Quick Hits About The Hounds
- Loyola University Maryland plays the final contest of a four-game swing away from Reitz Arena when it travels to nearby Towson University on Sunday, November 25. The game is slated to tipoff at 6 p.m.
- Andrew Kostecka earned GotPrint.com Legends Classic All-Tournament Team honors after averaging 20.5 points in two contests.
- Tavaras Hardy is in his first season as head coach of the Greyhounds. He was named the 21st head coach in Loyola men's basketball history on March 28, 2018.
- Hardy will be joined on the sidelines by three assistant coaches who are also in this first year at Loyola: A.J. Guyton, Ivo Simović and Brenden Straughn. Kevin Farrell is back for his seventh season as the team's director of operations.
- Five players – Jaylin Andrews, Brandon Bradsher, Kenneth Jones, Casmir Ochiaka and Markese Redding – made their Loyola debuts in the season-opener at St. John's.
- Three players – Isaiah Hart, Andrew Kostecka and Chuck Champion – who started more than half of last year's 30 games return for the 2018-2019 season.
- Loyola also has three players return who averaged 10.3 or more points per game in 2017-18. Chuck Champion checked in with 11.5 points, Andrew Kostecka had 11.0, and Isaiah Hart added 10.3.
Series History
- Loyola and Towson will meet for the 75th time when they take the court on Sunday night. The series is the second most-played in Loyola history, behind only Mount St. Mary's, a team the Greyhounds faced for the 174th time next month.
- Sunday's game is the fourth of a four-game series between the schools.
- The Greyhounds hold a 44-30 advantage in the all-time series, but the Tigers have won the last three meetings, including a 95-72 victory on November 17, 2017, at Reitz Arena.
- In last year's game, five Towson players scored 12 or more points, and the Tigers shot 61.8 percent from the field, night en route to the victory.
- Brian Starr made all seven of his field goal attempts to score a career-high 21 points, while Zane Martin added 19 points for the Tigers.
- Cam Gregory led Loyola with 17 points, while Isaiah Hart had a then-career-best 14 off the bench, and Andrew Kostecka chipped in 12 to go with eight rebounds. Sam Norton had a career-high six points, along with two assists and a pair of steals, and Luke Johnson scored the first six points of his collegiate career. Up a pair after an Ian Langendoerfer free throw, Towson reeled off seven-straight points and 18 of 22 to lead 23-11 on an Alex Thomas jumper with 9:48 left in the first half.
- After a three by Kostecka, Langendoerfer fed Gregory for a backdoor layup, and Loyola was within seven, but Towson went on a 17-4 run that put them ahead by 20, 40-20, on a Jordan McNeil layup with just over three minutes to go before halftime.
Last Time Out
- Loyola jumped out to a 15-3 lead in the game's first eight minutes, and the Greyhounds led wire-to-wire during a 75-66 win over Hampton in the GotPrint.com Legends Classic presented by Old Trapper on Tuesday evening in Detroit.
- Andrew Kostecka (18) and Chuck Champion (17) combined for 35 points to lead Loyola, while Isaiah Hart scored 11. Brent Holcombe finished with nine points to go with seven rebounds, matching Kostecka for team-high honors. Sam Norton had a career-high four steals.
- Kostecka was named to the Legends Classic All-Tournament Team after scoring 43 points in the two games in the Motor City. He had a career-high 23 Monday night versus the University of Detroit Mercy.
- After the Pirates tied the game at 3-3, Champion and Hart scored in the paint for Loyola, and James Fives knocked down a transition three from the left corner, pushing the advantage to seven. Brent Holcombe beat his defender with a shot-fake and drive for a dunk, and Kenneth Jones hit a three on the right wing, making it 15-3 Loyola with 12:36 to go in the first half.
- Hampton twice got back within eight, but each time Loyola quickly pushed the lead back to double-digits. Nine Loyola players scored in the first half as the Greyhounds led by 10, 33-23, at halftime.
- The Pirates opened the second half in a match-up zone, forcing a long Loyola 3-pointer that rimmed out, and then Hampton's leading scorer Jermaine Marrow went the length of the floor to score a layup. On the ensuing Loyola possession, Akim Mitchell was tagged with a foul, and he then picked up a technical that sent Kostecka to the line for two.
- Kostecka made one of two at the free-throw line, but the Greyhounds got possession back after the second shot missed. Kostecka later tipped the ball in to stretch the advantage back to 11 for Loyola.
- The Pirates later made another run, scoring the next six to close within a pair, 55-53, on a Marrow fast-break layup. He was called for a technical, however, after celebrating his bucket, and Kostecka made both free throws this time. On the defensive end, Kostecka knocked the ball away from Kalin Fisher, and Sam Norton picked up the loose ball for the Greyhounds. He the fed Champion for a fast-break bucket, and Loyola was back up six. With 4:51 on the clock, Hart scored in transition to push the lead to 64-56.
- Ben Stanley hit a pair of free throws for Hampton with 2:55 left, and it was a four-point Loyola lead, but Kostecka hit two free throws, and Champion scored in transition with 1:54 on the clock. Loyola then made five of six free throws in the final 62 seconds to secure the win.
Holcombe Gets Hot
- Brent Holcombe had the best offensive game of his career November 11 against Dartmouth, pouring in 20 points on 8 of 11 shoot. He made two of his three attempts from 3-point range and also pulled down a season-best seven rebounds while blocking two shots.
- Two days later, against Delaware State, Holcombe saved his best play for late in the game. He entered the game with just under 15 minutes to play and had seven points, five rebounds and three assists over the next minutes.
- He followed that effort with his second career double-double on Friday night at Temple, scoring 17 on 7 of 11 against the Owls to go with a career- and game-high 12 rebounds. Holcombe also had a team-high four assists and two blocked shots.
- On Monday night at Detroit Mercy, Holcombe logged his second double-double in a row and third of his career with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
- Through five contests, Holcombe is third on the team with 12.6 points and first with 8.0 rebounds per game.
Assists From Everywhere
- Loyola is averaging 14.7 assists per game this season, a number that ranks tied for fourth in the Patriot League. The number is more than three higher than the Greyhounds averaged last year, and Loyola has not ranked above eighth in the conference since joining the Patriot League in 2013.
- The Greyhounds have reached the 2018-19 total by having only one player ranked in the conference's top-25 in assists per game. Andrew Kostecka checks in at 25th with 2.2 to lead the team. Seven players are averaging 1.5 assists or more per game through five 2018-19 contests.
Passing The Boards
- On paper, rebounding looked to be a bit of a question mark for the Greyhounds this season after the departure of 2018 graduate Cam Gregory who finished third all-time at Loyola with 876 career rebounds.
- Through five games, however, the Greyhounds have answered that question in a positive sense, outrebounding four of their six opponents by an average of 3.2per game.
- Brent Holcombe leads the Greyhounds with 8.0 per game; KaVaughn Scott has grabbed 3.7 per game, while James Fives and Sam Norton are each averaging 3.3 per game. Loyola's guards have been a large part of the success on the glass with Chuck Champion checking in second on the team with 5.2 per game and Andrew Kostecka third with 4.8.
Kostecka's Career-High
- Andrew Kostecka had career-highs in field goals made (10) and attempted (17) on Monday night at Detroit Mercy, numbers that translated into a career-high in scoring with 23.
- Kostecka scored 15 in the first half against the Titans en route to eclipsing his previous high of 22 in the 2017-18 season-opener at Northwestern.
- He followed that performance with 18 points, 12 coming after halftime, in Tuesday night's win against Hampton. He also had a team-high four assists and matched Brent Holcombe for team-high honors with seven rebounds.
Champion Doubles Up
- Chuck Champion had his first career double-double November 11 against Dartmouth, scoring 17 points while leading all players with a career-best 11 rebounds.
- The junior guard scored 12 in the first half, including 10 in the final 10 minutes of the stanza. He finished 7 of 12 from the field. In two games (2018 and 2019) against Dartmouth, Champion has averaged 21.5 points against the Big Green. His previous career-high in rebounds was nine against Navy last season. The junior guard scored 17 again, just over a week later, in a win over Hampton, tallying 15 of his points in the second half.
- This season, Champion is second on the Greyhounds with 13.5 points and first with 32.5 minutes per game. He has scored 10 or more points in all six of Loyola's games.
Getting To The Stripe
- Loyola has been adept at getting to the free-throw line through the first six games of the season. The Greyhounds have gone to the stripe 130 times, making 94, and rank 44th in NCAA Division I in free-throws made, 58th in attempts. Both numbers top the Patriot League.
All-Around Andrew
- Andrew Kostecka earned Patriot League All-Defensive Team honors – the first for a Loyola player since the Greyhounds joined the conference in 2013-14 – last season after finishing second in the conference in steals per game (2.1) and fourth in blocks (1.1). He was the only Patriot League player to rank in the top five of both categories in 2017-18.
- His 29 blocked shots were the most in Loyola history by a non-post player.
- Kostecka was much more than just a defensive player, however, as he scored at every level and averaged 11.0 points per game as a sophomore. He shot .452 overall (.502 from inside the arc and .323 from 3-point range) and .745 from the free-throw line.
- A Maryland native, Kostecka scored 10 or more points 14 times and had a pair of 20-point games in 2017-18 for the Greyhounds. Kostecka opened the 2018-2019 regular season with strong outputs at the offensive and defensive ends of the floor. He led Loyola with 17 points, five rebounds and had a game-best four steals.
Consistent Like A Champion
- Chuck Champion missed the first five games of the 2017-12018 season with an injury, but he opened his year with a flourish, scoring a career-high 26 points on 12 of 15 from the floor in a game at Dartmouth College.
- Champion followed that effort with 11 or more points in seven-straight games, scoring 15 or better in his next six.
- Champion was one of the team's most-consistent scorers a season ago, topping the 10-point mark in 16 of the 26 games he played during the year, averaging 11.5 points per game, second-best on last year's squad and the top returning mark.
- Champion is also the team's returning leader in minutes played after averaging 30.7 as a sophomore. This season, he is averaging 33 minutes per game.
Big In The Last Three
- Brent Holcombe played his best basketball of his young career in Loyola's last four games of the 2017-18 season, averaging 11.5 points and 6.8 rebounds in contests against Lehigh, Navy, Army West Point and Bucknell.
- He scored a career-high 18 points on at Navy, knocking down 8 of 15 shots in the regular-season finale, both career highs. The 18 points eclipsed his previous-best of 17 points earlier in February against American. During the second half against Navy, Holcombe scored 11 of his points; nine of those points came over a seven-minute stretch in which he made a three to tie the game at 43-43 and a layup at 10:16 to push Loyola up two. He later passed up a three to assist on a triple by Andrew Kostecka at 6:41 that would give the Greyhounds a three-point advantage. He then converted free-throw line jumpers on consecutive possession to stretch that lead to seven at 4:27.
- In the Patriot League Championships First Round against Army West Point, Holcombe scored eight points, including two free throws with under 25 seconds left. He had his second double-digit rebounding effort of the year with 10.
- He followed that with a his first career double-double, a 12-point, 10-rebound outing against eventual Patriot League champion Bucknell University in the quarterfinal round.
Among His Peers
- Isaiah Hart was among the leaders for Patriot League freshmen last season in both points, steals and assists. His 10.3 points per game ranked fifth with his first-year peers, while his 2.9 assists and 1.0 steals checked in second in the same group. Additionally, Hart's 27.0 minutes played last year ranked fourth among freshmen in the conference.
- Hart led Loyola in assists and was fifth on the team in scoring last year. His 30 total steals were third-most on the team.
Fives Back In '18
- James Fives will return to the Loyola lineup this season after missing the last 21 games of the 2017-18 season.
- Fives made six starts in the first nine games of last year and averaged 5.1 points and 3.9 rebounds in 22.7 minute per game. As a sophomore in 2016-17, Fives started 30 of 33 games, averaging 6.1 points and 2.6 rebounds per game.
Scholarship For Sam
- After joining the team and playing as a walk-on for the last three years, Sam Norton was awarded a scholarship for his senior season.
- Norton saw increased playing time as a junior, playing in 26 games and starting 10 while averaging 2.7 points and 3.0 rebounds in 17.6 minutes per game.
Hounds Abroad
- Several former Loyola players have, or are about to, start professional seasons overseas. Those players include: Denzel Brito '15 (Onsabruecker T.B., Germany), Julius Brooks '13 (Corio Bay, Australia), Cam Gregory '18 (Tromso Story, Norway), Jarred Jones '17 (Lahti, Finland), Jordan Latham '14 (Hawthorn, Australia) Michael Tuck '08 (Sheffield Sharks, England), and Shane Walker '12 (Al-Ittihad, Bahrain).
Up Next
- The Greyhounds return to Reitz Arena for the first time since November 13 when it hosts Mount St. Mary's University on Saturday, December 1, in the 174th meeting of the most-placed men's basketball rivalry in the State of Maryland.
Patriot League Network
All of Loyola University Maryland non-televised home men's basketball games will air live on the Patriot League Network for the sixth season.
