Quick Hits About The Hounds
- Loyola University Maryland begins a two-game road swing on Saturday, January 25, when it plays at Bucknell University in a 7 p.m. game.
- The game will air live on Stadium and stream on the Patriot League Network.
- Jaylin Andrews and KaVaughn Scott both had double-doubles at Army on January 18, the first time since 2016-17 that Loyola teammates have done it in the same game.
- Andrews is averaging 20 points over Loyola's last two games.
- Andrew Kostecka had his 11th game this season with 20 or more points, and the 31st of his career, on January 22 against American when he scored 32; he also has nine games with 25+ this year, and it was his eighth career 30-plus point performance, fourth this season. He has finished with 10 or more 62 times since the start of his sophomore year (2017-18). He has averaged 18.1 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 Bucknell
- Loyola and Bucknell will meet for the 22nd time on the hardwood when the teams take the floor Saturday night in a series that the programs played the past four years prior to Loyola joining the Patriot League in 2013-2014.
- Bucknell holds an 18-3 lead in the all-time series sweeping the last two year's regular-season series, and also winning a narrow 83-78 decision in the 2018 Patriot League Championships Quarterfinals.
- In the last meeting of the teams in 2019, Andrew Kostecka scored 29 points, and Isaiah Hart had 17, but the Bison scored an 84-72 win in Reitz Arena. In Lewisburg a few weeks prior, the Bison used three Jimmy Sotos free throws with 5.8 seconds on the clock to edge the Greyhounds, 71-68.
About The Bison
- Bucknell comes into Saturday's game with an 8-12 overall record, but a 4-3 mark in the Patriot League. Colgate handed the Bison an 80-65 setback on Wednesday night.
- Sotos leads the team with 12.2 points per game, while John Meeks is averaging 12.0 and Avi Toomer 11.9. Paul Newman paces the Bison with 5.7 rebounds per game.
Last Time Out
- Sa'eed Nelson was fouled with three-tenths of a second left on the overtime clock, and he made two of three free throws to give American a 93-91 victory over Loyola on Wednesday night in Reitz Arena.
- Nelson's free throws came after a Connor Nelson steal on the Greyhounds' final possession. Nelson took a 25-plus foot 3-point attempt, but he was fouled on the shot. He finished with a team-high 21 points as one of five Eagles to reach double-figures.
- Jaylin Andrews, who had a career-best 25 points, tied the game with an and-one in the paint for Loyola (9-11, 1-6) with less than a minute to play. Down three, Andrews drove the left side and put up a layup attempt while being fouled; it bounced multiple times on the rim before falling, and the sophomore made the ensuing free throw to knot the game at 91-91.
- Kostecka finished with a game-high 32 points, logging his eighth career game with 30 or more and his fourth this year.
Sidelined
- Since the Patriot League opener on January 2, Loyola has missed at least four player and as many as six in its last six games. The Greyhounds were missing six players due to injury on January 11 against Lafayette, including its top-two scorers – Andrew Kostecka (21.9) and Cam Spencer (9.9). While Kostecka missed just one full game, Spencer has now been out six-straight.
- Overall, Loyola players have missed 68 games this season due to injury or illness.
Elite Company
- Andrew Kostecka scored 32 points on Wednesday night, the eighth time in the last two years he has reached or exceeded 30 points in a game.
- Since the 2010-11 season, only one Patriot League player has scored 30-plus on more occasions; NBA All-Star C.J. McCollum hit that mark 15 times while he was a player at Lehigh. No one else in the League has done it more than five times. (h/t sports-reference.com)
- As a team, Loyola has had 16 occurrences of a player scoring 30 or more points, 14 of those coming since the Greyhounds joined the Patriot League in 2013-14. The 14 times are more than any other Patriot League team except Lehigh.
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 23) who is averaging 20 points, five rebounds (5.3), two steals, two assists (2.6) and half a block (0.8) per game this year.
- This year, Kostecka is 13th in Division I in points per game (21.9), 43rd in steals (2.00), 19th in field goals made (145) and 15th in total points (409).
Rounding Into Form
- Jaylin Andrews finished the 2019-20 season by earning Patriot League All-Rookie honors after averaging 8.8 points in conference play. He averaged 13.2 points over Loyola's last five of the season with three games or more.
- Andrews had a slow start to the 2019-20 season, averaging just 5.2 points in Loyola's 13 non-conference games, shooting 31.9 percent from the field and 20.9 from 3-point range. Since Patriot League games have started, though, Andrews is averaging 10.3 points while shooting 43.9 percent overall.
- Andrews has registered back-to-back season-high scoring numbers in Loyola's last two games, tallying 15 on Saturday at Army West Point before dropping a career-best 25 versus American. In those games, he has shot 59.1 percent from the field and 36.4 percent from 3-point range; he also had 17 rebounds and four steals in the games.
Stepping Up Scoring
- With injuries up and down the Greyhounds lineup since the start of Patriot League games, Isaiah Hart has increased his scoring output by five points per game. He tied KaVaughn Scott for team-high honors with 17 points at Colgate and then scored a to-date season-high 21 points versus Lafayette, making a career-best four 3-pointers.
- In seven Patriot League games this year, Hart has averaged 11.6 points, up from 6.6 he was averaging in non-conference games. He has played 43 career Patriot League regular-season games and has averaged 11.4 points over those contests. He also has a 9.8 overall career scoring average with 809 total points.
Make It A Double
- Two Loyola players recorded double-doubles last Saturday at Army West Point as Jaylin Andrews had a season-best 15 points and a career-high 10 rebounds, while KaVaughn Scott logged 12 and 10.
- The pair was the first Loyola duo since the 2016-2017 season to post double-doubles in the same game. Cam Gregory and Jarred Jones did it twice that year.
- The double-double was the first of Andrews' career and the second for Scott.
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 5.3 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 third 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. Now with 204, he trails only Jason Rowe (1996-2000) who is the Greyhounds' all-time record-holder with 273. Kostecka is also ninth 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 American, Kostecka scored 32 points to pass Mike Powell (1,580, 1995-98) and reach ninth in school history in points (now 1,584). With 75 points, he will tie Dylon Cormier (1,659, 2010-14) for eighth. Kostecka is 23th 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.
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. After scoring 32 against American on January 22, he has four games this season with 30-plus and eight in his career.
Dishing It Out
- Loyola has posted 20 or more assists five times this year through 20 games, making it nine times 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 16.3.
- Of the Greyhounds' 518 made field goals this year, 62.7 percent of them have been assisted. According to kenpom.com, that percentage is 12th-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 55th (52.6) in the category that weights 3-pointers more significantly.
- Loyola has made 54.2 percent of its 2-point field goal attempts this year, good for 25th 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 20 games, Jones is 31 of 70 from 3-point range and leads the Patriot League with a .443 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. Overall, in Patriot League games, he's averaging 9.3 points to raise his season average to 8.2. He is also averaging 6.5 rebounds in the 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.
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.
- 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 remain on the road for their next game, heading to New England to face Boston University on Wednesday, January 29.
