Michigan Beats Loyola Of Chicago To Advance To The National Title Game
Each year in the NCAA Tournament there is a team that could make a run in the NCAA Tournament who they call Cinderella and this year it was Loyola of Chicago out of the Missouri Valley Conference who had an impressive run before running into Michigan who is a member of the Big Ten Conference on Saturday at the final four in San Antonio at the Alamo Dome.
A relentless second-half defensive stand and some special play from Moritz Wagner propelled Michigan to the national championship game as the Wolverines downed Loyola Chicago by a score of 69-57 at a sold out Alamodome Saturday night (March 31). "according to http://mgoblue.com/news/2018/3/31/mens-basketball-wolverines-take-down-loyola-chicago-to-advance-to-ncaa-championship-game.aspx
Michigan, which extended its single-season record for victories (33-7), will play in its seventh national championship game with the Wolverines going against Villanova. "according to http://mgoblue.com/news/2018/3/31/mens-basketball-wolverines-take-down-loyola-chicago-to-advance-to-ncaa-championship-game.aspx
Leading by seven points at the break, Loyola (32-6) immediately went to work in the second half, using a traditional three-point play to claim a 32-22 lead to open the stanza. "according to http://mgoblue.com/news/2018/3/31/mens-basketball-wolverines-take-down-loyola-chicago-to-advance-to-ncaa-championship-game.aspx
» Mortiz Wagner became just the third player to score at least 20 points (24) and 15 rebounds in a national semifinal game and the first since 1983.
» Michigan forced five consecutive Loyola turnovers during a critical 12-0 run in the second half.
» Michigan advances to its seventh national championship game appearance and first time since 2013.
» Michigan set a single season record with its 33rd victory.
» Michigan is one of the hottest teams in the country, having won 14 straight games -- 11 of which have come away from home
» Michigan is 10-5 when trailing at halftime "according to http://mgoblue.com/news/2018/3/31/mens-basketball-wolverines-take-down-loyola-chicago-to-advance-to-ncaa-championship-game.aspx
SAN ANTONIO, Texas. -- A relentless second-half defensive stand and some special play from Mortiz Wagner propelled Michigan to the national championship game as the Wolverines downed Loyola Chicago by a score of 69-57 at a sold out Alamodome Saturday night (March 31). "according to http://mgoblue.com/news/2018/3/31/mens-basketball-wolverines-take-down-loyola-chicago-to-advance-to-ncaa-championship-game.aspx
Michigan, which extended its single-season record for victories (33-7), will play in its seventh national championship game with the Wolverines going against Villanova. "according to http://mgoblue.com/news/2018/3/31/mens-basketball-wolverines-take-down-loyola-chicago-to-advance-to-ncaa-championship-game.aspx
Leading by seven points at the break, Loyola (32-6) immediately went to work in the second half, using a traditional three-point play to claim a 32-22 lead to open the stanza."according to http://mgoblue.com/news/2018/3/31/mens-basketball-wolverines-take-down-loyola-chicago-to-advance-to-ncaa-championship-game.aspx
Michigan quickly started to regain its footing.Duncan Robinson broke a 2-for-15 team shooting skid from long range with a transition triple to creep within 34-27 at the 17:30 mark. After Loyola regained a double-digit lead at 41-31 on a pair of buckets from Clayton Custer, U-M continued its charge as Jaaron Simmions connected from the corner in front of the U-M bench to make it a 43-27 game with 11:25 to play."according to http://mgoblue.com/news/2018/3/31/mens-basketball-wolverines-take-down-loyola-chicago-to-advance-to-ncaa-championship-game.aspx
Coming out of the under-12 timeout, Custer sank a pair of free throws but Robinson brought the U-M faithful to their feet when he stuck a second-chance triple from the wing to prompt a Loyola timeout at the 10:06 mark with the score at 45-42."according to http://mgoblue.com/news/2018/3/31/mens-basketball-wolverines-take-down-loyola-chicago-to-advance-to-ncaa-championship-game.aspx
A driving layup from Jordan Poole kept the deficit at three, 47-44, when play stooped for a Loyola injury. Michigan's defense dominated from that point forward with Poole's bucket part of a 12-0 run during which the defense forced five straight Loyola turnovers."according to http://mgoblue.com/news/2018/3/31/mens-basketball-wolverines-take-down-loyola-chicago-to-advance-to-ncaa-championship-game.aspx
The first turnover ignited a raucous Michigan crowd as Wagner delivered a clutch triple from the corner to knot the game at 47 with 6:44 to go."according to http://mgoblue.com/news/2018/3/31/mens-basketball-wolverines-take-down-loyola-chicago-to-advance-to-ncaa-championship-game.aspx
Poole then gave U-M the lead, 49-47 -- its first lead since early in the game -- with a pair of free throws and John Beilein's defense then forced its third straight turnover followed by a driving reverse baseline layup from Charles Matthews to make it a 51-47 lead with 5:48 to play. "according to http://mgoblue.com/news/2018/3/31/mens-basketball-wolverines-take-down-loyola-chicago-to-advance-to-ncaa-championship-game.aspx
After forcing its fifth straight takeaway, Wagner struck again with a traditional three-point play with less than five minutes to go. "according to http://mgoblue.com/news/2018/3/31/mens-basketball-wolverines-take-down-loyola-chicago-to-advance-to-ncaa-championship-game.aspx
Ben Richardson tried to bring Loyola back when his jumper cut the deficit to 56-51 at the 2:50 mark, but Wagner answered again with a triple from the top of the arc, followed by a driving layup from Muhammed- ALi ABDuR-RAHKMAN. After a Loyola bucket, Michigan put the game out of reach when a long outlet pass found Matthews wide open for a dunk. By the time the cheers had waned, Michigan had rattled the Ramblers with a 21-6 decisive spurt."according to http://mgoblue.com/news/2018/3/31/mens-basketball-wolverines-take-down-loyola-chicago-to-advance-to-ncaa-championship-game.aspx
Michigan forced 17 turnovers against a team that averaged 12 per game during the season. Similarly, a 40-percent shooting team from long range managed just a 1-of-10 mark from deep against the Wolverines."according to http://mgoblue.com/news/2018/3/31/mens-basketball-wolverines-take-down-loyola-chicago-to-advance-to-ncaa-championship-game.aspx
Wagner was special throughout the game, even when the majority of his team was not. The big man finished the night with 24 points (10-16 FG) and 15 rebounds, becoming just the third player to go for at least 20 points and 15 rebounds in a national semifinal game, and the first since 1983."according to http://mgoblue.com/news/2018/3/31/mens-basketball-wolverines-take-down-loyola-chicago-to-advance-to-ncaa-championship-game.aspx
Matthews also contributed a special effort; the Chicago native logged 17 points (7-12 FG) and five rebounds. "according to http://mgoblue.com/news/2018/3/31/mens-basketball-wolverines-take-down-loyola-chicago-to-advance-to-ncaa-championship-game.aspx
A pair of early triples from Wagner and Matthews staked Michigan to a 6-4 lead at the under-16 timeout. Wagner's triple came as part of a 10-0 run highlighted by put-back buckets from Wagner and Jon Teske to force a Loyola timeout with 12:38 to play in a 12-4 game."according tohttp://mgoblue.com/news/2018/3/31/mens-basketball-wolverines-take-down-loyola-chicago-to-advance-to-ncaa-championship-game.aspx
Michigan owned the boards early, doubling-up the Ramblers by, 12-6, and gained seven second-chance points just eight minutes into the game. The Wolverines could not sustain the advantage, as Loyola made five of its next seven shots and went on a 13-3 run to claim a 19-15 lead following a Marques Towns layup with 5:23 to go. Only a pair of hard-fought put-back layups from Wagner kept U-M close as the higher seeded team endured a dreadful 9-of-13 shooting half, including a 2-of-13 mark from deep (.154) with eight uncharacteristic turnovers."according to http://mgoblue.com/news/2018/3/31/mens-basketball-wolverines-take-down-loyola-chicago-to-advance-to-ncaa-championship-game.aspx
By making 8-of-13 down the stretch in the first half, Loyola extended the advantage to 25-19 with 2:45 to go, prompting a U-M timeout. The cold stretch continued for Michigan and a last-second floater from Loyola's Donta Ingram gave the Ramblers their largest lead of the game at 29-22 going into halftime. Wagner (11) and Matthews (8) combined for 19 of Michigan's 22 first-half points with the rest of the team shooting a combined 1-of-13."according to http://mgoblue.com/news/2018/3/31/mens-basketball-wolverines-take-down-loyola-chicago-to-advance-to-ncaa-championship-game.aspx
Loyola was led by Cameron Krutwig's 17 points (7-11 FG) while Custer logged 15 and Andre Jackson had 10 off the bench."according to http://mgoblue.com/news/2018/3/31/mens-basketball-wolverines-take-down-loyola-chicago-to-advance-to-ncaa-championship-game.aspx