Quick Hits About The Hounds
- Loyola University Maryland, owners of a three-game winning streak, travels to first-place Bucknell University on Wednesday, January 23, for a 7 p.m. Patriot League game at Sojka Pavilion.
- After the Greyhounds' six previous opponents shot 55.4 percent from the field, Loyola has held Army West Point, Boston University and Holy Cross to 43.1 percent.
- Isaiah Hart shot 38.8 percent from the field in non-conference games, but he has made 29 of 57 (50.1 percent) in the Greyhounds' first six Patriot League games, and he is the team's second-leading scorer in conference games with 4.0 per game. The sophomore has scored 10 or more points eight times in Loyola's last 12.
- Andrew Kostecka has averaged 22.3 points over Loyola's last 15 games, shooting 46.7 percent from 3-point range and 53.7 percent from the field in that stretch. Kostecka has nine games with 23 or more points in those contests.
- Kostecka is one of four players nationally to average 20 points and two steals per game; he is averaging 2.1 steals to lead the Patriot League. Duke's Zion Williamson, Louisiana Monroe's Daishon Smith and St. John's Shamorie Ponds are the other three.
- Loyola has had 27 steals in the last two games.
Series History Versus Bucknell
- Loyola and Bucknell will meet for the 20th time on the hardwood when the teams take the floor Wednesday night in a series that the programs played the past four years prior to Loyola joining the Patriot League in 2013-2014.
- Bucknell holds a 16-3 lead in the all-time series sweeping last year's regular-season series and winning a narrow 83-78 decision in the Patriot League Championships Quarterfinals.
- The teams completed a four-game home-and-home non-conference series in 2012-2013, in which the visiting team defeated the home team in each meeting.
- Bucknell made 10 free throws in the game's final two minutes of that Quarterfinal game to hold off Loyola Maryland, 83-78, in the Patriot League Quarterfinals.
- Isaiah Hart and Andrew Kostecka made 3-pointers for the Greyhounds in the final 30 seconds, pulling the Greyhounds within as few as three, but the Bison made all eight of their foul shots with 35 or fewer seconds left to seal the win.
- Stephen Brown scored in transition with 2:44 left, pushing the Bison lead to eight, 69-61, but Andre Walker hit a pull-up jumper at 2:27 to make it a six-point game. Nana Foulland drew a foul for Bucknell and made both free throws 19 seconds later.
- Andre Walker, who finished with a team-high 17 points for Loyola, knocked down a 25-foot three for the Greyhounds at 1:54, and the Greyhounds were within five.
- Foulland, however, caught a Brown feed off the drive for a dunk to send the margin back to seven. After a missed layup, Loyola was whistled for a foul, and Zach Thomas converted the second of two free throws with 65 seconds on the clock to give Bucknell a 74-66 lead.
- Chuck Champion drove and scored a finger-roll with 50 seconds left, pulling Loyola with in seven, and the Greyhounds fouled Jimmy Sotos with 42 ticks on the clock. He made the second of two to make it 75-68 Bison.
- Hart scored again in the paint with 36 seconds left, pulling Loyola within five, and the Greyhounds called their final timeout. Brown was fouled for Bucknell, and he hit both free throws before Hart hit a three from the top of the perimeter with 23 seconds left, cutting Loyola's deficit to four, 77-73.
- The Greyhounds fouled McKenzie on the inbound, and he made both foul shots, but Hart scored in the lane with 15 ticks left, and it was again a four-point spread. McKenzie was fouled again, and he made both shots to send Bucknell back up six. McKenzie then blocked a Hart three, but Loyola got the offensive rebound, and Kostecka knocked a three down with 1.7 on the clock, pulling the Greyhounds within three, 81-78. On the ensuing inbound, Loyola trapped Brown on the baseline with his foot sliding toward the end-line, but play continued and Thomas was fouled with a second left. He made both foul shots to secure the Bison win.
- Overall, Bucknell made 27 of 38 free throws, including 23 of 33 in the second half. Loyola was 5 of 12 from the stripe, 3 of 6 after the break. Loyola tied its season-high with 34 made field goals, and it limited Bucknell to 24, nine in the second half.
Last Time Out
- Loyola led for less than one second of overtime Saturday, but it was all that mattered, as Andrew Kostecka's layup with two-tenths of a second on the clock gave the Greyhounds a 67-65 win at Holy Cross.
- Loyola forced a Crusaders (11-8, 2-4) shot-clock violation with 22 seconds left in overtime, and the Greyhounds called a timeout with just under 10 seconds on the clock. Holy Cross doubled the ball outside the 3-point line, and Isaiah Hart threw over the defender to Kostecka at the top-left of the arc. Kostecka put the ball on the floor and laid it off the glass on the right side to provide the Greyhounds with their second-straight overtime victory.
- Kostecka finished with a game-high 26 points to go with team-bests of eight rebounds and four steals. Jaylin Andrews tallied a career-best 12 points, including his last two on a pair of free throws with 18 seconds left in regulation; he also had four rebounds and four assists. Chuck Champion scored 10 points, his last two coming with five seconds left in regulation when he made a pull-up 14-footer to tie the game and send it to overtime. Hart and KaVaughn Scott had nine and eight points, respectively.
- Andrews gave Loyola a 39-35 lead with a 3-pointer just over four minutes into the second half, but Holy Cross would go on an 18-5 run to take a 53-44 lead on a Jehyve Floyd layup with 8:52 remaining.
- Holy Cross was up five, 60-55, on a Floyd layup at 2:17, but that was the last field goal the Crusaders scored in regulation. Kostecka scored grabbed an offensive rebound off his own missed shot in the paint and scored with 71 ticks left, and the teams traded missed 3-pointers over the next 50 seconds. Andrews then drove the left side and was fouled going to the hoop. He converted both shots on a one-and-one opportunity to make it a one-point game.
- The Greyhounds fouled twice, sending Matt Faw to the line for one-and-one. Faw made the first, but missed the second, and Loyola took possession with just over 15 seconds left. Champion drove on the hit the pull-up from 14 feet with five seconds left. A Holy Cross three at the buzzer did not draw iron, and the game headed to overtime tied at 61-61.
National Honors For Kostecka
- Andrew Kostecka had a first for a Loyola player on January 21 when he was named the Lou Henson National Player of the Week, an honor given to mid-major players. He also picked up his third Patriot League Player of the Week award.
- On Tuesday, he was named the Jesuit Basketball Spotlight National Player of the Week.
- He received the recognition after averaging 27.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.5 steals in two overtime wins over Boston University and Holy Cross. He scored the game-winning layup against the Crusaders with two-tenths of a second left in overtime.
Flipping The Script
- Loyola snapped a six-game skid with its victory over Army West Point on January 12, and it did so with its best defensive effort of the season, a trend it continued against Boston University and Holy Cross.
- The Greyhounds held the Black Knights to 38.1 percent from the field, more than 17 points lower than opponents shot (55.4 percent) in those six losses. Loyola's 64 points allowed were 26 fewer than the 90.3 it gave up in the six games.
- A big part of the improved defense came from holding Army West Point to 6 of 20 from 3-point range (30.0 percent). The six teams prior made 55 of 114 from behind the arc (48.2 percent).
- Versus the Terriers, Loyola forced 23 turnovers – 14 coming by steals – and held them to 45.8 percent from the field and 73 points, 69 in regulation. Boston University also made just 7 of 22 from 3-point range.
- Holy Cross shot 46.2 percent from the field, but Loyola used a 33-24 advantage on the glass and forced 15 Crusaders possessions, 13 on steals.
Statistical Differences
- Loyola's seven wins and 12 losses can be seen in statistical differences. The Greyhounds have held opponents to 38.5 percent from the field, 27.9 from 3-point range in their wins; meanwhile, foes are shooting 52.8 percent overall and 47.6 from behind the arc in Loyola's losses.
- The Greyhounds have held opponents to 73 or fewer points in each of their wins.
Kostecka In The Last 15
- Andrew Kostecka has logged career-high scoring numbers three times in the Greyhounds' last 15 games, recording nine games with 23 or more points and two with 30 or better. He has scored 13 or more in all but one of those games and has had 18 or more in all but two.
- Over the course of the last 15, Kostecka has scored 335 points, an average of 22.3 to go with 5.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.1 steals per game. He has shot 53.7 percent from the field during those games 46.7 from 3-point range.
- 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 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 at Drexel University, making a career-high 12 field goals in scoring 31 against the Dragons. He had his fifth outing with 23 or more, hitting that number at UMass Lowell and added a sixth with 27 on December 28 at then-No. 20 North Carolina State.
- Kostecka did not score for nearly 15 minutes in the Patriot League opener against Holy Cross, but he tallied 24 points in the second half and 29 in the game. He then had 18 at Lehigh.
- Part of his increased scoring has come from better 3-point shooting. Kostecka missed his first 10 attempts of the season from behind the arc before making one against Temple University in the second half on November 16. Including that made shot, he is 29 of 63 since, and including, that bucket.
- Kostecka leads the Patriot League in scoring this year with 20.4 points per game, and his 5.1 rebounds are 17th, third-most among guards. His points per game rank 36th, his 388 total points this year rank 31st in all of NCAA Division I, and his 2.21 steals per game are 32nd.
Cementing His Status
- Loyola's modest three-game wining streak has coincided with the insertion of Jaylin Andrews to the Greyhounds' starting lineup. The freshman drew his first start against Army West Point and finished that game with six points and four rebounds, numbers he matched against Boston University.
- At Holy Cross, Andrews connected for a to-date career-high 12 points on 4 of 6 from the field, 2 of 3 from 3-point range. He also had four rebounds and a career-best and team-high four assists.
- In Patriot League games, Andrews has averaged 7.0 points and 3.0 rebounds in 24.5 minutes of action.
Points From The Point
- After battling through a rough start to the season in which he averaged 3.0 points over the Greyhounds' first five contests, Isaiah Hart has rebounded to average 10.9 in Loyola's last 14 games. During that stretch he is the team's third-leading scorer behind Kostecka and Champion.
- Hart has shot 49.5 percent from the field over the Greyhounds' last 14 games, a mark buoyed by shooting 50.9 percent from the field in the Greyhounds first six Patriot League games. In those first two outings, he has his two highest scoring outputs of the year with 21 at Lehigh after tallying 17 against Holy Cross. He has averaged 14.0 points in Patriot League games, second on the team.
Career Night For KaVaughn
- KaVaughn Scott established himself as a scoring presence early in Thursday night's game, scoring eight points in the first six minutes, 10 in the opening eight against Lafayette. He continued his output in the second half, finishing with a career-high 21 points.
- Scott's 21 were seven more than his previous best of 14, a total he scored earlier this year against Dartmouth College and during his 2016-17 freshman campaign against Millersville University.
- Scott also had career-highs of nine field goals made and 15 attempted. His eight rebounds against the Leopards are tied for his second-best total of this season.
- In six Patriot League games, he has averaged 9.7 points and 6.2 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 12.6 points and first with 32.7 minutes. He has scored 10 or more points in all but two of Loyola's games.
Getting To The Stripe
- Loyola has been adept at getting to the free-throw line through the first 19 games of the season. The Greyhounds have gone to the stripe 389 times, making 279, and rank first in the Patriot League in both categories.
- Andrew Kostecka made all 12 of his free-throw attempts against Mount St. Mary's, the fifth-most in school history without a miss. He is 44th in the nation, and second in the conference, with 91 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 11.0 this season, and his rebounds per game from 3.8 to a team-best 6.0.
- Holcombe has scored seven or more in all but one game this season and is shooting 54.6 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. 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.
Up Next
- The Greyhounds return to Reitz Arena on Saturday, January 26, for a 12 p.m. game against Colgate University that will air live on CBS Sports Network.
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.
