Quick Hits About The Hounds
- Loyola University Maryland heads back on the road for a 7 p.m. game on Wednesday, February 5, game at College of the Holy Cross.
- The game will stream live 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 13.4 points in Loyola's last seven games.
- Andrew Kostecka had his 12th game this season with 20 or more points, and the 32nd of his career, on February 1 against Navy when he scored 21; 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 65 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 two seasons, Loyola improved its field-goal percentage from .438 in 2017-18 to .464 in 2019-20, rising from 218th in NCAA Division I in the category to 50th. The Greyhounds' assists per game jumped from 11.6 to 16.1.
Series History Versus Holy Cross
- Loyola and Holy Cross will meet for the 20th time in series history when the teams meet on Wednesday. The teams met three times in 2014-15 and 2015-16, including contests won by the Crusaders in the Patriot League Championships. Last year, thy split the season series, each winning on the other's home floor.
- Since 2013-14, Loyola's first year in the Patriot League, Holy Cross has a 9-6 advantage in the series, including two wins in Patriot League Championships play.
- In this year's first meeting – the teams played in Baltimore on January 2 in the first game of the Patriot League schedule – Loyola outscored the Crusaders 42-31 in the second half to post an 80-70 victory.
- Andrew Kostecka scored a career-high 37 points, going 15 of 21 from the field, while Isaiah Hart had 15 and Cam Spencer added 11, in the win.
About The Crusaders
- Holy Cross comes into Wednesday night's game with a 3-20 record and a 2-8 mark in the Patriot League. The Crusaders have dropped three-straight after beating Lehigh in overtime on January 22.
- Joe Pridgen leads Holy Cross in scoring with 16.5 point per game, while Austin Butler is at 12.0 and Connor Niego, 9.0. Pridgen and Butler top the team in rebounding with 6.9 and 6.5 per game.
Last Time Out
- Four Loyola University Maryland men's basketball players scored 11 or more points, led by 21 from Andrew Kostecka, as the Greyhounds led for the final 31-plus minutes to turn back Navy, 79-73, on Saturday evening in Reitz Arena.
- Kostecka's 21 game as he went 13 of 14 from the free-throw line, and he also had a game-high seven rebounds. Jaylin Andrews added 16 points, while Isaiah Hart had 14. Santi Aldama made his collegiate debut, and he finished with 11 points, three assists and a blocked shot in just 17 minutes of action.
- Loyola shot an even 50 percent from the field, making 65.2 percent in the first half as it built a 42-30 lead at halftime. The Greyhounds also knocked down 9 of 17 3-point attempts (52.9 percent) and held the Midshipmen to 18.5 percent (5 of 27) from behind the line in the game. The Greyhounds also used a 30-25 advantage on the boards, and they went 28 of 35 (80 percent) from the free-throw line.
- Navy opened up a 13-7 lead less than six minutes in on a Cam Davis jumper, but Loyola then went on an 18-2 run that stretched over five minutes. Aldama started the stretch with his first collegiate points on a layup, and Hart then came up with a steal near half court and threw it to Aldama at the center line. Aldama then one-touched it back to Hart who scored in transition to get Loyola within two. Aldama then drained a three from the top of the perimeter just over a minute later, making it a 15-14 Navy lead. Two Kostecka free throws with 11:13 left in the first half would put Loyola in front for the first time and give the Greyhounds a lead they would not relinquish.
- Andrews, Hart and Kostecka then hit 3-pointers on consecutive Loyola possessions to balloon the lead to 25-15 with 8:27 to go in the half, and while Navy quickly got back within six, an Aldama jumper at 4:06 made it 32-21 Loyola with 4:06 to go before the break.
- Navy twice got within a point, first on two Davis free throws with 8:04 left and again on a John Carter Jr. 3-pointer with 7:19 left. That shot pulled the Midshipmen to within 57-56, but Loyola scored seven in a row, capped by Kenneth Jones' second triple of the second half.
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 and scored 11 points, on 4 of 6 shooting from the field, to go with three assists and a blocked shot.
- Aldama was the Most Valuable Player of the 2019 FIBA U-18 European Championships while leading his native Spain to the title.
Getting To The Line
- Loyola took 46 free throws last Saturday at Bucknell, the most by a Greyhounds team since November 2011 when it had the same number at UMBC. A week later, it went 28 of 35 from the line versus Navy.
- Overall, Loyola has gone to the line 541 times this season, good for ninth in the NCAA. It leads the Patriot League in both free throws made and attempted.
Sidelined
- Since the Patriot League opener on January 2, Loyola has missed at least three players and as many as six in its last seven games. The Greyhounds were missing six players due to injury on January 11 against Lafayette, including its top-two scorers – Andrew Kostecka and Cam Spencer. While Kostecka missed just one full game, Spencer has now been out eight-straight.
- Overall, Loyola players have missed 78 games this season due to injury or illness.
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 1) who is averaging 20 points, five rebounds (5.1), two steals and two assists (2.5) per game this year.
- This year, Kostecka is 11th in Division I in points per game (21.1), 36th in steals (2.05), 24th in field goals made (158), 17th in free throws made (109) and 14th in total points (465).
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 11.2 points while shooting 43.5 percent overall.
- In Loyola's last five games, Andrews has averaged 16.0 points, thanks in part to getting to the free-throw line 26 times where he has made 21. He also is Loyola's leading rebounder in that stretch at 7.2 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 10 Patriot League games this year, Hart has averaged 12.7 points, up from 6.6 he was averaging in non-conference games. He has played 46 career Patriot League regular-season games and has averaged 11.9 points over those contests. He also has a 9.9 overall career scoring average with 855 total points.
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 5.2 rebounds per game, while he is averaging 7.0 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 211, 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 1,640). With 19 points, he will tie Dylon Cormier (1,659, 2010-14) for eighth. Kostecka is 19th in Patriot League history.
Dishing It Out
- Loyola has posted 20 or more assists five times this year through 23 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 16.1, a mark that ranks 24th in NCAA Division I, while its 368 total dimes are 16th.
- Of the Greyhounds' 590 made field goals this year, 62.0 percent of them have been assisted. According to kenpom.com, that percentage is 14th-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 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.
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 46th (52.8) in the category that weights 3-pointers more significantly.
- Loyola has made 54.6 percent of its 2-point field goal attempts this year, good for 20th 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 35 of 78 from 3-point range and is first in the Patriot League with a .449 percentage from behind the arc among qualified players (minimum 1.5 made per game).
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 9.6 points to raise his season average to 8.4. He is also averaging 6.1 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.
Up Next
- The Greyhounds return to Reitz Arena on Saturday, February 8, to face Bucknell in a 5 p.m. 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.
