Quick Hits About The Hounds
- Loyola University Maryland men's basketball plays its second of two weekend games on Sunday, January 24, against American University.
- Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. in Loyola's Reitz Arena. The game will stream live on the Patriot League on ESPN+.
- Loyola was the last NCAA Division I men's basketball team to start its 2020-2021 season of teams that will play this year.
- 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 American
- Loyola and American will meet for the 98th time in series history when the teams take the court on Saturday afternoon. American holds a two-game advantage in the series, 50-48, after posting a 71-70 win on Saturday.
- 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 2013-2014 season, the teams had split the regular-season meetings every year until 2019-2020 when the Eagles swept both games. American posted a 93-91 overtime win on January 22, 2020, in Baltimore before it's 81-76 win in Washington, D.C.
- The programs first met on January 27, 1928, when the Eagles pulled out a 27-25 victory in Baltimore.
Two Points Or Less
- Loyola's three games this year have been decided by a total of five points with a pair of two-point losses to Lafayette and a one-point setback to American.
- It has been 93 years since the Greyhounds have played three-straight games with margins of two or less. Between January 27-February 4, 1928, the Loyola lost three games, each by two points: American (L, 27-25), Western Maryland (L, 27-25), Blue Ridge College (L, 31-29).
Career Days
- Two Greyhounds had career-high scoring outputs on Saturday at American with Santi Aldama tallying 25 and Luke Johnson had 10.
- Aldama's 25 bested his 23 last March at Lehigh, while Johnson's 10 improved on the eight he scored in December 2017, his freshman season, at Florida State.
Dueling Double-Doubles
- Santi Aldama (25 points, 10 rebounds) and Jaylin Andrews (13 points, 10 rebounds) each had double-doubles Saturday at American, marking the second time in as many seasons that two Greyhounds have done so in the same game.
- Andrews was involved in both affairs as he had 15 points and 10 boards at the U.S. Military Academy on January 18, 2020, in the same game KaVaughn Scott had 12 points and 10 boards.
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 last Saturday. He banked in his first 3-point attempt in the opening two minutes, the first of five he'd hit in the game.
- He followed that performance with a 12-point outing against Lafayette last Sunday, and he was named to the Patriot League Weekly Honor Roll.
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.
- Aldama started the 2020-2021 season by averaging 16.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in two contests against Lafayette. He tallied 14 of his game-high 22 points in the second half of Sunday's game versus the Leopards, making 9 of 12 from the field overall in the contest.
- He followed that with his third career double-double, logging 25 points and 10 rebounds at American.
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 last 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 last 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.
- Andrews posted his second career double-double at American, putting up 13 points and a career-high tying 10 rebounds.
Seniors Contributing Off Bench
- Two seniors have been key contributors off the bench for the Greyhounds in the first two games of the season as Luke Johnson and Brent Holcombe have each seen extended minutes.
- Johnson played 22 minutes in the season-opener at Lafayette last Saturday, and he then had 15 minutes of action Sunday. The guard had three rebounds in each of the contests, and he tallied a career-high three steals on Sunday.
- Holcombe knocked down a big three before halftime on Sunday, helping cut a 10-point gap to five at the break. Holcombe finished with five points and a pair of blocked shots in the second meeting.
- Johnson then scored a career-high 10 points at American.
Ochiaka's Back
- Casmir Ochiaka missed the entire 2019-2020 season after knee surgery following his freshman campaign, but the Nigerian forward has returned to the lineup this season.
- Ochiaka had three points and three boards in the first game of the year, followed by four and four in the second.
- In his first year with the program – 2018-2019 – Ochiaka had a strong finish to the season. After playing just 33 minutes during non-conference action, he averaged 5.3 points and 5.1 rebounds per game in 18 Patriot League contests, tallying double-doubles in two of those games.
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.
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.
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 Navy in a pair of games next weekend.
