Game Information
Opponent	Johns Hopkins Blue Jays | Exhibition Game
Follow Us	Instagram | Twitter
Game Notes	Loyola
Date	Monday, November 1, 2021
Time	7:00 p.m.
Location	Baltimore, Md. | Reitz Arena
Tickets	Free Admission
Directions	Click Here
Watch	Patriot League on ESPN+ | International Video Stream
Online Media	Live Stats

Quick Hits About The Hounds

• Loyola University Maryland men's basketball starts its 2021-2022 season with an exhibition contest on Monday, November 1, against Johns Hopkins University.
• Admission to the game is free for all fans.
• Monday's game, along with all non-televised home games, will stream live on ESPN+.
• Loyola returns nine players to its roster after reaching the Patriot League Championship Game in 2021. Four starters from that game return this year, as do
• Jaylin Andrews is the team's top returning scorer after averaging 11.6 points per game a year ago to go with 4.9 rebounds. Golden Dike is the Greyhounds' leading rebounder back on the rosterl he averaged 6.2 as a sophomore. Cam Spencer saw limited action at the end of the season due to an early injury, but he was key in the Greyhounds' Patriot League Championships run and finished averaging 10.2 points per game.
• Tavaras Hardy is in his fourth 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 both 2019-20 and 2020-21, rising from 218th in NCAA Division I in the category to 51st.

About The Blue Jays    

• Johns Hopkins University is a NCAA Division III member less than 1.5 miles down Charles Street from Loyola.
• The Blue Jays are led by a face familiar to many Loyola fans, fifth-year Head Coach Josh Loeffler who was an assistant at Loyola from 2013-17.
• Johns Hopkins won the Centennial Conference title in 2019-20 and reached the NCAA Championships for the second year in a row.
• The Blue Jays enter the 2021-2022 season ranked No. 14 in the D3Hoops.com Top-25 and are led by 2020 NABC First-Team All-American Connor Delaney.

A Look To The Past    

• Last year was a year unlike any other for college basketball, and the Greyhounds were no different. As a conference, the Patriot League Council of Presidents voted during the Fall of 2020 to play only conference games starting in early January.
• The Greyhounds competed in 17 games, 14 in the regular-season and three in the conference tournament, going 6-11 overall.
• Loyola lost its final two regular-season games to the U.S. Naval Academy and entered the Patriot League Championships as the No. 9 seed with a 4-10 overall mark. The Greyhounds, however, jumped out to a 40-28 halftime lead against top-seeded Navy in the Patriot League Quarterfinal and went on to a 76-68 victory on the Midshipmen's home floor.
• Loyola then traveled to the U.S. Military Academy for its first-ever date in the Patriot League Semifinals, and a 42-25 halftime advantage turned into a 67-63 win over the Black Knights.
• The Greyhounds' season then came to an end in Hamilton, New York, as Colgate won the title game, 85-72.

Difference Makers    

• The biggest differences for Loyola in its six wins versus its 11 losses last season came defensively and in ball-handling.
• Loyola held its opponents to 38.3 percent from the field in its six wins, while the 11 losses have come while opponents have shot 45.6 percent. Additionally, the Greyhounds defended the three to the tune of 27.9 percent compared to 36.8 percent.
• Loyola, meanwhile, shot 48.6 percent from the field in the wins as opposed to 45.1 in the losses.
• The Greyhounds averaged only 11.5 giveaways in wins as opposed to 16.4 in the other nine.

Stepping Into A Leading Role    

• 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.
• Andrews continued his climb as a consistent scorer and rebounder for the Greyhounds during the 2020-2021 season. He went for 13 points twice during the first two games of the year before breaking out for 22 on January 24 against American.
• He averaged 14.3 points during the Patriot League Championships, scoring 17 in the quarterfinal at Navy and 20 in the title game at Colgate. Overall, Andrews wrapped up his junior campaign by averaging 11.6 points and 4.9 rebounds per game in the 17 contests.
• Andrews also became a more efficient shooter, knocking down 44.8 percent of shots from the field during the season, an improvement of more than five percent over his first two years with the Greyhounds. He also picked up his rebounding by almost 1.5 per game.
• Through 79 career games, of which he has started 56, Andrews is averaging 8.2 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.

United Nations    

• Loyola enters the 2021-2022 season with five players who hail from outside of the United States on its roster. The Greyhounds have two from Spain – Golden Dike and Alonso Faure – a pair from Serbia – twins Milos and Veljko Ilic – and one from Nigeria – Casmir Ochiaka.
• The five internationally born players are the most of any team in the Patriot League.

Spencer Returns    

• Cam Spencer missed the 2020-2021 season's first 12 games recovering from off-season surgery, but he made his presence felt in the Greyhounds last five games. He came off the bench in each of the last two regular-season games, scoring 10 while logging three rebounds, two assists and two steals on February 27 in 17 minutes. Spencer then had 11 points and five rebounds in 25 minutes the following day.
• He then made his first start of the year in the Patriot League Quarterfinal, playing 33 minutes while scoring 10 to go with seven assists, five rebounds and two steals.
• Spencer raised his minutes played to 35 in the semifinal against Army West Point, posting to-date season-highs with 16 points and seven rebounds.
• In the five games, Spencer averaged 11.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists.
• During his freshman campaign of 2019-2020, Spencer averaged 10.0 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 23 games. He had a 3.8:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
• In the 28 games Spencer has played at Loyola, the Greyhounds are 17-11.

Golden Touch    

• Golden Dike has been a vital part of the Greyhounds' post rotation since coming to Loyola, averaging 25.7 minutes while starting every game but Senior Day a year ago.
• He finished the year averaging 7.1 points per game, just up from his 7.0 as a freshman in 2019-2020 when he made the Patriot League All-Rookie Team. Dike raised his rebounding average by a board per game, finishing ninth in the Patriot League with 6.2 per contest.
• In his 49 games played over two seasons, Dike has shot 56.8 percent from the field, and finishing in the paint is not the only touch he's shown. He also finished third on the team with 37 assists last year, an average of 2.2 per game.
• Dike continued to compete with the Spanish National Team program last summer, competing for the U20 team at the FIBA European Challengers event. He led Spain with 8.0 rebounds per game as his side went 4-1 in the top division of the event.

Veteran In The Backcourt    

• Kenneth Jones has been a mainstay in the Greyhounds backcourt over the last three seasons, averaging at least 20.3 minutes per game over 76 contests since 2018-19. He has averaged 6.0 points per game while shooting 43.7 percent from the field, 39.0 percent from 3-point range.
• As a sophomore in 2019-2020, Jones finished third in the Patriot League in 3-point percentage, making 40.4 percent from behind the arc.

Seasoned Sophomores    

• Loyola's pair of sophomores, Alonso Faure and Wade Jackson, both gained significant playing time as freshmen in 2020-2021 and will be key members of Tavaras Hardy's rotation this year. Faure averaged 5.2 points and 3.6 rebounds in 17 games, while Jackson started the first three of the year and saw action in 14.

First In The First    

• The offseason news out of Loyola basketball was monumental as the Greyhounds had their first-ever NBA First Round Draft Pick when Santi Aldama was selected No. 30 by the Memphis Grizzlies after spending two seasons with the Greyhounds.
• Aldama was just the second Loyola player to be selected in the modern NBA Draft after Mike Morrison was a second-round pick in 1988. He also became the fourth Patriot League player drafted and third in the first round.
• Aldama's contributions will be missed by the Greyhounds as he was the only player in the NBA to average more than 18 points, eight rebounds, two assists and 1.5 blocked shots per game last year (per SportsReference.com).
• The sophomore from the Canary Islands of Spain finished 12th in NCAA Division I in scoring (21.2 ppg) and 14th in rebounds (10.1).

Glass Ceiling Shattered    

• When Corin 'Tiny' Adams assumed her seat on the Loyola bench January 16, 2021, 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 became the fifth female assistant coach in NCAA Division I history. Currently, she is the only female to hold such a spot after Maine's Edniesha Curry moved to the NBA's Portland TrailBlazers.
• Head Coach Tavaras Hardy added a second female to the coaching staff during the most recent offseason as Sydney Hines was named the program's director operations. The former player at Central Connecticut State, Hines replaces longtime director of operations Kevin Farrell who took an assistant coaching job at Belmont Abbey College.

Meet The New Guys    

• Loyola will open the season with seven new players on the roster, six freshman and a junior walk-on.
• Nick Marshall comes to Loyola from River Hill High School in nearby Howard County where he averaged 17.5 points, 6 rebounds and five assists per game as a senior.
• David Brown III played at Bishop McNamara High School. As a senior in 2020-2021, Brown averaged 14 points and six rebounds per game, and as a sophomore in 2018-2019, he was named to the All-MIAA team while at McDonogh School.
• Twins Milos and Veljko Ilic played at Hoosac School in New York after growing up in Serbia. The post players both averaged nearly 20 points and 10 rebounds at Hoosac and have played in age group tournament for the Serbian National Team.
• Chris Kuzemka was named the Virginia Class 6A Player of the Year at Centreville High School in 2020-2021 after averaging 22.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game. He was a standout wide receiver, too, and was originally slated to play football at Virginia Tech,.
• Charlie Weisberg, a freshman, and Alex Jackson, a junior, joined the program as walk-ons for the 2020-2021 season. Weisberg averaged 16 points per game at The Millbrook School, while Jackson played high school basketball with current Loyola players Cam Spencer and Jaylin Andrews at Boys Latin School of Maryland.