Quick Hits About The Hounds
- Loyola University Maryland plays the first of two-straight road games on Wednesday night in Dover, Delaware.
- The Greyhounds head to Delaware State for a 7 p.m. game at the Hornets' Memorial Hall.
- Loyola entered Sunday's game shooting just 38 percent in the first half, but it shot 63.0 against Binghamton.
- Andrew Kostecka scored in double-figures for the 24th-straight game on Sunday when he scored 17 against Binghamton. Last Tuesday's game at Omaha marked the 24th time in his career, and fourth time this year, he has scored 20 or more; he also has three 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 53 times since the start of his sophomore year (2017-18). He has averaged 17.3 points during that stretch.
- 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 Delaware State will play for the second time in as many years after meeting for the first time last season. The Greyhounds led 35-29 at halftime of last year's game before pulling away for a 91-62 win.
- Loyola held the Hornets to 8 of 33 (24.2 percent) from the field in the second half, and Delaware State made just 6 of 27 from 3-point range in the game.
- Chuck Champion led 13 Greyhounds who scored with a team-high 15 points, while James Fives had 14, and Andrew Kostecka added 13.
About The Hornets
- Delaware State enters Wednesday's game with a 1-8 record after falling 92-77 to Coastal Carolina University on Saturday evening.
- John Crosby leads the Hornets with 18.9 points per game, while Ameer Bennett is averaging 10.8 to go with a team-high 7.1 rebounds.
Last Time Out
- Binghamton took its only lead of the game with 9:36 left in the first half as a Richard Caldwell, Jr., 3-pointer gave the Bearcats a 20-19 lead, but host Loyola answered with threes from Isaiah Hart and Kenneth Jones on its next two possessions, sparking a 23-5 run to close the half. The Greyhounds finished with a 77-65 victory Sunday night, snapping the Bearcats' four-game winning streak.
- Andrew Kostecka led four Greyhounds in double-figures with 17 points, while KaVaughn Scott added 14 and six rebounds. Golden Dike put up 12 points, and Cam Spencer had 11 to go with five assists and just one turnover.
- Loyola built a 42-25 halftime lead and then extended that advantage to 21 points less than four minutes into the second half.
Conference Honors
- Cam Spencer was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week on Monday after averaging 13 points and five assists in three Greyhounds games last week.
- Spencer scored 11 points and had five assists on Sunday in a win over Binghamton after posting 15 points with five dimes at Omaha. He also scored 13 and had another five helpers in a neutral-site win over IUPUI. Spencer had only two turnovers in those three games.
- 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 Up The Charts
- Andrew Kostecka had three steals Sunday against Binghamton, moving him past Dylon Cormier and into third place on the school's all-time chart with 186. The total also moves him into 14th in Patriot League history.
- With nine 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. Eight games into his final year, he has scored 1,339 points, he is 15th at Loyola, 22 points from passing Joel Hittelman (1951-54) for 14th. Kostecka is also 65th in conference history.
At The Top
- Cam Spencer enters Wednesday night's game against Delaware State ranked No. 1 in NCAA Division I in assist-to-turnover ratio. The freshman has 25 assists with just four giveaways this year, good for a 6.25:1 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 five assists in each of the Greyhounds' last three games with just two total assists.
- He made his first collegiate start on Sunday against Binghamton and is now second on the team in scoring with 9.1 points per game.
- 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 11.8 points and a team-high 4.7 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.
- 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 just eight 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 17.1.
Assists All Around
- Loyola ranks second in the Patriot League and 24th in NCAA Division I in assists per game (17.1), but the Greyhounds do not have any players ranked in the top 250 of the NCAA of assists per game. Isaiah Hart leads Loyola and is tied for seventh in the conference with 3.4 assists per game, pacing six players who have averaged 1.9 assists or more thus far.
- Of the Greyhounds' 207 made field goals this year, 66.2 percent of them have been assisted. According to kenpom.com, that percentage is 12th-best in the nation.
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 seven games this year, the Greyhounds are 223 nationally at 43.1 percent. Currently, Loyola is third in the category in the Patriot League after finishing 10th last season.
Second-Half Shooting
- Loyola's shooting has been markedly better in the second half this season, shooting 52.1 percent from the field after shooting 41.0 in the first half of its games.
- The outlier in those numbers is Sunday's game against Binghamton where the Greyhounds made 17 of 27 shots in the opening stanza to shoot 63 percent. In the second half, they then made 11 of 29 (37.9).
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 eight games, Loyola ranks 170th in the nation at 99.6, 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 61st (53.1) in the category that weights 3-pointers more significantly.
- Loyola has made 56.1 percent of its 2-point field goal attempts this year, good for 28th nationally (h/t kenpom.com).
Doubled Up
- Brent Holcombe saw his longest playing time of the season – 30 minutes – at George Mason, and the junior post player responded with his first double-double of the year. He scored 13 points to go with 11 rebounds and logged his fourth career q.
- Holcombe knocked down 6 of 12 shots and nine of his boards came on the defensive glass. He also matched his career-high with three blocked shots.
Conference, National Honors
- Three Greyhounds have earned Patriot League weekly honors this year. Cam Spencer was the Rookie of the Week on December 2, an honor Golden Dike earned November 18.
- Andrew Kostecka was named the Player of the Week on November 18, and he was also named the National Jesuit Player of the Week that day.
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.
- His 5 of 5 performance is tied for the third-best 3-point percentage in school history, matching what Anthony Walker did in a 2000 game against Canisius. Marquis Sullivan (2007 vs. Rider) and Andre Walker (2016 at American) share the school record for six 3-pointers without a miss.
KaVaughn Converting
- KaVaughn Scott has averaged 10.3 points over the Greyhounds' last four games with two 14-point efforts against IUPUI and Binghamton. During the stretch, he has made 16 of 23 shots (69.6 percent) to boost his 2019-20 field-goal percentage to 63.6 percent, good for third in the Patriot League.
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 70 percent from the field, going 21 of 30.
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 36
- Andrew Kostecka has logged career-high scoring numbers four times in the Greyhounds' last 36q games, dating back to last season. During that stretch, he has recorded 21 games with 20 or more points, 16 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.
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.
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.
