Quick Hits About The Hounds
- Loyola University Maryland makes its 2019-2020 regular-season home debut on Sunday, November 17, when it hosts Fairfield University in a 6 p.m. game in Reitz Arena.
- Bring a canned food item to the game and receive a coupon to Smoothie King!
- The game will air nationally on Stadium (check local listings) and stream on the Patriot League Network.
- Andrew Kostecka scored in double-figures for the 19th-straight game on Saturday when he scored 16 on Wednesday at Old Dominion. On Saturday, he had 26 in a win over Chicago State for his 23rd career game with 20-plus. He has finished with 10 or more 48 times since the start of his sophomore year (2017-18). He has averaged 16.9 points during that time.
- Tavaras Hardy is in his second season on the Loyola sidelines after he was named the 21st head coach in Loyola men's basketball history on March 28, 2018.
- In Hardy's first season, Loyola improved its field-goal percentage from .438 in 2017-18 to .459 in 2018-19, rising from 218th in NCAA Division I in the category to 85th. The Greyhounds' assists per game jumped from 11.6 to 14.0, moving from 309 to 124.
- The Greyhounds return 94.6 percent of their scoring and 86.79 percent of rebounds from a year ago.
Series History
- Loyola and Fairfield will meet for the 61st time on the hardwood Sunday evening with the Stags entering the game with a 38-22 advantage in the previous meetings.
- The schools were Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference foes for the 24 seasons when Loyola was a member of the conference (1989-2013) before moving to the Patriot League before the start of the 2013-2014 campaign. The teams then played a five-game series from 2013-2017 before not playing last season. This game is the start of a two-game series.
- Loyola and Fairfield last played on November 14, 2017, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Andre Walker scored a game-high 27 points for the Greyhounds, but Fairfield came away with a 64-52 victory, aided by a 19-3 run to close the first half.
Jesuit Hoops
- Sunday's game is part of the Jesuit Basketball Spotlight, a nationwide effort to bring greater awareness and exposure to Jesuit higher education. More than 90 games are part of the spotlight this year with information available at jesuitbasketball.com.
About The Stags
- Fairfield is 1-2 entering Sunday night's game with losses to Bucknell and Massachusetts and a 68-63 overtime win against Holy Cross on Tuesday.
- Jesus Cruz leads the Stags with 20.3 points per game after shooting 55.6 percent from the field in an average of 37.0 minutes per contest through the Stags' first three. Landon Taliaferro is averaging 13.3 points, and Taj Benning has scored 10.7.
- Jay Young is in his first season as head coach of the Stags who finished the 2018-2019 season with a 9-22 record and a 6-12 mark in the MAAC.
Last Time Out
- Loyola chopped a 19-point halftime deficit to as little as seven, but the Greyhounds' furious second-half comeback fell just short in a 62-53 loss at Old Dominion on Wednesday night.
- Andrew Kostecka led Loyola with 14 points to go with four rebounds, four steals, three assists and three blocks while Chuck Champion added 11 points including three 3-pointers. The Monarchs got a game-high 19 points from Malik Curry on 7-of-12 shooting. He also added six assists.
- After Old Dominion jumped out to an early 15-5 lead, the Greyhounds went on a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 15-12 on a Kostecka layup with 7:21 to go in the first half. But it was all Monarchs after that as the reigning Conference USA champions finished the half on an 18-2 run to take a 33-14 lead into halftime.
- It was a completely different story for the Greyhounds in the second half, flipping the script on a 6-for-24 (25%) shooting performance in the first half by going 15-of-26 (57.7%) in the second. Loyola, however, could not get closer than seven after the break.
Ball Protection
- Loyola had just 10 turnovers in each of its first two games of the 2019-20 season, but the Greyhounds committed 21 on Wednesday against Old Dominion. For the season, Loyola is still averaging only 13.7 turnovers per game while opponents are giving the ball up 16.7 times.
- Last year, the Greyhounds were also on the positive side of turnover margin, committing 13.9 to their opponents' 14.6.
Double-Digit Assists
- Isaiah Hart had a career-best 10 assists on Saturday at Chicago State, passing his previous best of eight from a game against Navy late last season.
- Hart's 10 assists mark the 29th time in school history a player has had double-digits in the statistical category. He also became the 24th player in school history to reach 200 career assists.
Kostecka In The Last 31
- Andrew Kostecka has logged career-high scoring numbers four times in the Greyhounds' last 31 games, dating back to last season. During that stretch, he has recorded 18 games with 21 or more points, 13 with 26 or better and four with 30 or higher. He scored 13 or more in all but one of those games and had 18 or more in all but five.
BL Boys
- Jaylin Andrews and Cam Spencer were teammates at Boys' Latin School, less than three minutes from Loyola's campus where they finished second in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) A Conference in 2017-18, Andrews' senior year. The Lakers were then semifinalists in 2018-19 when Spencer was the MIAA Player of the Year.
- Now, they share the court at Loyola and each scored 14 points as they combine to shoot 9 of 19 from the field at Chicago State.
Bring Back The Most
- Loyola returns more of its scoring from a year ago than any school in the Patriot League. Led by three players who averaged 10 or more points per game, the Greyhounds return 94.6 percent of their points from last season.
- Andrew Kostecka (21.3), Brent Holcombe (11.0), Chuck Champion (10.7) and Isaiah Hart (10.1) all averaged 10 or more points for the Greyhounds, although Holcombe was limited to 12 games before he was sidelined for the year with an injury.
- The three players – James Fives, Sam Norton and Jan Dornik – who are not back this year combined for 125 of the Greyhounds' 2,332 points in 2018-2019.
Preseason Prognostications
- Loyola was picked to finish fourth in the Patriot League Preseason Poll, the highest the Greyhounds have been tabbed before the year since joining the conference in 2013-14.
- Colgate was picked first, followed by Bucknell, American, the Greyhounds and Boston University in the top-five. Army West Point, Lehigh, Lafayette, Navy and Holy Cross rounded out the poll.
- Andrew Kostecka was selected to the Preseason All-Patriot League First Team by the coaches. He was also named the top small forward in Mid-Major basketball by College Basketball Central.
Season For The Books
- Andrew Kostecka had one of the most statistically prolific seasons in Loyola men's basketball history last year when he averaged 21.3 points, scoring 682 in 32 contests. His 682 points were second in program history behind only Andre Collins' 2005-06 total of 731 which is the school record.
- The All-Patriot League First Team and All-Defensive Team honoree's 152 free throws made were eighth in single-season history, and Kostecka's 85 steals were good for third and are the most since Jason Rowe set the school record with 95 in 1998-99.
- Andrew Kostecka scored the game's first point February 9, 2019, at Colgate, and in the process became the 38th player in Loyola history to reach 1,000 career points.
- Against Chicago State on November 11, he became the 26th player to reach 1,200 career points and now is 24th with 1,233.
- He had four steals against Old Dominion to give him 170 for his career to move into fifth all-time at Loyola; he is one of seven Loyola players to amass 1,200 points and 150 steals.
Think Globally, Not Just Locally
- Not only did Andrew Kostecka's statistics and play resonate at Loyola, but his 2018-19 campaign stacked up against some of the best in nation.
- He was the only player in NCAA Division I to average 21 points or more and 2.5 steals or more per game last year, and he was also one of only four players – Duke's Zion Williamson, St. John's Shamorie Ponds and Louisiana Monroe's Daishon Smith – to average 20 or more points and two or more steals. Throw in blocked shots, and he was the only player to average 21 or more points, 2.5 steals and 0.9 blocks per game.
- Four players – Kostecka, Hofstra's Justin Wright-Foreman, Charleston's Grant Riller and Austin Peay's Terry Taylor – took 450 or more shots from the field while shooting 52.1 percent of better. In the history of the Patriot League, only one player had accomplished that, Colgate's Adonal Foyle (1996-97). Research via sports-reference.com.
- Overall, he finished eighth nationally in steals per game, 11th in total steals, 27th in points per game, 30th in field goals made and 36th in total points.
In The Patriot League, Too
- In the history of the Patriot League, only two players have averaged 20+ points, 4.5+ rebounds, 2.0+ steals and 2.0+ assists. NBA All-Star C.J. McCollum did it for Lehigh University in both 2010-11 and 2011-12, and Andrew Kostecka did so in 2018-19.
Cementing His Status
- Jaylin Andrews joined the Greyhounds' starting lineup on January 12, 2019, and was a fixture there ever since, en route to earning Patriot League All-Rookie Honors
- At Holy Cross, Andrews connected for 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. He had his second double-figure scoring output with 10 points at Bucknell and four boards
- He then went for 15 points, 10 after halftime, against Colgate for his third-straight game with 10-plus. Andrews was 4 of 4 from the free-throw line in overtime and also had two of his career-high four steals. He earned Patriot League Rookie of the Week honors after the Bucknell and Colgate games.
- Andrews finished with 11 points and a season-high eight rebounds in the Greyhounds' second meeting with Bucknell, and he set a new career-best with 17 points when Loyola hosted Navy. Andrews eclipsed that best with a 21-point outing, making 5 of 6 threes and 8 of 11 overall field goals in the regular-season finale against Lehigh.
- In Patriot League games, Andrews averaged 8.8 points and 3.0 rebounds in 29.3 minutes of action in 2018-19. Prior to the conference starting, Andrews was averaging 3.2 points in 14.8 minutes per game.
Dishing And Taking
- Since he had then-career-highs of nine assists and four steals on February 2 at Navy, Isaiah Hart has recorded 65 assists and 21 steals in 12 games for averages of 5.4 and 1.75.
- After battling through a rough start to last season in which he averaged 3.0 points over the Greyhounds' first five contests, Hart rebounded to average 11.4 in Loyola's last 27 games. During that stretch he is the team's second-leading scorer behind Kostecka. He averaged 12.8 points in Patriot League games.
- In his first two-plus seasons at Loyola, Hart has played in 66 games, averaging 27.6 minutes per, and has scored 663 points to go with 202 assists. He is averaging 10.0 points and 3.09 assists per game.
Leading In The Post And On Campus
- KaVaughn Scott stepped into a starting role as a post player last season and turned in career-highs of 7.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game while shooting 54.3 percent from the field.
- Off the court, Scott has stepped into a leadership role in several areas. He serves as the co-president of Loyola's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and he is also a member of the school's Green & Grey Society, a group of 14 seniors selected to represent their peers with the university president and administration.
Two Over Ten
- Chuck Champion is one of three players returning for the Greyhounds who have averaged 10 or more points over each of the last two seasons (Andrew Kostecka and Isaiah Hart).
- Champion has averaged 8.9 points over his 90 career games, scoring 10 or more 40 times while tallying 803 points in a Greyhounds uniform.
Closing On A High Note
- Kenneth Jones finished his freshman season with a flourish, posting four of his seven games with 10 or more points in the Greyhounds' final seven games. The guard averaged 10 points per over that span, capped by a 14-point effort at American and a 15-point game against Lehigh, both Loyola victories.
- During his freshman campaign, Jones played in all 32 games, seeing 20.3 minutes of action while averaging 6.4 points. He also finished third on the team with 70 assists, and he had a 1.62:1 assist:turnover ratio.
Big Man Making Contributions
- At 6-foot-10, 250 points, Golden Dike has brought an immediate physical presence to the post for the Greyhounds. In three games, he has averaged 5.3 rebounds, 4.0 points and 2.3 assists. He scored six in the season-opener at Marquette, and he followed that with eight rebounds and three dimes at Chicago State. He has made all but one of his five shots from the field this season.
New Kids In Town
- Tavaras Hardy and his staff welcomed four scholarship players and a walk-on to the program this fall in Santi Aldama, Garren Davis, Golden Dike, Cam Spencer and Daraun Gray.
- Aldama and Dike recently won gold with the Spanish National Team at the FIBA European Championships where Aldama was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament. Aldama led all players in the tournament in efficiency (22.9), and his plus-minus of +141 (+20.1 per game) was tops, too. He finished as the championships' third-leading scorer at 18.0 points per game.
- Dike was a member of three championship teams in 2018-19, the FIBA U-18 European Championships and helping Real Madrid to the 2019 Spanish National Championship and the Euroleague U-18 Adidas Next Generation crown when he averaged 9.3 points and 7.0 rebounds in the 2019 tournament in Munich.
- Davis comes to Baltimore from the Dallas area where he was an All-District player at The Colony High School, averaging 16 points per game and helping the Cougars to the third-round of the state playoffs.
- Spencer starts his Loyola career after earning Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) Player of the Year honors in 2018-19 when he averaged 25 points, seven rebounds and 4.5 assists in conference games, helping the Lakers to a 30-6 overall mark and 15.2 record in MIAA play. He was an All-MIAA honoree in both basketball and lacrosse, and his family comes with a significant Loyola past. His older brother, Pat, was a four-time All-American for the Loyola men's lacrosse team, earning the Tewaaraton Award as the nation's top player in 2019 when he set the NCAA all-time record for assists. Pat is now a graduate transfer playing basketball at Northwestern.
- Gray also has a sibling who has been a standout at Loyola. His older sister, Alexis, has started 40 games for the Loyola women's basketball team and has averaged 9.2 points over the last three seasons, entering her senior season.
