Quick Hits About The Hounds
- Loyola University Maryland hits the floor for its second game during a seven-day stretch on Saturday, December 8, when it heads to Vestal, New York, to face Binghamton University. Tip-off is set for 2:30 p.m.
- Andrew Kostecka earned his second-straight Patriot League Player of the Week honor on Monday after logging his first collegiate double-double in last Saturday's win over Mount St. Mary's University. He also won the honor on November 26.
- Kostecka is averaging 26.2 points in Loyola's last five games.
- 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.
- 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.
Series History
- Loyola and Binghamton will play for the fourth time in series history on Saturday afternoon, the first two times coming during the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 seasons when Loyola won both contests of a two-game series. Saturday is the second tilt of a four-game series between the programs.
- Last year, Binghamton used a 19-5 first-half run to build a double-digit lead, the Bearcats won, 77-64, on December 9.
- Isaiah Hart gave Loyola a 10-9 lead with a basket in the paint 5:56 into the contest, and after a J.C. Show 3-point put Binghamton up by a pair on the next possession, Chuck Champion scored on a pull-up jumper at 13:13, tying the game at 12-12.
- Tyler Steward tallied baskets on two of the Bearcats' next three possessions, sparking the run and giving them a lead they would not relinquish. Andre Walker converted a steal into a transition layup for the Greyhounds at 9:12, drawing Loyola within five, 20-15, but Thomas Bruce and Bobby Ahern scored the next two baskets for Binghamton to stretch the advantage back to nine.
- River Reed made a jumper at the elbow off a Champion assist at 7:50, cutting the deficit back to seven, but Binghamton reeled off the next seven points to lead 31-17 on another three by Show; he finished with 17 points, and Willie Rodriguez made 9 of 13 shots and had a game-best 22 points for the Bearcats.
- Champion tallied 17 for Loyola, while Hart contributed 13. Gregory and Walker each had 10, and Gregory paced the Greyhounds with nine rebounds. Reed added seven points in the first start of his career. Champion and Matt Staubi tied for team-high honors with four assists each.
Last Time Out
- Andrew Kostecka scored a career-high 31 points, his third time setting a new personal-best in the last 17 days, but Drexel shot 62 percent from the field and pulled away for a 95-86 non-win over visiting Loyola on Wednesday night.
- Kosetcka's 31 points improved on the 30 he scored November 25 against Towson University. The sophomore guard went for 16 in the first half, making all but one of his seven shot attempts, helping Loyola lead 48-43 at the break. The Greyhounds shot 66.7 percent from the field in the first half, but the Dragons kept pace at 57.7 percent.
- An Isaiah Hart jumper with 1:22 into the second half put the Greyhounds up five, 51-46, but a Trevor John three for Drexel, and a Troy Harper transition basket tied the score less than a minute later.
- Camren Wynter tallied a basket for the Dragons to push them up a pair, but KaVaughn Scott evened the score with a tally for the Greyhounds before Harper gave Drexel the lead for good with a basket at 16:48.
- Two Wynter free throws at 9:12 extended Drexel's lead to 13, 76-63, but Loyola scored the next seven points, and Brent Holcombe's fast-break dunk got the Greyhounds back within six at 7:52.
- Drexel stretched the lead to 10 on a pair of occasions over the next four-plus minutes, but after a James Butler score put the advantage at 86-76, Kostecka scored twice in the paint, bookending a Holcombe basket, and his second score made it a four-point game with 1:49 remaining in regulation. The next seven points, however, belonged to Drexel, as it pulled away for the victory.
- In addition to Kostecka's 31 points, Holcombe added 16, while Chuck Champion had 13 and Scott added 11. Drexel's five starters all scored 11 or more points, led by Alihan Denir's 24 and John's 21.
You Look Familiar
- Against the Bearcats, Loyola will see a familiar on the other bench. Binghamton graduate student Chancellor Barnard was a four-year member of the Greyhounds and graduated in May from the school.
- In three seasons – Barnard missed last year due to injury – he scored 429 points (4.7 over 91 games) and grabbed 292 rebounds (3.2).
Kostecka In The Last Five
- Andrew Kostecka has logged career-high scoring numbers three times in the Greyhounds' last five games, recording four games with 23 or more points and two with 30 or better.
- Over the course of the last five, Kostecka 26.2 points to go with 6.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game. He has shot 56.8 percent from the field during those games.
- Kostecka opened the stretch with a 23-point outing at the University of Detroit Mercy on November 19, topping his previous high of 22 points from 2017. He followed that a day later with his "low" output of 18 against Hampton University. He then poured in 30 points on November 25 at Towson University before going 12 of 12 from the free-throw line in scoring 29 on December 1 against Mount St. Mary's University.
- He upped his career-high by one on Wednesday night at Drexel University, making a career-high 12 field goals in scoring 31 against the Dragons.
- Part of his increased scoring has come from better 3-point shooting. Kostecka missed his first 10 attempts from behind the arc before making one against Temple University in the second half on November 16. Including that made shot, he is 11 of 28 in the Greyhounds' last 11 halves, good for 39.2 percent.
- Kostecka leads the Patriot League in scoring this year with 20.4 points per game, and his 5.4 rebounds are 11th, second-most among guards.
Statistical Differences
- Loyola's three wins and six losses can be seen in statistical differences. The Greyhounds have held opponents to 33.9 percent from the field, 20.9 from 3-point range in their wins; meanwhile, foes are shooting 50.1 percent overall and 47.0 from behind the arc in Loyola's losses.
- The Greyhounds have held opponents to under 70 points in each of its victories.
- Getting to the free-throw line has also been key in victories. Loyola has lost all four of the games that opponents have taken more attempts at the stripe.
Patriot League Plaudits
- Andrew Kostecka earned Patriot League Player of the Week honors for the second time in as many weeks Monday after recording the first double-double of his collegiate career Saturday in a win over Mount St. Mary's.
- Kostecka, who had averaged 23.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists in three games the week prior, had game-best marks of 29 points and 11 rebounds in the victory. He tallied 16 of his points after halftime for the Greyhounds.
- His 29 points were one off his career-high after he set a career-best totals in points twice during the previous week. First, he scored 23 points on November 19, at the University of Detroit Mercy. After finishing with 18 the following night against the University of Hampton – earning GotPrint.com Legends Classic All-Tournament Team honors in the process – Kostecka came back with 30 points on November 25 at Towson University.
- He has scored an even 100 points in Loyola's last four contests, averaging 25 along with a team-best 7.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists during the span.
- The junior guard leads Loyola and the Patriot League in scoring, this season with 19.1 points per game. His 5.8 rebounds are second on the team, and his 2.3 assists lead the Greyhounds.
Assists From Everywhere
- Loyola is averaging 14.7 assists per game this season, a number that ranks third 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 not having any players ranked in the top-15 in the Patriot League in per-game assists. Eight Greyhounds are averaging 1.2 assists per game or more.
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 nine games, however, the Greyhounds have answered that question in a positive sense, outrebounding four of their six opponents by an average of 0.9 per game. Brent Holcombe leads the Greyhounds with 6.6 per game; KaVaughn Scott has grabbed 3.4 per game, while Sam Norton is averaging 2.9 per game. Loyola's guards have been a large part of the success on the glass with Andrew Kostecka checking in second on the team at 5.4, and Chuck Champion third at 4.1.
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 12.8 points and first with 32.2 minutes per game. He has scored 10 or more points in all but one of Loyola's games.
Getting To The Stripe
- Loyola has been adept at getting to the free-throw line through the first eight games of the season. The Greyhounds have gone to the stripe 209 times, making 147, and rank 49th in NCAA Division I in free-throws made, 50th in attempts. Both numbers top the Patriot League.
- Andrew Kostecka mad all 12 of his free-throw attempts against Mount St. Mary's, the fifth-most in school history without a miss. He is 32nd in the nation, and first in the conference, with 47 free-throws made this year.
Building An Inside Presence
- A year after averaging 15.2 minutes in 26 games (two starts), sophomore post Brent Holcombe has seen considerably more action through the first eight games this year. He has raised his scoring average from 4.8 last year to 10.9 this season, and his rebounds per game from 3.8 to a team-best 6.6.
- Holcombe has scored seven or more in all but one game this season and is shooting 53.3 percent from the field.
- Holcombe played his best basketball of his 2017-2018 in Loyola's last four games of his freshman season, averaging 11.5 points and 6.8 rebounds in contests against Lehigh, Navy, Army West Point and Bucknell.
- He scored a then-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.
- 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.
Freshmen Earning More Run
- Kenneth Jones and Jaylin Andrews have been the most consistent members of Loyola's freshmen class in terms of minutes played this season. Jones has scored 5.1 points per game in an average of 18.0 minutes, while Andrews has seen 15.3 minutes per game and averaged 3.2 points.
- The Mount St. Mary's game brought more significant playing time for fellow freshmen, Jan Dornik and Casmir Ochiaka as both entered the game in the first half for the first time this season. Ochiaka finished with four points in eight minutes, while Dornik had an assist and a rebound in six.
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 32.2 minutes 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. This year, Norton is averaging 16.6 minutes
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
- Loyola plays its third game in a seven day stretch on Tuesday, December 11, when it heads to College Park for a 7 p.m. game against the University of Maryland. The game will be the Greyhounds' first against the Terrapins since 2003.
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.
