Quick Hits About The Hounds
- Loyola University Maryland heads to the Nation's Capital on Wednesday, Feb. 12, to face American University at 7 p.m.
- The game will stream live on the Patriot League Network.
- Santi Aldama has scored 11 points in each of his first three games as a Greyhound, and he is averaging 7.5 rebounds.
- Cam Spencer played at Holy Cross after missing the previous nine games.
- Jaylin Andrews is averaging 14.1 points in Loyola's last seven games.
- Andrew Kostecka had his 13th game this season with 20 or more points, and the 33rd of his career, on Saturday against Bucknell when he scored 20; he also has nine games with 25+ this year, and his 32 versus American on January 22 marked his eighth career 30-plus point performance and fourth this season. He has finished with 10 or more 66 times since the start of his sophomore year (2017-18). He has averaged 18.2 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 two seasons, Loyola improved its field-goal percentage from .438 in 2017-18 to .469 in 2019-20, rising from 218th in NCAA Division I in the category to 33rd. The Greyhounds' assists per game have jumped from 11.6 to 15.7.
Series History Versus American
- American is Loyola's most-played Patriot League opponent, as Wednesday's game will be the 98th all-time installment in the series. The programs had a evenly split the previous 96 games before American took a 93-91 overtime decision on January 22 in Baltimore.
- The Eagles, who are Loyola's seventh most-played opponent in program history, and Greyhounds were former Mason-Dixon Conference opponents prior to each joining NCAA Division I.
- Since Loyola joined the Patriot League for the 2013-14 season, have split every regular-season series over the previous six years.
- Last year, each won on the other's home floor with Loyola pulling out an 86-84 win on February 13, 2019, in Washington, D.C., after the Eagles won, 74-68, in Baltimore the month prior.
About The Eagles
- American enters Wednesday game with a 12-11 overall record and an 8-4 showing in Patriot League games after winning its last two over Navy and Army West Point.
- Sa'eed Nelson leads the Eagles with 17.2 points per game, while Jamir Harris is averaging 11.0. Mark Gasperini and Jacob Boonyasith lead the Eagles with 5.1 rebounds.
Last Time Out
- Andrew Kostecka scored a game-high 20 points, leading four Loyola players in double figures during a 78-65 victory over Bucknell at Reitz Arena on Saturday.
- The Greyhounds topped the Bison for the first time since 2017 and a second time since joining the Patriot League prior to the 2013-14 season.
- Loyola led for the final 34:51 of regulation and held a 40-27 advantage at the intermission, but Bucknell had pulled within one at 58-57 with just under five minutes remaining in the second half.
- Kostecka responded with a key 3-pointer on the other end, beginning an 11-1 run which gave the home side some breathing room. He hit 5 of 7 field goal attempts and 9 of 10 shots from the free throw line while recording 20+ points for a 13th time this season. Kostecka added nine rebounds in the win, just missing out on his second double-double of the year.
- KaVaughn Scott followed with 12 points, while Santi Aldama and Golden Dike each added 11. Scott and Dike were both a perfect 4 for 4 from the floor.
Maybe It Was The Month
- Loyola has won its last three since the calender turned to February after going through a 1-8 stretch in January. That followed a 5-1 record that the Greyhounds put up in December, their best record for a month since February 2013
Long-Awaited Debut
- Freshman post Santi Aldama had to wait until the fourth month of the 2019-2020 season to make his Loyola debut after missing the first 22 games of the year with an injury.
- Aldama, who was ranked as high as the No. 65 recruit in the nation prior to the season, came off the bench early in the first half against Navy on February 1 and scored 11 points, on 4 of 6 shooting from the field, to go with three assists and a blocked shot. He followed that with two more 11-point performances, scoring the same amount at Holy Cross and against Bucknell while grabbing eight and seven rebounds, respectively.
- Aldama was the Most Valuable Player of the 2019 FIBA U-18 European Championships while leading Spain to the title.
Triple Threat
- Santi Aldama was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week on February 10, becoming the third Loyola player to garner the award this year, following Golden Dike and Cam Spencer.
- Loyola is the only team in the League to have three different freshmen win the rookie award this year.
Another Freshman Returns
- Cam Spencer was Loyola's second-leading scorer after the first 14 games of the year, and he led the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio by a wide margin following the Patriot League opener on January 2.
- That game, however, was Spencer's last until February 5 when he returned to action after an injury. He missed nine-straight games, a stretch in which the Greyhounds went 1-8.
- The Davidsonville, Maryland, native is averaging 9.3 points, 3.2 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game. He has dished out 51 assists with just nine turnovers (5.67:1), but he no longer qualifies for the national rankings since he has not played in 75 percent of Loyola's games.
Stats That Matter
- Improved play has been reflected in Loyola's stats over the last three games as the Greyhounds snapped an eight-game skid and have won two-straight.
- During the eight losses, opponents were shooting 49.5 percent to Loyola's 45.0. Against Navy, Holy Cross and Bucknell, Loyola has held them to 38.3 percent from the field while shooting 52.2 percent. The different has been significant in 3-point defense, too, where Loyola allowed 39.5 percent in the losses to 20 percent over the three wins.
Getting To The Line
- Loyola took 46 free throws in both games it played this year against Bucknell, the most by a Greyhounds team since November 2011 when it had the same number at UMBC.
- Overall, Loyola has gone to the line 603 times this season, good for fifth in the NCAA. It leads the Patriot League in both free throws made and attempted.
- Loyola's free-throw rate is third-best in the nation this year, according to KenPom.com. The Greyhounds get to the line at rate of 45.0, dividing free-throws attempted (603) by field-goals attempted (1,366).
Elite Company
- Andrew Kostecka scored 32 points January 22 against American, 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 February 10) who is averaging 20 points, five rebounds (5.3), two steals and two assists (2.5) per game this year.
- This year, Kostecka is 15th in Division I in points per game (21.0), 14th in total points (503), 40th in steals (2.04), 26th in field goals made (170) and 11th in free throws made (122).
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 12.2 points over Loyola's last five of the season with three games of 12 points 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 10.9 points while shooting 43.4 percent overall.
- In Loyola's last eight games, Andrews has averaged 14.1 points, thanks in part to getting to the free-throw line 32 times where he has made 26. He also is Loyola's leading rebounder in that stretch at 5.9 per game.
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 12 Patriot League games this year, Hart has averaged 12.3 points, up from 6.6 he was averaging in non-conference games. He has played 48 career Patriot League regular-season games and has averaged 11.9 points over those contests. He also has a 10.0 overall career scoring average with 876 total points.
KaVaughn Converting
- In games at Colgate and against Lafayette, Scott averaged 13.0 points per game with a season-high 17 coming against the Raiders. Overall, in Patriot League games, he's averaging 9.7 points to raise his season average to 8.6.
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 is second on the team with 4.9 rebounds, while he is averaging 7.0 points per game. He is second amongst 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 215, 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 Bucknell, Kostecka scored 20 points to pass Mike Krawczyk (1,676, 1968-72) for seventh in school history (now 1,678). With five more points, he'll pass former teammate Andre Walker (1,682, 2014-18) for sixth. Kostecka is 16th in Patriot League history.
Dishing It Out
- Loyola has posted 20 or more assists five times this year through 25 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 15.7, a mark that ranks 27th in NCAA Division I, while its 392 total dimes are 18th.
- Of the Greyhounds' 641 made field goals this year, 60.8 percent of them have been assisted. According to kenpom.com, that percentage is 16th-best in the nation. As recently as two years ago, Loyola ranked 332nd nationally in assist percentage.
30 Last Decade
- Andrew Kostecka's 30-point performance against VCU marked the 15th time from 2010-19 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.
- He then 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.
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 34th (53.3) in the category that weights 3-pointers more significantly.
- Loyola has made 55.2 percent of its 2-point field goal attempts this year, good for 12th 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 25 games, Jones is 36 of 83 from 3-point range and is first in the Patriot League with a .434 percentage from behind the arc among qualified players (minimum 1.5 made per game).
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.
