The Loyola Ramblers defeated the Illinois Redbirds 65 to 49 on Sunday in the Missouri Valley Tournament to advance to the 2018 NCAA tournament. The last time the Ramblers entered the tournament was 33 years ago in 1985. Last year, All of Chicago praised the Northwestern basketball team that entered the Big Dance for the first time since the NCAA tournament began in 1939. It was a long wait but the Wildcats were able to pull it off. The same level of excitement is now on Loyola. For the Ramblers, Donte Ingram scored 18 points with 8 rebounds. He won the MVC most outstanding player. Loyola Freshman Cameron Krutwig dominated inside as he added 11 points and nine rebounds . The Ramblers played this game consistent with how they played all season by being comfortable scoring 3-pointers and applying defense. For the Redbirds, forward Phil Fayne scored 12 points with 12 rebounds and Milik Yarbrough finished with 12 points also.
Can Loyola go all the way? They did it in 1963. In 1963, Loyola played in a regional semifinal knowns as “The Game of Change” that pitted the racially integrated Ramblers against an all-white team from Mississippi State University — and against the ugly racism of the time. The game almost didn’t happen because Mississippi’s governor and other politicians tried to stop Mississippi State from playing against teams with black players. Mississippi State’s coach and other team officials mounted a cloak-and-dagger effort to get the Bulldogs out of state to face Loyola. The Ramblers won, 61-51, and went on to defeat Cincinnati, 60-58, for the title. Jerry Harkness, the captain of that 1963 championship team, was courtside on Sunday, along with the legendary Sister Jean Schmidt, Loyola’s 98-year-old chaplain and a beloved campus celebrity.
Harkness gave the tournament trophy to coach Porter Moser. He called the win a “watershed moment” for the Loyola’s basketball program. Moser cut a final piece of the net and yelled out that it belonged to her (Sister Schmidt). The Ramblers will find out on Sunday whom and where they will play in the NCAA tournament. “Whoever we play, we’re going to give it our best,” Ramblers Donte Ingram said.
