Game Information
Opponent	Elizabethtown Blue Jays
Date	Saturday, December 21, 2019
Time	2:00 p.m.
Location	Baltimore, Md. | Reitz Arena
Tickets	Purchase
Getting There	Directions
Watch	Live Video
Online Media	Live Stats
Follow Us	Facebook | Twitter
Game Notes	Loyola

Quick Hits About The Hounds

• Loyola University Maryland opens a two-game homestand with a Saturday, December 21, contest in Reitz Arena against Elizabethtown College.
• Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. on the Patriot League Network.
• Saturday's game is the first off three-straight that Loyola will play to close the calendar year, as well as its 2019-20 non-conference schedule.
• Andrew Kostecka scored in double-figures for the 26th-straight game on December 7 when he scored 25 against Mount St. Mary's. The game marked the 26th th time in his career, and sixth time this year, he has scored 20 or more; he also has fifth games with 25+ this year. The Nov. 17 game when he had 31 against Fairfield was his fourth career 30-plus point performance. He has finished with 10 or more 55 times since the start of his sophomore year (2017-18). He has averaged 17.5 points in that span.
• 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.

Series History

• Loyola and Elizabethtown will meet for the second time in regular-season play when the teams take the court on Saturday. The Greyhounds hold a 1-0 lead in the all-time series after scoring an 83-74 victory against the Blue Jays in December 1955 with a game that was played at York College.
• The Greyhounds hosted Elizabethtown in an exhibition game on November 2, 2017, posting an 83-57 win in Reitz Arena.

About The Blue Jays

• Elizabethtown enters the game with a 3-4 record after falling, 87-80, to Marywood University on Saturday.
• The Blue Jays opened the year with two-straight wins, beating Wilson College and Penn State Berks before losing two in a row to Kings (Pa.) and Lebanon Valley.
• Connor Moffatt has made 64.9 percent of his shots form the field, and 41.7 percent from 3-point range, to lead the Blue Jays with 18.1 points per game. He also tops the team with 9.6 rebounds per game. Bryce Green is averaging 15.4 points, and Anthony Hawkins chips in 10.2.

Last Time Out

• Andrew Kostecka scored 25 points, while Cam Spencer tallied 15 and dished out a career-high matching six assists, on December 21 as Loyola won its third in a row by posting a 64-48 decision at Mount St. Mary's, the Greyhounds first victory on the Mountaineers' home court since 2011.
• Kostecka poured in 16 of his game-high total in the first half as the Greyhounds built a 32-21 lead at the break. KaVaughn Scott added six points had a game-best eight rebounds and tied his career-high with three assists; Isaiah Hart scored seven, and Jaylin Andrews added five.
• Defensively, Loyola shut down the Mountaineers' leading scorer, junior Jalen Gibbs who was averaging 14.1 points per game entering Saturday. Gibbs did not score for just the second time in his Mount St. Mary's career, going 0 of 7 from the field in more than 26 minutes of action.
• The Greyhounds held Mount St. Mary's to 33.3 percent from the field (18 of 54) and just 11.8 percent (2 of 17) from 3-point range. The Mountaineers also committed 13 turnovers to just five for Loyola.
• Mount St. Mary's took a 15-13 lead on a Malik Jefferson jumper with 7:20 left in the first half, but threes on back-to-back possessions by Kostecka kickstarted a 19-6 Greyhounds run to close the half.

Moving Up The Charts

• Andrew Kostecka had three steals on Dec. 1 against Binghamton, moving him past Dylon Cormier and into third place on the school's all-time chart. He now stands at 190, a total that is 14th in Patriot League history.
• With five more, he'll tie his former teammate, Andre Walker (2014-18) for second at Loyola and 10th in the Patriot League with 195.
• The senior from Germantown, Maryland, is also climbing the school and Patriot League all-time scoring charts. Nine games into his final year, he has scored 1,389 points, he is 14th at Loyola, 43 points from passing Bob Connor (1967-71) for 13th. Kostecka is also tied for 52nd in conference history.

At The Top

• Cam Spencer enters Saturday's game against Elizabethtown ranked No. 1 in NCAA Division I in assist-to-turnover ratio. The freshman has 36 assists with just four giveaways this year, good for a 9:1 ratio (a minimum of three assists per game are needed to qualify for the NCAA list).
• Spencer, a freshman from nearby Boys' Latin School, has dished out at least five assists in each of the Greyhounds' last five games with just two total turnovers.
• He made his first collegiate start on December 1 against Binghamton and is now second on the team in scoring with 10.1 points per game, having scored 10 or more in six-straight.
• Spencer is not the only member of his family with a strong start to the season. His older brother, Pat, has started all six games as a graduate transfer at Northwestern, averaging 10.2 points and a team-high 4.3 assists per game. The elder Spencer was a four-time All-American and the Tewaaraton Award winner in 2019 for the Loyola men's lacrosse team and is the NCAA's all-time leader in assists in that sport.
• Both Spencers had career-high scoring numbers on Nov. 26; Cam had 15 against Omaha, while Pat dropped 23 on Bradley.

Dishing It Out

• Loyola has posted 20 or more assists three times this year through 10 games, marking the seventh time since Tavaras Hardy took over as head coach in 2018-19 the Greyhounds have had 20-plus.
• In the eight years prior to Hardy's arrival, the Greyhounds had 20 or more assists just three times and only twice against NCAA Division I teams.
• Last year, Loyola averaged 14.0 assists, up from 11.9 in 2017-2018. This season, it is averaging 16.8.

Assists All Around

• Loyola ranks second in the Patriot League and 22nd in NCAA Division I in assists per game (16.8), but the Greyhounds do not have any players ranked in the top 150 of the NCAA of assists per game. Cam Spencer and Isaiah Hart are one-two on the team in assists per game at 3.6 and 3.0 per game, respectively, pacing six players who have averaged 1.6 assists or more thus far. 
• Of the Greyhounds' 256 made field goals this year, 65.6 percent of them have been assisted. According to kenpom.com, that percentage is eighth-best in the nation. As recently as two years ago, Loyola ranked 332nd nationally in assist percentage.

Conference Honors

• Andrew Kostecka was named the Patriot League Player of the Week for the second time this season on December 9 after scoring 25 in two Loyola games the week prior.
• Kostecka opened the stretch with 25 points, seven rebounds and a pair of steals at Delaware State before finishing with 25 points to go with six boards and two steals at Mount St. Mary's. 
• In addition to his conference honors, he was named College Sports Madness' National Mid-Major and the 3 on 3 National Championship Player of the Week.
• He is the only player thus far to earn the weekly award more than once in the Patriot League. Kostecka was also honored by the League on November 18, a week in which he was named the National Jesuit Player of the Week.
• Cam Spencer was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week on Dec. 2 after averaging 13 points and five assists in three Greyhounds games the week prior.
• He is the second Loyola player to earn the League's Rookie of the Week honors this year after Golden Dike was honored on November 18.

Moving In The Right Direction

• Last season, the Greyhounds finished 347th out of 351 NCAA Division I teams in field-goal percentage defense as opponents hit 48.7 percent of their shots. Through nine games this year, the Greyhounds are 181st nationally at 42.2 percent. Currently, Loyola is third in the category in the Patriot League after finishing 10th last season.

Shooting Numbers

• In addition to the aforementioned field-goal defense improving, the Greyhounds' offense is trending positively, too. Two years ago, the Greyhounds were 318th in adjusted offensive efficiency, and they moved up to 226th last year. Through 10 games, Loyola ranks 162nd in the nation at 100.8, a measure of points per 100 possessions with quality of defense factored in.
• Additionally, the Greyhounds were 305th in effective field-goal percentage in 2017-18, and they now rank 62nd (52.8) in the category that weights 3-pointers more significantly.
• Loyola has made 54.3 percent of its 2-point field goal attempts this year, good for 46th nationally (h/t kenpom.com).

From Downtown

• Kenneth Jones knocked down all five of his 3-point attempts against Fairfield en route to scoring a to-date career-high 19 points in the overtime win against the Stags, tying for the third-best performance in school history.
• Through nine games, Jones is 17 of 32 from 3-point range and leads the Patriot League with a .531 percentage from behind the arc among qualified players (minimum 1.5 made per game).

KaVaughn Converting

• KaVaughn Scott has averaged 10.2 points over the Greyhounds' last five games with three 14-point efforts against IUPUI, Binghamton and Delaware State. During the stretch, he has made 24 of 35 shots (68.6 percent) to boost his 2019-20 field-goal percentage to 64.4 percent, good for third in the Patriot League.
• 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.

Big Man Making Contributions

• At 6-foot-10, 250 points, Golden Dike has brought an immediate physical presence to the post for the Greyhounds. He scored 18 and grabbed eight rebounds against Fairfield, and he then grabbed seven boards, scored six and had five assists at George Mason. Dike is shooting 61.1 percent from the field, going 22 of 36.

30 This Decade

• Andrew Kostecka's 31-point performance against Fairfield marked the 13th time since 2010 that a Loyola player has scored 30 or more in a game. Kostecka has done it five times, more than any other player. Andre Walker scored 30 or more four times, Dylon Cormier did it three times and Erik Etherly accomplished it once.

Kostecka In The Last 37

• Andrew Kostecka has logged career-high scoring numbers four times in the Greyhounds' last 38 games, dating back to last season. During that stretch, he has recorded 23 games with 20 or more points, 18 with 25 or better and five with 30 or higher. He scored 13 or more in all but one of those games and had 18 or more in all but six.

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. He is also one of six players in school history with 1,300 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.
• 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
• Andrews set a new career-high 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.

Graduation Success

• Loyola University Maryland tied for the fourth-highest overall Graduate Success Rate (GSR) in the NCAA report released in October, highlighting the Greyhounds success in the classroom. Loyola had a 97 percent GSR marking the sixth time the Greyhounds have had a GSR of 97 or better. Loyola has ranked in the top-25 of the GSR in all 15 years since the report's inception.
• Loyola's basketball program was one of two in the State of Maryland that had a NCAA Graduation Success Rate of 100 percent for the most-recent report.

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 seventh season.

Up Next

• The Greyhounds close their non-conference schedule with two games between Christmas and New Year's Days.
• First, Loyola hosts UMass Lowell in Reitz Arena on Friday, December 27, at 7 p.m. The Greyhounds then travel to Richmond, Virginia, for a Sunday, December 29, contest at Virginia Commonwealth University.
• Patriot League play commences on Thursday, January 2, with a 7 p.m. home game against College of the Holy Cross.