Quick Hits About The Hounds
- Loyola University Maryland plays the Second of two-straight Patriot League road games on Wednesday, January 9, in Easton, Pennsylvania, at Lafayette College.
- The Greyhounds and Leopards are slated to tip-off at 7 p.m.
- The contest at Lafayette marks a string of seven of eight on the road for the Greyhounds.
- After shooting 38.8 percent from the field in non-conference games, Isaiah Hart has made 14 of 21 (66.7 percent) in the Greyhounds' first two Patriot League games. He scored what was a season-high 17 against Holy Cross before topping that three days later with 21 at Lehigh on Sunday. The sophomore has scored 10 or more points five times in Loyola's last eight. Since the Mount St. Mary's game on December 1, Hart has averaged 11.8 points per game, and he is shooting 54.7 percent in those games.
- Andrew Kostecka has averaged 23.5 points over Loyola's last 11 games, shooting 46.2 percent from 3-point range and 52.7 percent from the field in that stretch.
- Kostecka has seven games with 23 or more points in those 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.
Series History Versus Lafayette
- Loyola and Lafayette will meet for the 15th time in series history when the teams take the floor on Wednesday. The teams have split each of the last two year's regular-season series.
- Loyola has won six of the 10 Patriot League regular-season meetings since joining the conference in 2013-2014, and the teams have split two Patriot League Championships contests.
- The Greyhounds earned an 83-77 victory in Reitz Arena on January 14, 2018, but the Leopards returned the favor with an 84-67 win on February 11, 2018, at the Kirby Sports Center. Lafayette scored the second half's first four points to take its first lead in the game, and a strong stretch by the Leopards later in the period led them to the victory.
- A Cam Gregory basket 3:30 into the second half drew Loyola within a point, 42-41, but Lafayette scored the next six points, and the Leopards lead hovered between five and nine points for the next eight-plus minutes. Moments after Chuck Champion knocked down a three on the right wing for Loyola, Justin Jaworski responded in kind for Lafayette, staking the Leopards to a 65-56 advantage.
- With 6:40 on the clock, Andre Walker hit a three for Loyola, pulling the Greyhounds within seven, 66-59, but Lafayette scored eight of the next 12 points, and the margin would be double-digits for the remainder of the game.
- Five Greyhounds scored in double-figures, led by Walker's 15. Isaiah Hart added 13, while Champion and Gregory had 12 and 11, respectively. Matt Klinewski tallied 25 points for Lafayette, while Alex Petrie and Jaworski scored 16 and 14.
- Loyola jumped out to a lead in the first half, going ahead by nine, 25-16, on a Gregory tip-in at 10:31 that culminated a 12-5 run for the Greyhounds.
- Klinewski converted a pair of free throws on the Leopards next possession but Champion hit his first three of the game at 9:58 to make it 28-18 Greyhounds. Lafayette slowly chipped away at the lead, aided by first-half foul trouble by Loyola, tying the game at 36-36 on a Klinewski before the half.
Last Time Out
- Three Loyola players scored 17 or more points Sunday, but Lehigh used runs of 17-5, 12-3 and 18-3 to pull away for an 89-72 victory at Stabler Arena.
- Isaiah Hart, who on Thursday night against College of the Holy Cross had set a to-date season-high with 17 points, made eight of 12 shots and finished with a game-high 21 points. Andrew Kostecka and Chuck Champion were close behind for the Greyhounds with 18 and 17, respectively, but no other Loyola scored more than five.
- Lehigh took a 13-5 lead in the game's first four-plus minutes, but the Greyhounds were the first to go on a long stretch of holding the other without points. Champion scored two field goals in a row, and then Hart had back-to-back layups, pulling the Greyhounds even at 13-13 with a jumper at 13:43.
- Kostecka converted an and-one with a layup and free throw with 13:18 on the clock, extending the Greyhounds' run to 13-0. Kyle Leufroy, however, scored in the paint at 13:01, sparking the 17-5 run that saw the Mountain Hawks push ahead 35-21 on a James Karnik jumper.
- Karnik had a double-double for Lehigh with 18 points and 13 rebounds, while Lance Tejada scored a team-best 19.
- Lehigh opened the second half by scoring 12 out of 15 points to stretch a seven-point halftime lead to 59-43 on a Pat Andree layup three minutes into the stanza. Later, Lehigh was again up 16, 64-48 , after two Caleb Bennett free throws, but the Greyhounds scored 10 in a row, punctuated by a Kostecka steal and fast-break dunk that forced a Lehigh timeout with 9:00 on the second-half clock. That basket made it a six-point tame, 65-59, but Lehigh tallied the next five points and 18 of 21.
- Kostecka also led Loyola with seven rebounds, while KaVaughn Scott had five. Hart had four assists and matched Kostecka for game-high honors with three steals.
Kostecka In The Last 11
- Andrew Kostecka has logged career-high scoring numbers three times in the Greyhounds' last 11 games, recording seven games with 23 or more points and two with 30 or better. He has scored 13 or more in all 11 of those games and has had 18 or more in all but one.
- Over the course of the last 11, Kostecka 23.5 points to go with 5.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He has shot 52.7 percent from the field during those games 46.2 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 25 of 55 since, and including, that bucket.
- Kostecka leads the Patriot League in scoring this year with 20.8 points per game, and his 5.1 rebounds are 16th, second-most among guards. His points per game rank 30th, and his 312 total points this year rank 29th in all of NCAA Division I. His is one of 44 players to average 20 or more points per game.
Making His Minutes Count
- Of the players ranked in the top-30 in NCAA Division I in points per game, Andrew Kostecka's minutes played average (31.7) are fifth lowest. Only Duke University's R.J. Barrett (22.9 points, 31.2 minutes), Gonzaga University's Rui Hachimura (21.4, 29.9), the University of Vermont's Anthony Lamb (21.5, 31.4) and the University of Louisiana Monroe's Daishon Smith (21.1, 30.1) have played fewer minutes per game.
Statistical Differences
- Loyola's four wins and 11 losses can be seen in statistical differences. The Greyhounds have held opponents to 35.1 percent from the field, 21.8 from 3-point range in their wins; meanwhile, foes are shooting 52.6 percent overall and 46.9 from behind the arc in Loyola's losses.
- The Greyhounds have held opponents to under 70 points in each of its victories.
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 10.7 in Loyola's last 10 games. During that stretch he is the team's third-leading scorer behind Kostecka and Champion.
- Hart has shot 53.4 percent from the field over the Greyhounds' last 10 games, a mark buoyed by shooting 66.7 percent from the field in the Greyhounds first two Patriot League games. In those two outings, he has his two highest scoring outputs of the year with 21 at Lehigh after tallying 17 against Holy Cross.
- Hart converted six of his nine shot attempts in the Patriot League opener against Holy Cross and finished with 17 points, a season-high. He then made eight of 12 against the Mountain Hawks. He also had four assists and three steals at Lehigh.
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.
- He had his best statistical game of 2018-2019 in the Patriot League opener against Holy Cross, scoring seven points to go with seven rebounds – both season-highs – to go with two assists and two steals. He was the Greyhounds' best plus-minus player in the game as Loyola outscored Holy Cross by nine during his 25 minutes of action. The game garnered Norton his first start of the 2019 season at Lehigh.
Patriot League Plaudits
- Andrew Kostecka earned Patriot League Player of the Week honors for the second time in as many weeks on December 3 after recording the first double-double of his collegiate career Saturday in a win over Mount St. Mary's.
- Kostecka, who 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.
Assists From Everywhere
- Loyola is averaging 14.2 assists per game this season, a number that ranks fifth in the Patriot League. The number is almost three higher than the Greyhounds averaged last year (11.6), 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. Six Greyhounds are averaging 1.5 assists per game or more.
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 31.9 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 15 games of the season. The Greyhounds have gone to the stripe 307 times, making 218, and rank first in the Patriot League in both categories.
- 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 29th in the nation, and first in the conference, with 79 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, 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 5.7 points per game in an average of 18.3 minutes, while Andrews has seen 14.8 minutes per game and averaged 3.2 points.
- Andrews scored a to-date career-high nine points, all in the first half, at Binghamton. Jones tallied a career-best with 12 points at UMass Lowell, making five of nine shots from the field.
- Jones has found his range from 3-point distance with a 42.1 percent mark from behind the arc, making 16 of 39 attempts. He has scored 56 percent of his 77 points this season on 3-pointers, and he is also second on the team with 32 assists this year.
Up Next
- Loyola returns to Reitz Arena on Saturday, January 12 to start a two-game homestand. The Greyhounds host the U.S. Military Academy at 2 p.m. in a national television broadcast on Stadium.
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.
