Ohio State basketball has a bad matchup vs. Loyola Chicago

The reeling Ohio State basketball team was hoping for a good draw in the NCAA Tournament. They didn’t get one.

The Ohio State basketball team is a 7-seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament. That seed easily could have been a 4 had they not crapped all over themselves at the end of the year. Now instead of playing a 13-seed, they get an extremely tough 10-seed to face.

That 10-seed is Loyola Chicago. This Ramblers program made a storybook run to the Final Four in 2018. It’s a program that isn’t afraid when the Tournament rolls around. This is not the kind of team that the Buckeyes wanted to see in the first round.

The Ramblers come into this game 25-7 and are the champions of the Missouri Valley. While none of their 25 wins were against particularly great teams, they did play some good teams tough. They lost at Michigan State by only 2 points and stayed within 11 against Auburn.

While Loyola Chicago isn’t a prolific scoring team, they only score 73 points per game, they are really good shooters. They shoot 38% from the field as a team from the three-point line. They also shoot 48% from the field in general. If they get hot, they’re tough to stop.

Ohio State’s defense has also been an issue, especially from the guards. Loyola is an excellent drive-and-kick team, so expect the Ramblers to have a lot of open three-point looks. The Buckeyes might be at the mercy of whether or not those shots go in.

If Ohio State is going to win this game, they need to get healthy. It’s still unclear whether or not Kyle Young and Zed Key will play. I expect Key to be able to go, but Young is the more important piece. If he misses the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row, the Buckeyes will be going home early again.