Tournament Picks: Loyola-Chicago vs Georgia Tech 3/19/21 College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions

The Loyola-Chicago Ramblers battle the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in an NCAA tournament first-round matchup in college basketball action from Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse on Friday afternoon.

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets come into this one with a record of 17-8 and representing the ACC as the conference tournament champion. Georgia Tech won six straight games to end the year followed by wins over Kentucky and Florida State to punched their ticket to the Big Dance for the first time since 2010. Moses Wright leads the Yellow Jackets in scoring and rebounding with 17.4 PPG and 8 RPG while Jose Alvarado has 15.3 PPG with 3.6 RPG and team-highs of 4.1 APG and 3 steals per game this season. Michael Devoe has 15.1 PPG with 4.3 RPG and 3.3 APG and Jordan Usher has 11.5 PPG to make up the group of double-digit scorers for G-Tech this season. As a team, Georgia Tech is averaging 75.6 PPG on 47.5% shooting from the field and 35.1% from three while allowing 70 PPG on 45.4% shooting from the field and 36.3% from three this season.

The Loyola-Chicago Ramblers come into this one as Missouri Valley conference regular season and tournament champions, sitting at 24-4 with a 16-2 mark in conference play. The Ramblers beat Southern Illinois, Indiana State and Drake to hoist the MVC conference championship and book their spot at the Big Dance. Cameron Krutwig leads the Ramblers in scoring, rebounding and assists as Loyola-Chicago’s lone double-digit scorer with 15 PPG, 6.7 RPG and 3 APG while Lucas Williamson has 8.2 PPG with 3.8 RPG and Bud Norris also has 8.1 PPG this season. As a team, Loyola-Chicago is averaging 71.6 PPG on 50.4% shooting from the field and 35.4% from three while allowing 55.7 PPG, which is the lowest mark of any team in the country, on 40.7% shooting from the field and 32.6% from three this season.

Georgia Tech is 8-1 ATS in their last 9 games overall and 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games as an underdog while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games overall. Loyola-Chicago is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 NCAA tournament games and 7-1-1 ATS in their last 9 games against a team with a winning record while the over is 6-1 in their last 7 neutral site games as a favorite.

I’ve gone back and forth on this game, as Georgia Tech earned their spot with the ACC title win while Loyola-Chicago won the MVC but I think we can all agree that the disrespect from the tournament committee is evident in this matchup as these are two teams that deserved better. With that said, Loyola-Chicago has the stingiest defense statistically in the country, but a lot of that damage came against the far inferior conference in the MVC. Granted, the Ramblers held fellow tournament team and 22-game winner Drake to 54 and 51 points in the regular season, but the Yellow Jackets went through the gambit against teams like Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Carolina and others to name a few. I just think that the Yellow Jackets are good enough to take this one down to the wire if not win it outright, so I’ll back Georgia Tech with the free bucket here.