Quick Hits About The Hounds
- Loyola University Maryland plays its second-straight road game on Saturday, December 7, when it travels to Emmitsburg, Maryland, for a 4 p.m. game at Mount St. Mary's University in the 175th all meeting between the teams, most of any Loyola opponent.
- Loyola entered Saturday'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 25th-straight game on Sunday when he scored 25 against Delaware State. The game marked the 25th th time in his career, and fifth time this year, he has scored 20 or more; he also has four 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 54 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
- The Loyola-Mount St. Mary's rivalry is the most played between two college basketball teams in the State of Maryland. Saturday's game will mark the 154th time the former Mason-Dixon Conference foes have met on the hardwood.
- The rivalry dates to January 20, 1910, the second season of basketball at Loyola. The Greyhounds won the initial meeting between the teams, 35-24, but The Mount holds a 100-74 advantage all-time.
- In addition to being the oldest series in state history – it predates Loyola-Maryland by two seasons – it is also the most-played. The 174 previous meetings exceed the 164 between Johns Hopkins and McDaniel (formerly Western Maryland), a series that started in 1930.
About The Mountaineers
- Mount St. Mary's brings a 3-6 record into Saturday's game have won two if its last three outings. The Mountaineers scored victories over Utah Valley and Howard on November 26 and 30, respectively, before falling, 76-67, on Tuesday night at Grand Canyon.
- Jalen Gibbs tops the team with 14.1 points per game, while Damian Chong Oui and Vado Morse are also averaging double-figures at 11.7 and 10.0, respectively. Malik Jefferson is the team-leader with 7.9 rebounds per game.
Last Time Out
- Delaware State's "Pinky" Wiley's free throw with 1:44 left cut Loyola's lead to three, but the Greyhounds scored seven-straight and made all seven of their free throws after that point to build a 10-point lead and pull away for an 82-72 non-conference road win on Wednesday.
- Four Greyhounds scored in double-figures, led by Andrew Kostecka's 25 points. KaVaughn Scott scored 14, six coming in the last four minutes, while Cam Spencer and Kenneth Jones each tallied 13.
- After Wiley's free throw made it a three-point game, Scott caught a Spencer pass and scored while being fouled in the paint. He then knocked down a free throw to make it 78-72 with 51 ticks on the clock.
- Earlier in the half, Delaware State used a 13-2 run to go up 52-46, but Kenneth Jones hit threes on each of Loyola's next two possessions to draw the Greyhounds level. Golden Dike then hit two free throws, and Jones scored in the paint to push Loyola back in front.
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. He now stands at 188, a total that is 14th in Patriot League history.
- With seven 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 1,364 points, he is 14th at Loyola, 68 points from passing Bob Connor (1967-71) for 13th. Kostecka is also 57th in conference history.
At The Top
- Cam Spencer enters Saturday's game against Mount St. Mary's ranked No. 2 in NCAA Division I in assist-to-turnover ratio. The freshman has 30 assists with just four giveaways this year, good for a 7.50:1 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 four games with just two total turnovers.
- He made his first collegiate start on Sunday against Binghamton and is now second on the team in scoring with 9.6 points per game, having scored 10 or more in five-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 11.0 points and a team-high 4.4 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 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 17th 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. Cam Spencer and Isaiah Hart are one-two on the team in assists per game at 3.3 and 3.2 per game, respectively, pacing six players who have averaged 1.6 assists or more thus far.
- Of the Greyhounds' 233 made field goals this year, 66.0 percent of them have been assisted. According to kenpom.com, that percentage is ninth-best in the nation. As recently as two years ago, Loyola ranked 332nd nationally in assist percentage.
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 219th nationally at 43.0 percent. Currently, Loyola is fourth 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 53.5 percent from the field after shooting 39.7 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 nine games, Loyola ranks 161st in the nation at 100.2, 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 56th (53.4) in the category that weights 3-pointers more significantly.
- Loyola has made 55.6 percent of its 2-point field goal attempts this year, good for 30th 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 31 from 3-point range and leads the Patriot League with a .548 percentage from behind the arc among qualified players (minimum 1.5 made per game).
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.
KaVaughn Converting
- KaVaughn Scott has averaged 11.0 points over the Greyhounds' last five games with three 14-point efforts against IUPUI, Binghamton and Delaware State. During the stretch, he has made 21 of 30 shots (70 percent) to boost his 2019-20 field-goal percentage to 65 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 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 37
- Andrew Kostecka has logged career-high scoring numbers four times in the Greyhounds' last 37 games, dating back to last season. During that stretch, he has recorded 22 games with 20 or more points, 17 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.
