Loyola-Chicago Stuns Tennessee in 2018 NCAA Tournament, Advances to Sweet 16

Loyola-Chicago's Cinderella story is not over yet.

On Saturday, the 11th-seeded Ramblers continued their 2018 NCAA tournament run by upsetting the No. 3 Tennessee Volunteers, 63-62, in the second round Saturday.

Early on, it appeared as though the co-SEC champs were going to cruise to victory, jumping out to a nine-point lead in the first four-and-a-half minutes. However, just like in the first round against the Miami Hurricanes, Loyola-Chicago battled back.

It was a tough first half for Tennessee, who had two different six-minute stretches without a basket. Those droughts can be attributed to the fact that Volunteers not named Admiral Schofield had just 14 points in the opening 20 minutes, shooting 6-of-20 from the floor and 1-of-8 from beyond the arc. Schofield had 11 points—all in the first five minutes of the game—on 4-of-6 shooting, including three triples.

Admiral Schofield with the big dunk

However, foul trouble limited his impact. He picked up his second foul with almost 12 minutes to play in the opening half and had to head to the bench. The Volunteers had a three-point lead at that point...and then the Ramblers took over.

Loyola-Chicago would go on a 15-8 run over the next eight minutes to take its first lead of the game.

That gave Tennessee coach Rick Barnes no other choice but to trust his junior forward not to pick up another foul before halftime, as Newschannel 5's Steve Layman noted:

Not even Schofield's return to the game could prevent the Ramblers from taking a 29-25 lead into halftime.

Coming out of the locker rooms, Loyola-Chicago rode the momentum it built before the break to stretch its lead to nine in the opening minutes of the half.

Like its opponent, Tennessee wasn't going to just roll over when facing a deficit. An alley-oop from Jordan Bone to Jordan Bowden highlighted a 10-2 run that got the Volunteers right back in the game:

Game. On.

Loyola-Chicago refused to back down, though. It managed to maintain a modest lead for the majority of the half as it kept the pressure on all night.

In the end, the Volunteers couldn't keep the Ramblers from raining threes. Eight triples provided a big boost for the underdogs, who answered every run by the third seed.

The Ramblers left the door open for the Volunteers down the stretch with missed free throws and turnovers. As a result, Tennessee battled back to close the deficit to two points with less than two minutes to play.

Tennessee was doomed by Schofield's foul trouble, who was not the same player after picking up two early fouls. He went more than 31 minutes of game time without scoring, going 1-of-4 in the second half. The problem with that: He was his team's leading scorer despite a prolonged scoring drought.   

It wasn't until 21 seconds remained in the game that the Volunteers grabbed their first lead since late in the first half—but once again, the Ramblers had an answer. Junior Clayton Custer found a friendly rim and knocked down the game-winning jumper with 3.6 seconds to play.

The Ramblers nearly went the final four-plus minutes without a field goal. Fortunately for them, the dry spell ended just in the nick of time. 

Two games, two dramatic finishes for Loyola-Chicago. Because March.

The Volunteers' last-second prayer went unanswered, sending the Ramblers to the third round. Loyola-Chicago awaits the winner of Cincinnati-Nevada in the Sweet 16 on Thursday.