Game Information
Opponent	Chicago State Cougars
Game Notes	Loyola
Date	Wednesday, December 1, 2021
Time	7:00 p.m.
Location	Baltimore, Md. | Reitz Arena
Tickets	Purchase
Directions	Click Here
Watch	ESPN+ | International Video Stream
Online Media	Live Stats

Quick Hits About The Hounds

• Loyola University Maryland men's basketball opens a two-game homestand on Wednesday, December 1, when it hosts Chicago State University at 7 p.m.
• The non-conference game will stream live on ESPN+ from Reitz Arena.
• Cam Spencer is leading Loyola and the Patriot League in scoring at 18.7 points per game. Jaylin Andrews leads the conference in steals with 2.3.
• The 10-point deficit Loyola faced early in the second half on November 28 at Fairfield is the largest it has overcome for a win since January 2, 2020.
• Jaylin Andrews is the team's top returning scorer from a year ago 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 roster; 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.

Series History    

• Loyola and Chicago State will face each other for the second time in series history on Wednesday as the teams close a two-game series.
• The Greyhounds won the first meeting, 98-85, in Chicago on November 9, 2019.
• Andrew Kostecka made 9 of 13 shots and scored a game-high 26 points in just 23 minutes of action, while Jaylin Andrews and Cam Spencer each scored 14 points.

Last Time Out    

• Loyola used a 15-5 run over the game's last six minutes, and the Greyhounds held Fairfield to 1 of 10 from the field during the stretch, to rally for a 75-70 non-conference victory over its former conference rival at Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard.
• A layup by T.J Long with 6:19 left in regulation gave the Stags a 65-60 lead, but that was the last field goal the Greyhounds would yield until Long made a three with just over 20 seconds to play. Wade Jackson made a pair of free throws 17 seconds after Long's layup to start the run that would put Loyola back on top. Jaylin Andrews had a free-throw line jumper rattle at 5:24, and Golden Dike converted at the rim 40 seconds later to give Loyola its first lead since the final three minutes of the first half.
• Neither Loyola, nor Fairfield scored for more than two minutes until Cam Spencer dropped a pass to Kenneth Jones on the right side, and Jones drained a three at 2:28 to make it a four-point Greyhounds lead, 69-65. Spencer scored a team-high 20 points and had three assists, while Jones went for a season-best 16 to go with a team-high five assists.
• The Stags made a pair at the free-throw line with 2:04 showing, and it was back to a two-point lead, but five seconds later Jones took a long outlet pass and threw to Dike for a transition dunk. Dike scored a season-high 10 points and led Loyola with seven rebounds.
• The teams traded empty possessions after Dike's dunk before Jackson ripped a steal away from the Stags, and Spencer was fouled. He made both free throws to push the lead to six, and after a Stags turnover, Fairfield called timeout with 33 ticks on the clock.
• Coming out of the timeout, the Greyhounds had a sideline out-of-bounds deep on the Fairfield side of the court, but Jackson threw over the top of the defense to Jones running toward the Greyhounds' basket. Jones collected the ball for a layup to extend the lead to 75-67.
• Long made a three with 22 seconds left, the Stags' first field goal since there were more than six minutes of the clock, but Fairfield could not draw closer.

Rookie Honors    

• David Brown III was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week on November 29 after seeing the most-extended playing time of his young career last week.
• He logged 21 minutes off the bench Wednesday against Elizabethtown and scored eight points, and he then earned his first collegiate start and helped Loyola to its second-straight win on Sunday at Fairfield. He made a pair of 3-pointers for the second game in a row and had seven points.

Shooting The Difference    

• Shooting success has played a pivotal role in Loyola's wins and losses this season, bared out by statistics.
• The Greyhounds have shot 47.2 percent from the field in their three victories, 36.8 percent from 3-point range. Meanwhile, they are shooting more than 10 points lower, 37.2 percent, overall, in four losses, while their 3-point average dips to 22.4 percent.

Taking Care Of The Ball    

• Loyola has committed the same or a fewer number of turnovers in six of its seven games this season, totals that help it lead the Patriot League in turnover margin with a positive 3.4 per game mark. Overall, the Greyhounds are averaging just 12.6 giveaways per game this year while forcing an even 16.0.
• Loyola is second in the Patriot League in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.27:1, while Cam Spencer leads the conference and is No. 20 nationally at 4.17:1.

Pacing The Patriot    

• After recording his third 20-plus point game of the year at Fairfield on Sunday, Cam Spencer is leading the conference in scoring with 18.7 points per game.
• The junior guard also had 20-point games in the final two games of the Rising Coaches Classic, scoring a to-date career-high 32 points against College of Charleston before dropping in 23 on Sunday versus Lipscomb.
• In the three games where Spencer has scored or eclipsed 20 points, he has 13 assists with just one turnover.

Keep Playing The Stags    

• Kenneth Jones made 6 of 9 field goals, 4 of 6 from behind the 3-point line, and scored a season-high 16 points on Sunday, the most he has scored in a game since a November 17 contest against the same Stags team.
• A full-time starter this season, Jones has averaged 9.0 points though seven games, and he leads the team with 4.1 assists per game, a mark that ranks fifth in the Patriot League.
• Over his career, Jones has played in 83 games, starting 17, and averages 6.2 points and 2.2 assists per game.

Hitting The College Boards    

• Golden Dike showed his ability to be a top-level rebounder on November 12 when he grabbed a career-high 18 boards against South Carolina State, seven on the offensive glass.
• Dike's 18 rebounds are tied for sixth-most in Loyola single-game history. Save for Santi Aldama's school-record 22 in a game last February, Dike's 18 are the most since the late Omari Israel had 18 in 2008.
• The 18 rebounds also rank third most amongst NCAA Division I players this season.

Stepping Into A Leading Role    

• Jaylin Andrews is the Greyhounds top returning scorer, after averaging 11.6 points per game as a junior in the shortened 2020-2021 season, and he showed his ability to step into a leading role during Loyola's 2021-2022 opener at North Carolina. Andrews started his senior year with a team-high 17 points, knocking down 4 of 8 shots from 3-point range.
• The game against the Tar Heels follows an exhibition outing against Johns Hopkins that Andrews led the team with 18 points, making 3 of 7 from behind the arc.
• Andrews then blew up for a career-high 30 points on November 12 against South Carolina State, going 11 of 15 from the field and 5 of 7 from 3-point range. The 30 points exceeded his previous career-best of 25 points from January 2020 against American.
• 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 his junior 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 86 career games, of which he has started 63, Andrews is averaging 8.5 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.

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 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.
• The junior guard opened the 2021-2022 season with a 15-point, 3-steal effort at No. 19 North Carolina, scoring 11 of his points in the second half against the Tar Heels. He then had 16 points and six rebounds against South Carolina State, following by outputs of 32 and 23 points to close the Rising Coaches Classic against College of Charleston and Lipscomb.
• 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 35 games Spencer has played at Loyola, the Greyhounds are 20-15. He has averaged 11.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists during his career and has a 3.1:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Golden Touch    

• Golden Dike has been a vital part of the Greyhounds' post rotation since coming to Loyola, and he averaged 25.7 minutes in 2020-2021 while starting every game but Senior Day.
• 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 56 games played over two-plus seasons, Dike has shot 58.6 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 in 2020-2021, 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.

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.

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.

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.

Up Next    

• The Greyhounds take on Mount St. Mary's University in a men's-women's doubleheader on Saturday, December 4. The Alumni Day event will start with the men's game at 1 p.m.