Loyola and Michigan: Similar teams with significant differences
As far as universities or athletic departments go, Loyola and Michigan don't have much in common.
Michigan is obviously a Big Ten high-achiever, with an athletic department that generates hundreds of millions in revenue every school year. Loyola is a relatively small, Jesuit Catholic university with 13 varsity sports and obviously, no football.
But when it comes to the basketball court, many have pointed to similarities between these two teams, which will square off Saturday in a national semifinal at San Antonio.
“I hope we play a lot like them,” Michigan coach John Beilein said at his Friday news conference. “They're good. And I think that they — we have a lot of guys that are unselfish, a lot of guys that shoot the ball well, a lot of people that pass, and we both play very good defense. If you just compare the stats between the two teams, you'll find some remarkable similarities.”
Loyola and Michigan are similar in style, but their personnel is very different. The Ramblers' rotation basically features one point guard (Clayton Custer), one true center (freshman Cameron Krutwig) and a whole bunch of interchangeable parts.
The duplicate pieces are one of Loyola's greatest strengths. They switch most everything defensively, which keeps opponents out of the lane and lessens the need to provide help. And while the Ramblers count on balanced scoring, they have several reliable scorers. Between Custer, Krutwig, Marques Townes, Donte Ingram and Aundre Jackson, this is a versatile offensive team that can hurt you at all five spots. The next two guys on the scoring list, senior Ben Richardson and freshman Lucas Williamson, have made plenty of offensive contributions. Richardson has Loyola's high game of the tournament with 23 points against Kansas State.
Michigan is a versatile team, but can't match Loyola's deep pool of interchangeable parts. The Wolverines have guys who fit into specific positions — Zavier Simpson at point guard, Charles Matthews and Isaiah Livers as athletic 6-7 forwards, a mobile center in Mo Wagner and a big center in 7-foot Jon Teske. Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman is more of a combo guard and leads Michigan in minutes played. Sharpshooter Duncan Robinson plays heavy minutes off the bench and Beilein will use 6-4 freshman Jordan Poole at forward if he wants to go small.
One of the first questions on Saturday will be if Michigan can exploit its size advantage or if it needs to match Loyola's smaller lineup to be effective.
The Wolverines have nights where they light it up from 3-point range, such as the regional semis against Texas A&M when they knocked down 14 of 24 from long range. For the season, though, Michigan shoots 36.6 percent from behind the arc. Loyola is an even 40 percent.
More often, the Wolverines have had to grind out victories by relying heavily on their defense. That's the way Loyola has played all season, so a slow-moving defensive game could favor the Ramblers, or at least come down to which team can hit the big shots down the stretch.
From Loyola's perspective, there are two specific matchups to watch — Wagner vs. Krutwig and Simpson vs. Custer.
Krutwig talked about this on Tuesday, how the mobile, 3-point shooting, 6-foot-11 Wagner will be a difficult assignment. Krutwig likes to sag off his opponent on defense and focus on clogging the lane. Chasing Wagner at the 3-point line is not Krutwig's game.
“In the Valley we haven't seen 6-11 stretch players like him,” Loyola coach Porter Moser said.
So Loyola might have to switch the lineup. The Ramblers are better when Krutwig is on the floor, but they can survive without him. The freshman from Jacobs High School averages 24 minutes per game, so he's off the floor quite a bit, and he sat down the stretch against Nevada in the regional semis.
Simpson is a very good individual defender who likes to invade the opposing point guard's space. Can he disrupt Custer's game and if so, how would it effect Loyola's offense? The Ramblers probably have enough versatility to function even if Custer doesn't fare well in this particular matchup. But they can become turnover-prone at times and Custer is their most important player.
Besides the ability to knock down last-second shots, Loyola's best trait during the tournament might be how it survived in a crisis. The Ramblers definitely got flustered late in the Tennessee and Nevada games when those teams cranked up the defensive pressure.
Both times, Loyola managed to settle down, withstand the heat and win the game. Michigan's not the type of team to crank up the defense at specific times, but the Wolverines do like to get out and run. Loyola is very good at getting back on defense and limiting transition points.
There are plenty of factors that could send this game in different directions. Basically, it's two similar teams that have been on a roll and great in the clutch. It might simply come down to which side can knock down more shots. Or maybe the last shot.