Quick Hits About The Hounds
- Loyola University Maryland returns to the road on Saturday, January 18, for a 1 p.m. Patriot League game at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y.
- The game will stream live on the Patriot League Network.
- The Greyhounds' eight non-conference wins are an improvement of four from last year.
- Andrew Kostecka had his streak of 31-straight games in double-figures snapped January 8 when he was injured in the first half at Colgate and did not score. His point-total January 2 against Holy Cross marked his 29th career game with 20 or more, his ninth this season; he also has eight games with 25+ this year. It was also his seventh career 30-plus point performance, second in a row and third this season. He has finished with 10 or more 60 times since the start of his sophomore year (2017-18). He has averaged 17.8 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 Versus Army West Point
- Loyola and Army West Point will meet for the 14th time on the basketball hardwood. The Black Knights won both games during the Greyhounds' first Patriot League season, but the teams have split the regular-season series each of the last six years.
- In each of the last two seasons, each team won on its own home court during the regular-season, and Loyola took a home-court Patriot League Championships decision at the end of the 2017-18 campaign.
- Last year, Army West Point cut a 13-point halftime deficit to one on a pair of occasions, but Loyola held on for a 66-64 victory in Reitz Arena on January 12, 2019.
- The Black Knights countered with a 79-69 victory in the Hudson Valley on February 27, 2019, despite a then-career-high 32 points from Andrew Kostecka. Kostecka also had seven steals in the game.
About The Black Knights
- Army West Point picked up its first Patriot League win of the season on Thursday afternoon as Matt Wilson (23) and Tommy Funk (18) combined for 41 points in a 79-67 win at Holy Cross. The Black Knights are now 6-10 overall.
- Funk and Wilson lead Army West Point offensive, each averaging 14.4 points per game, while Lonnie Grayson adds 10.8. Wilson is averaging a team-best 7.9 rebounds per game.
Last Time Out
- Boston University went on a 13-0 run over four minutes early in the first half and extended that stretch to a 42-17 halftime lead on Monday night, dealing Loyola an 85-53 defeat in Reitz Arena.
- Back-to-back Terriers baskets in the paint by Sukhmail Mathon and Alex Vilarino put Boston University in front, 17-2 with 12:04 to go in the first half, and while four-straight got the deficit back to four, the Terriers were soon up by more than 14 minutes into the game.
- Boston University then scored the first four points of the second half before Jaylin Andrews had two steals, and Andrew Kostecka scored six in a row for Loyola. KaVaughn Scott then made the second of two at the free-throw line to close within 46-24 less than three minutes into the stanza, but it was as close as Loyola would draw the rest of the game.
- Kostecka tied for game-high honors with 13 points, and he was joined by three other Greyhounds – Golden Dike (11), Kenneth Jones (10) and Garren Davis (9) – who had nine or more points.
- Javante McCoy matched Kostecka's 13 points, while Mathon and Walter Whyte each scored 12 for the Terriers.
Sidelined
- Loyola was missing six players due to injury last Saturday against Lafayette, including its top-two scorers – Andrew Kostecka (21.9) and Cam Spencer (9.9). Spencer has now missed four-straight, while Kostecka and Luke Johnson both went down with injuries against Colgate; Kostecka came back to play against Boston University.
- Overall, Loyola players have missed 59 games this season due to injury or illness.
One And Only
- Andrew Kostecka does a lot of everything for the Greyhounds, and it is reflected in his statistics. He is the only player in NCAA Division I (through games of January 15) who is averaging 20 points, five rebounds (5.4), two steals and two assists (2.5) per game this year.
- This year, Kostecka is 18th in Division I in points per game (20.9), 43rd in steals (2.06), 19th in field goals made (127) and 19th in total points (355).
Stepping Up Scoring
- With the absence of Kostecka and Spencer, Isaiah Hart has lifted his scoring outing Patriot League games. He tied KaVaughn Scott for team-high honors with 17 points at Colgate, and he then scored a to-date season-high 21 points versus Lafayette, making a career-best four 3-pointers.
- In five Patriot League games this year, Hart has averaged 12.6 points. He has played 41 career Patriot League regular-season games and has averaged 11.6 points over those contests. He also has a 9.8 overall career scoring average.
Golden's First Double-Double
- Golden Dike re-entered the starting lineup at Lehigh for an injured KaVaughn Scott and logged his first career double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
- He then had his fourth game this season with 10 or more points on January 13 against Boston University, making 5 of 8 shots to score 11 in only 19 minutes.
- The Spanish freshman now leads the Greyhounds with 5.5 rebounds per game, while he is averaging 6.7 points per game. He is second amongst qualified Patriot League freshmen in rebounds per game and fifth in points.
Moving Up The Charts
- Andrew Kostecka had three steals on Jan. 2 against Holy Cross, moving him past former teammate Andre Walker (2014-18) for second all-time at Loyola. With 201, he trails only Jason Rowe (1996-2000) who is the Greyhounds' all-time record-holder with 273. Kostecka is also 10th all-time in the Patriot League in the category.
- Kostecka, a senior from Germantown, Maryland, is also climbing the school and Patriot League all-time scoring charts. Against Holy Cross, Kostecka passed Maurice Hicks (1,494, 1981-85) and Tom Gormley (1,497, 1983-87) to reach 10th in school history in points (1,530). With 50 points, he will tie Mike Powell (1,580, 1995-98) for ninth. Kostecka is 28th in Patriot League history.
Kostecka's Big Night
- Andrew Kostecka had one of the finest performances in school history on January 2, making 15 of 21 field goals to score a career-high 37 points against Holy Cross. His 15 field goals made are tied for fourth-most in school history, and his 37 points are tied for 13th.
- He also moved into the top-10 in career scoring at Loyola, becoming the 10th player to score 1,500 or more in a career.
Non-Conference Numbers
- Loyola finished its regular-season non-conference schedule at 8-5, marking a four-win improvement over last year's 4-9 mark. The eight wins are the most by a Greyhounds' team since 2012-14 when the team also went 8-5 outside of the league (then the Greyhounds were in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference).
- The Greyhounds' 5-1 record during December was its best since it had the same record in February 2013.
30 Last Decade
- Andrew Kostecka's 30-point performance against VCU marked the 15th time since 2010 that a Loyola player scored 30 or more in a game. Kostecka did it six 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.
And, 30 This Decade
- Kostecka also had the first 30-point performance of the 2020s, finishing with 37 on January 2 against Holy Cross. He now has seven games with 30 or more points in his career, three this season.
At The Top
- Cam Spencer enters Monday's game against Lehigh ranked No. 1 in NCAA Division I in assist-to-turnover ratio. The freshman has 49 assists with just eight giveaways this year, good for a 6.13:1 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 six of the Greyhounds' last nine games, in which he's played, with just six total turnovers.
- He made his first collegiate start on December 1 against Binghamton and is now second on the team in scoring with 9.9 points per game, having scored 10 or more in eight of the last 10.
- 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 4.0 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.
Dishing It Out
- Loyola has posted 20 or more assists four times this year through 17 games, marking the eighth 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 16.0.
- Of the Greyhounds' 459 made field goals this year, 62.3 percent of them have been assisted. According to kenpom.com, that percentage is 13th-best in the nation. As recently as two years ago, Loyola ranked 332nd nationally in assist percentage.
Shooting Numbers
- The Greyhounds' offense is trending positively in many metrics this season. Two years ago, the Greyhounds were 305th in effective field-goal percentage, and they now rank 62nd (52.2) in the category that weights 3-pointers more significantly.
- Loyola has made 54.0 percent of its 2-point field goal attempts this year, good for 34th 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 18 games, Jones is 27 of 59 from 3-point range and leads the Patriot League with a .458 percentage from behind the arc among qualified players (minimum 1.5 made per game).
KaVaughn Converting
- KaVaughn Scott averaged 9.6 points over a seven-game stretch from November 25-December 27, a span that included three 14-point efforts against IUPUI, Binghamton and Delaware State, and a 13-point game versus UMass Lowell. During the stretch, he made 28 of 45 shots (62.2 percent).
- In games at Colgate and against Lafayette, Scott has averaged 13.0 points per game with a season-high 17 coming against the Raiders.
- 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.
Kostecka In His Last 45
- Andrew Kostecka has logged career-high scoring numbers four times in his last 45 games, dating back to last season. During that stretch, he has recorded 27 games with 20 or more points, 21 with 25 or better and seven with 30 or higher. He has scored 13 or more in all but two of those games and had 18 or more in all but nine.
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.
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 and is on pace to do it again this year.
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.
Up Next
- The Greyhounds return to Reitz Arena for their next game on Wednesday, January 22, when they host American University at 7 p.m.
