After skating past the Georgia Institute of Technology in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the No. 8-seeded Loyola men’s basketball team (24-5, 16-2) will now take on No. 1-seeded University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (24-6, 16-4) at 11:10 a.m. CT March 21. This is the second time the Ramblers and the Fighting Illini are meeting in the NCAA Tournament, and the 16th time they’re playing each other overall.
The two teams have a storied past, as Loyola beat Illinois 79-64 in an NCAA Regional Final March 16, 1963 to advance to the Final Four. The 1963 team eventually went on to win the entire tournament.