No. 3 MI has advanced to the national championship game with a 69-57 win over the 11th-seeded Ramblers, ending their magical run at the NCAA men’s Final Four in San Antonio on Saturday.
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For the third-seeded Michigan Wolverines, the team looks to revenge their 2013 loss in the NCAA championship and win its first title since 1989.
By the time Wagner’s personal 10-4 run ended, MI was up eight and the Wolverines had finally ended Loyola-Chicago’s Cinderella run. From there to halftime, though, the Ramblers romped by 25-10, made 8 of 14 shots, kept MI at a clunky 9 for 31 (29 percent) for the half and used their elevated ball-sharing to start building toward one of their typical final box scores: Krutwig’s 17 points, Clayton Custer’s 15, Aundre Jackson’s 10 and Marques Townes’s eight. He propelled the Wolverines. “All we needed to see was the ball go in a couple of times, get a couple of stops and we did that. It’s a lot more fun when the ball goes [in] the net”. “I don’t think you’ve ever seen one of our teams ever be one assist to eight turnovers”.
7 Championship game appearances for MI, including the Fab Five’s two vacated losses.
When Wagner hit a 3-pointer (he had three of them) with 2 minutes, 59 seconds left, it put MI up by 8, and a clearly exhausted Loyola seemed done for. Sister Jean Dolores-Schmidt and her favorite team, the Missouri Valley Conference champions, making their first NCAA appearance since 1985, will return to Chicago as heroes, regardless.
Loyola, which had led by 10 in the second half, now trailed by eight. The second half, we ran a little more in terms of set plays just because we were in front of our bench so it’s easy to call.
The Final Four is underway with MI winning the opening tip in the first semifinal game against Loyola-Chicago.
Custer took the game over from a while as he scored nine of his 15 points in the first 8:35 of the second half as Loyola built a 45-37 lead.
Loyola-Chicago’s improbable run through the NCAA Tournament ended Saturday night with a 69-57 loss to MI. It doesn’t get much better than that unless he tops it with something greater on Monday night.
Jackson came up big against both Tennessee and Nevada, coming off the bench and providing a big boost on the offensive end. The Wolverines, unranked to start the season and sitting at 19-7 in early February, will now resume the underdog role they have played much of the season, trying to win their second NCAA championship.
An unforgettable run to the Final Four is over, but the memories won’t be fading anytime soon.
“People will remember how we did it”, guard Clayton Custer said. Let’s not forget that just 11 years ago, Porter Moser was being fired at Illinois State after four dismal seasons.
Overall at one point, MI had a 30-9 run in the second half.
Halftime-Loyola of Chicago 29-22.
Michigan’s 12-0 run over a 2:58 stretch where the Wolverines took a 54-47 lead with 4:49 remaining seemed to push the Ramblers to the edge.
The moment wasn’t too big for Loyola-Chicago.
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“I think this team, we understand that it’s a game of runs”. They chanted “L-U-C!” and held up homemade signs such as “We Want The Fairytale”, and “We’re On A Mission From God”.
