Quick Hits About The Hounds
- Loyola University Maryland plays the first of two-straight home games on Sunday, February 16, when it hosts Colgate in a 2 o'clock game.
- The game will air live on Stadium.
- Santi Aldama has averaged 10.5 points in each of his first four games as a Greyhound to go with 6.0 rebounds.
- Cam Spencer played at Holy Cross after missing the previous nine games.
- Jaylin Andrews is averaging 12.9 points in Loyola's last eight games.
- Andrew Kostecka had his 14th game this season with 20 or more points, and the 34th of his career, on Wednesday t American when he scored 28; he also has nin10e 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 37 times since the start of his sophomore year (2017-18). He has averaged 18.3 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 15.5.
Senior Day Ceremony
- Prior to Sunday's game – at approximately 1:50 p.m. – the Greyhounds will honor their Class of 2020. Chuck Champion, Andrew Kostecka, KaVaughn Scott and manager Melanie Ornelas will be recognized on the court for their accomplishments within the program and the community.
Series History Versus Colgate
- Loyola and Colgate will meet for the 14th time as Patriot League foes and the 16th time overall when the teams take the floor on Sunday afternoon.
- The teams split last year's regular-season series, and the Raiders won this year's first contest to take a 10-5 lead in the all-time series.
- Loyola won the first meeting last season between the squads, using overtime on January 26 for a 79-72 victory in Reitz Arena. The win snapped the Raiders five-game winning streak in the series.
- In this year's first game, Colgate scored a 92-70 win over a depleted Loyola lineup that was without its top two scorers at the time. Isaiah Hart and KaVaughn Scott each scored 17 for the Greyhounds in the January 8 game in Hamilton, New York.
About The Raiders
- Colgate comes into Sunday's game with a 20-6 overall record and 11-2 mark as the leader in the Patriot League.
- Jordan Burns leads five players who average 10 or more points per game with 15.3. Will Rayman tops both the Raiders and the Patriot League with 8.7 rebounds per game.
Turn On The Television
- Sunday's game will air live on Stadium, and it will stream on the Patriot League Network. Gary Lambrecht will call the play-by-play, while Jim Chivers handles color analysis.
Last Time Out
- Down four after Loyola University Maryland's Isaiah Hart hit a jumper in the lane with 6:09 to go, American University went on a 10-4 run that covered just over two minutes to take a lead it would not relinquish in an 81-76 Patriot League decision at Bender Arena.
- Yilret Yiljep's layup at 4:52 pushed the Eagles in front at 4:52, and a Jamir Harris three 47 seconds later pushed the advantage to 67-63.
- Just over a minute later, Loyola (12-14, 4-9) got to within one when Andrew Kostecka converted a 3-point play with a layup and free throw, cutting the deficit to 69-68 with 2:54 to play, but Sa'eed Nelson scored two of his team-high 22 for American at 2:28 to stretch the lead back to three.
- Loyola came up empty on its next two offensive possessions, and Nelson and Harris scored a layup and had two free throws, respectively, for the Eagles, giving American a 75-68 lead with 1:06 to play.
- From there, Loyola twice got within five, but it would not draw closer in the loss.
- Kostecka led all players with 28 points, while KaVaughn Scott had 14 to go with a game-best 10 rebounds.
Into Third
- Andrew Kostecka had his 34th career game with 20 or more points on Wednesday at American with his 28 total also providing him with a couple of milestones.
- He jumped three players on the school's all-time scoring list to finish the night in third with 1,706. Only Jim Lacy (2,199, 1943-44 and 1946-49) and Kevin Green (2,154, 1988-92) have scored more career points than Kostecka.
- Kostecka also became the 16th player in Patriot League history to score 1,700 career points and is 16th in conference history in scoring.
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.
Stats That Matter
- Improved play was been reflected in Loyola's stats over its recent last three games as the Greyhounds snapped an eight-game skid on February 1.
- During the eight losses, opponents shot 49.5 percent to Loyola's 45.0. Against Navy, Holy Cross and Bucknell, Loyola 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 621 times this season, good for sixth 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 44.3, dividing free-throws attempted (621) by field-goals attempted (1,427).
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 13) who is averaging 20 points, five rebounds (5.2), two steals and two assists (2.5) per game this year.
- This year, Kostecka is 14th in Division I in points per game (21.2), 13th in total points (531), 41st in steals per game (2.04), 22nd in field goals made (178) and eighth in free throws made (133).
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 10.4 points.
- In Loyola's last nine games, Andrews has averaged 12.9 points, thanks in part to getting to the free-throw line 33 times where he has made 26.
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 13 Patriot League games this year, Hart has averaged 12.2 points, up from 6.6 he was averaging in non-conference games. He has played 49 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 886 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 10.1 points to raise his season average to 8.8.
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 217, he trails only Jason Rowe (1996-2000) who is the Greyhounds' all-time record-holder with 273. Kostecka is tied for eighth all-time in the Patriot League in the category.
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 15.6 a mark that ranks 28th in NCAA Division I, while its 403 total dimes are 1820thth.
- Of the Greyhounds' 669 made field goals this year, 59.8 percent of them have been assisted. According to kenpom.com, that percentage is 1st2-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 37th (53.2) 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 11th 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 26 games, Jones is 37 of 84 from 3-point range and is first in the Patriot League with a .440 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.
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.
