as well as we’d like to. But we try to do every game.

“We knew we were in for a rock fight, and that’s very much what it was.”

Ohio State was successful in keeping Loyola off balance and out of character. The Ramblers averaged nearly 74 points per game during the season, but they were under 40 Friday until the final 74 seconds.

Loyola graduate senior Lucas Williamson, named first team All-Missouri Valley Conference, missed 9 of his 10 shots, including four 3-pointers and five foul shots in six attempts. He ended up with four points after averaging 16.3 in MVC games this season.

“I’m disappointed in myself,” said Williamson, who is considered a prospect for the NBA Draft later this year. “I don’t feel like I played to the standard that I put myself at. Kind of at a loss for words. Kind of just stunned right now.”

Coach Drew Valentine said he tried a variety of tactics in a quest to find open shots. The Ramblers found some, but several bounced off the rim and appeared to be falling into the cords before spinning out.

“We were trying to run different things,” Valentine said. “We were doing ball screens, we were trying to post up some. Whenever we got a stop, we were trying to push the pace in transition. We just missed some open looks and then missed some free throws (7 of 10).”

Braden Norris led Loyola with 14 points, hitting 4 of 11 3-point attempts.

“I don’t want this game to define our season,” Valentine said. “I don’t want this game to define a lot of these guys’ careers that have been part of our program that are now going to be, obviously, not playing college basketball anymore.”

Valentine, the youngest coach in Division I at the age of 30, was often animated on the court, jumping up and down to make a point and pacing the sideline furiously.

But he said he was quiet in the locker room after the game.

“Obviously it needs to hurt,” he said. “I was at a loss for words because there are so many different emotions.”