Quick Hits About The Hounds
- Loyola University Maryland men's basketball plays its first home game of the season on Sunday, January 17, 2021, when it hosts Lafayette College at 6 p.m.
- The game will air live nationally on CBS Sports Network with Jason Knapp and Mo Cassara on the call.
- Loyola as the last NCAA Division I men's basketball team to start its 2020-2021 season of teams that will play this year. Fellow Patriot League school American started the year four hours earlier.
- Due to Patriot League and State of Maryland restrictions, fans will not be permitted to attend the game.
- Santi Aldama was named to the Preseason All-Patriot League Team after being one of three Greyhounds to earn conference All-Rookie recognition last year. In just 10 games last year – Aldama missed the first 22 due to an injury – he averaged 15.2 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.7 blocked shots per game as the Greyhounds went 6-4.
- Tavaras Hardy is in his third 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 three seasons, Loyola improved its field-goal percentage from .438 in 2017-18 to .465 in 2019-20, rising from 218th in NCAA Division I in the category to 41st. The Greyhounds' assists per game jumped from 11.6 to 15.5.
Series History Versus Lafayette
- Loyola and Lafayette will meet for the 20th time in series history on Sunday with the Leopards holding a 10-9 lead in the all-time series after Saturday's 77-75 win in Easton, Pennsylvania.
- The programs each won on the other's home court last year with the Leopards prevailing, 65-62, in January in Baltimore and the Greyhounds winning, 70-68, the following month in Easton.
- Since Loyola joined the Patriot League for the 2013-2014 season, Lafayette has won eight times in the regular season to Loyola's seven, and they have split a pair of Patriot League Championships games. The two non-Patriot League meetings between the programs came in December 1930 (Loyola, 31-27) and December 1962 (Lafayette, 69-64.
How We Got Here
- The January 2 women's basketball game between Loyola and Bucknell was the first intercollegiate contest for a Greyhounds team in 296 days due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The last time the Greyhounds competed was on March 12, 2020, when the men's and women's tennis teams swept Coppin State.
- Loyola men's basketball's game on January 16 at Lafayette was its first in 319 days.
- On November 9, 2020, the Patriot League Council of Presidents endorsed a plan for League-only men's and women's basketball schedules to start on January 2.
Double The Fun
- This year's schedule will feature games on Saturdays and Sundays during the months of January and February. Each weekend, Loyola will play one home game and one road game against the same opponent for a total of 16 games.
- Meanwhile, the schools' women's teams will be playing Saturday and Sunday in the opposite location.
And, Where We Are Headed
- The 2020-2021 season will look different in so many ways, and just one of those will be the divisional play of Patriot League teams as they race to qualify for the Patriot League Championships.
- Teams in the conference are split into three mini-conferences: South (American, Loyola, Navy), Central (Bucknell, Lafayette, Lehigh) and North (Army West Point, Boston University, Colgate, Holy Cross). Teams will play multiple games within those mini-conferences with other games as crossovers to others.
- Eight teams, as opposed to 10, will qualify for the Patriot League Championships this year.
- Each of the three mini-conference winners earns a spot into the tournament field and host a quarterfinal game. Those teams are seeded (one through three) by their overall League record winning percentage.
- Each of the second-place mini-conference finishers earns a spot in the tournament field. The runner-up team with the best overall record would earn the No. 4 seed and the right to host a quarterfinal game. Those teams are seeded (four through six) by their overall League record winning percentage.
- The seventh and eighth seeds are determined by a list of procedures, including but not limited to: best two overall League record winning percentages and head-to-head record (if applicable).
Late Start, But Not The Latest
- While Loyola's start to the season is late by modern standards, it is not the latest start to a season in program history. January 16 is the latest in exactly 100 years since the 1920-1921 team opened its campaign on January 27, 1921, with a 41-16 setback to the Catholic University of American.
Patriot League On ESPN+
- A new season means a new home for streaming video of Patriot League contests. Last summer, the conference announced a multi-year agreement that made ESPN+ the exclusive digital home for live Patriot League events.
- Fans can subscribe to ESPN+ for great Patriot League games, as well as much more. Information is available at http://loyo.la/espnplus20.
- Additionally, international fans can subscribe to watch games via SIDEARM Sports. Information for that can also be found at LoyolaGreyhounds.com.
Preseason Prognostications
- Loyola was picked to finish third in the Patriot League's preseason poll by conference coaches and communications personnel, the highest the Greyhounds have ever been slated in a preseason poll since joining the conference in 2013-2014. Boston University was picked as the conference favorite, followed by Colgate University and the Greyhounds. The U.S. Naval Academy and Lafayette College rounded out the top-five.
- Santi Aldama was one of five players who were named to the Preseason All-Patriot League Team. He was joined by Colgate's Jordan Burns (preseason POY), Boston University's Walter Whyte, Lafayette's Justin Jaworski and Navy's Cam Davis.
Glass Ceiling Shattered
- When Corin 'Tiny' Adams assumed her seat on the Loyola bench Saturday in its game at Lafayette, she became the first female assistant coach of a Patriot League men's basketball team.
- Adams joined the Loyola staff in October 2020, and she is one of two female assistant coaches on a Division I bench this year, along with the University of Maine's Edniesha Curry. Adams is the sixth woman to serve as an assistant coach in NCAA Division I history.
Bradsher Goes Big
- Making the first start of his collegiate career in the season-opener at Lafayette, senior guard Brandon Bradsher entered 2019-2020 with 14 total points in 17 career games.
- The walk-on shattered that total with a team-high 21 points, going 6 of 9 from the field, 5 of 7 from 3-point range and 4 of 5 from the free-throw line against the Leopards in 25 minutes of action.
- Bradsher, who started his time at Loyola as a manager with the program in 2017-18, had played just 28 total minutes before the game on Saturday. He banked in his first 3-point attempt in the opening two minutes, the first of five he'd hit in the game.
Big Amongst His Class Peers
- Golden Dike put together a solid freshman season in 2019-2020, averaging 7.0 points and 5.2 rebounds per game while seeing action in all 32 outings.
- He finished second amongst qualified Patriot League freshmen in rebounding, and he is first amongst those in that category who return this year. Dike shot 58.9 percent from the field, a team-best, in 2019-2020. He was sixth overall in the Patriot League in field-goal percentage, tops amongst freshmen.
- In the 2020-2021 season-opener, Dike nearly had his third career double-double, coming up two rebounds shy with 15 points and eight boards at Lafayette.
Debuts
- Two freshmen made their collegiate debuts for Loyola on Saturday as Wade Jackson and Alonso Faure both saw their first action as Greyhounds.
- Jackson was in the opening five and scored six points in 27 minutes, while Faure came off the bench to score four points, grab four rebounds and pass out a pair of assists in 13 minutes.
Big Lineup
- Loyola played nearly six minutes on Saturday with a lineup that featured three players 6-foot-9 or taller in Santi Aldama (6'11"), Golden Dike and Alonso Faure (both 6'10"). It was the first time since 2003-2004 that the Greyhounds have sent three players 6-foot-9 or taller onto the court at the same time. That year, Sean Corrigan (6'11"), Irakli Nijaradze (6'10") and Jim Chivers (6'9") would play together at times. Chivers is now the Greyhounds ESPN+ analyst.
Rounding Into Form
- Jaylin Andrews shook off 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. In Patriot League games, though, Andrews averaged 9.9 points. In Loyola's last 14 games of that year, Andrews averaged 11.1 points.
- He opened 2020-2021 slowly with just three points in the first half of the opener at Lafayette, but he shook that off quickly by tallying 10 in the second half to finish with 13 points, seven rebounds and a pair of assists.
Follow-Up Act
- Loyola's Class of 2023 will have a tough act to follow up on after its performance last year. Now sophomores, forwards Santi Aldama and Golden Dike and guard Cam Spencer were all three named to the Patriot League All-Rookie Team after excellent freshman seasons.
- It was just the second time in conference history that three players from the same school were named to the All-Rookie Team as Aldama, Dike and Spencer joined Bucknell University's Bryson Johnson, Mike Muscala and Joe Willman in 2009-10.
Dishing It Out
- Loyola posted 20 or more assists five times last year in 32 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.
- In 2018-2019, Loyola averaged 14.0 assists, up from 11.9 in 2017-2018. Last season, it averaged 15.5, a mark that ranked 23rd in NCAA Division I, while its 495 total dimes were 18th. That total was tied for second-most in school single-season history.
- Of the Greyhounds' 830 made field goals last year, 59.7 percent of them have been assisted. According to kenpom.com, that percentage was 18th-best in the nation. As recently as two years ago, Loyola ranked 332nd nationally in assist percentage.
Graduation Success
- Loyola University Maryland tied for the fifth-highest overall Graduate Success Rate (GSR) in the NCAA report released in November, highlighting the Greyhounds success in the classroom. Loyola had a 95 percent GSR, and it has ranked in the top-25 of the GSR in all 16 years since the report's inception.
- Loyola's men's basketball program was the only one in the State of Maryland that had a NCAA Graduation Success Rate of 100 percent for the most-recent report.
Not A Coincidence
- The Greyhounds went 7-3 in Patriot League games last year in which Cam Spencer and/or Santi Aldama were on the court.
- Spencer played in the opening win over Holy Cross, and Aldama came back on February 1 when Loyola started a stretch of six wins in its last seven games. Spencer played in the last six of those games, and the Greyhounds were 14-9 in the games he has played.
Long-Awaited Debut
- 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, 2020, 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.
- The Most Valuable Player of the 2019 FIBA U-18 European Championships then broke out with 22 points, making five 3-pointers, and eight boards in a win over Colgate. He posted his first collegiate double-double with 14 points, 10 rebounds at Lafayette. He then had another with 18 points and 12 rebounds at Navy, followed by 20 points and eight boards against Lehigh. He set a new season-high with 23 points to go with nine rebounds and five assists in the Patriot League Championships at Lehigh.
- Aldama was named Patriot League Rookie of the Week three times during the last four weeks of the season.
- He finished 2019-2020 averaging 15.2 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.7 blocked shots per game in 10 appearances.
Stepping Up Scoring
- With injuries up and down the Greyhounds lineup since the start of Patriot League games, Isaiah Hart increased his scoring output by almost six points per game in 2019-2020.
- In 18 Patriot League games last year, Hart has averaged 11.4 points, up from 6.6 he was averaging in non-conference games. He has played 54 career Patriot League regular-season games and has averaged 11.7 points over those contests. He also has a 9.9 overall career scoring average with 940 total points.
Saying Good By To A Top Performer
- Andrew Kostecka had his 34th career game with 20 or more points on February 12, 2020, 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. Only Jim Lacy (2,199, 1943-44 and 1946-49) and Kevin Green (2,154, 1988-92) scored more career points than Kostecka who had 1,751.
- Kostecka also became the 16th player in Patriot League history to score 1,700 career points, and he is 14th in conference history in scoring.
- He also finished second all-time at Loyola with 222 steals, a mark that's seventh in conference history.
Spencer Sparks Offense
- 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.
- He saved his best for last as he scored a game-high 24 points to go with six assists in the Patriot League Championships at Lehigh.
Up Next
- Loyola will play American in a pair of games next weekend.
