Zed Key and Kyle Young — two of Ohio State’s best big men — are questionable to play on Friday. It sounds as if Key is likely to be on the floor, but Young is still up in the air as of this writing.
If both are able to suit up that would be a huge boost for the Buckeyes because — like every Loyola Chicago team — these Ramblers are incredibly tough to beat on defense.
Offensively, the Ramblers finished the season seventh in the nation in effective field-goal percentage and top 20 in both 2- and 3-point field-goal percentage per KenPom. They space the floor well, they’re top 20 in shot selection (per ShotQuality) and they’re 13th in rim and 3-point rate, which are the two most valuable shots in the half-court offense.
With that being said, they’re going to have to hit a lot of their 3s to win this game because they’re not that efficient at the rim (105th in points per possession at the rim, per ShotQuality), and Ohio State is outstanding at preventing teams from getting to the rim.
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The pace of this game is going to be incredibly slow and it will be played in the half-court. Both Loyola Chicago and Ohio State are in the bottom 70 of college basketball in adjusted tempo and top 100 in frequency of their possessions played in the half-court.
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Loyola Chicago has the 12th-longest average possession length on defense, and Ohio State is 317th in average possession length on offense. This game will be played at a slow tempo, and I love the under at 132.5.
The play: Ohio State-Loyola Chicago Under 132.5 (play to 131).