PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Loyola of Chicago has given that college basketball some much needed inspiration this week.
The 13th-seeded Ramblers have come out of nowhere to advance to the South Region Sweet 16 with two miracle victories over Atlantic Coast Conference power Miami and SEC regular season co-champion Tennessee.
Senior forward Donte Ingram drained a 28-foot jumper at the buzzer Thursday to lift the Ramblers, who are making their first tournament appearance since 1985, to a 64-62 miracle victory over the sixth-seeded Hurricanes in a NCAA first round game at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas.
Then, junior guard Clayton Custer’s shot jumper got a friendly bounce with just 3.6 seconds to play to give Loyola a 63-62 victory over the Volunteers.
Faith is a powerful thing, as team chaplain Sister Jean Delores Schmidt, a 98-year old nun sitting in a wheel chair on a platform near the main TV cameras, can attest. .
Two prayers were answered for Ramblers’ fans that haven’t felt this much excitement since Loyola stunned powerful Cincinnati to win the 1963 national championship. With the win the Ramblers (30-5) the Missouri Valley champions broke the school record for most wins in a season.
And there’s more to come.
Maybe Loyola isn’t UMBC, but they have become a riveting Cinderella story of their own.
“The only thing I can say, glory to God for that one,” Custer, the Valley Player of the Year, said. “The ball bounced on the rim and I got a good bounce.”
Tennessee took its only lead of the second half at 62-61 when Grant Williams made an old fashioned 3-point play with 20 seconds to play.
After Loyola almost lost the ball on the out of bounds play confirmed on replay. Then Custer took the in bounds pass with 10 seconds to play, dribbled left and then right, pulled up and let go up the game winner. After Tennessee Jordan Bone missed a last gap three, Custer was mobbed by his teammates
“I’ve seen him make, one, two dribble pull ups probably a million times,” said teammate Ben Richardson who won two high school state championships with Custer in Kansas. “He makes it at a 98 percent clip.”
Loyola next stop will be Atlanta, where the Ramblers will play the winner of a second round matchup between second seed Cincinnati and seventh seed Nevada.
Sister Jean, who was a high school basketball player in San Francisco in the 1930s, leads the players in the pre-game prayer and interacts with them on a regular basis, will make the trip.
It is always helpful to have divine intervention.
