Quick Hits About The Hounds
- Loyola University Maryland men's basketball will make its first-ever appearance in the Patriot League Championship Game on Sunday, March 14, when it plays at Colgate University.
- Tip-off is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. at Cotterell Court.
- The game will be televised live, nationally, on CBS Sports Network.
- Due to Patriot League restrictions, fans may not attend the game.
- Loyola has scored more points in the paint than their opponents in all but two games this year (Feb. 28, March 10).
- Loyola has shot .465 in its first 16 games to its opponents .423.
- Santi Aldama is seventh in NCAA Division I in points per game (21.8), 14th in rebounds per game (10.3) and fourth in defensive rebounds per game (8.5).
- Aldama currently leads the Patriot League in points and rebounds per game. At his current pace, he would be the first player since Bucknell's Zach Thomas (2017-18) to do that.
- 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 2020-21, rising from 218th in NCAA Division I in the category to 58th.
Postseason Honors
- Santi Aldama was named to the All-Patriot League First Team March 2, and a day later he garnered recognition on the Academic All-Patriot League Team.
- He was one of three players (Lafayette's Justin Jaworski and Navy's Cam Davis) who were recognized on both lists.
- Aldama's first-team honor marks the fifth year in a row Loyola has had a member of the All-Patriot League First Team. It is the only school to have done so during the span.
Series History Versus Colgate
- Loyola and Colgate will meet for the 15th time as Patriot League foes, the first in the Patriot League Championships and the 17th time overall when the teams take the floor on Sunday afternoon.
- The teams have split each of the last two regular-season series, each wining on its own home floor both years. Colgate now has a 10-6 all-time lead in the series.
- Last year, the Raiders scored a 92-70 win in Hamilton against an injury-depleted Greyhounds team in January, but Loyola came back to win, 84-80, in Baltimore the following month.
Patriot League Championships History
- Loyola is making its eighth appearance in the Patriot League Championships since joining the conference in 2013-14. The Greyhounds are 4-7 in the Championships overall, 2-5 in first-round games, 1-2 in the quarterfinals and 1-0 in the semifinals.
- Sunday's game will be the first championship game appearance for the Greyhounds since they joined the Patriot League prior to the 2013-14 season. The last time a Loyola men's basketball team reached the conference title match was in 2012 when the Greyhounds went on to win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title and qualify for the NCAA Division I Championships for the second time in school history.
Championship Game History
- While it's been nine years since the Greyhounds last played in a conference championship game, that is not as long as it was when they were in that contest. Prior to 2012, Loyola had last played in the MAAC Championship Game in 1994, a span of 18 seasons.
- Loyola is 2-1 all-time in Championship Games at the NCAA Division I level, winning the 1994 and 2012 MAAC crowns and finish as runners-up in the 1985 ECAC Metro Championships.
Turn On The Television
- Sunday's game against the Raiders will air on CBS Sports Network.
Difference Makers
- The biggest differences for Loyola in its six wins versus its 10 losses have come defensively and in ball-handling.
- Loyola has held its opponents to 38.3 percent from the field in its six wins, while the 10 losses have come while opponents have shot 44.6 percent. Additionally, the Greyhounds defended the three to the tune of 27.9 percent compared to 35.8 percent.
- Loyola has, meanwhile, shot 48.6 percent from the field in the wins as opposed to 45.1 in the losses.
- Buoyed by only seven turnovers on Valentine's Day in a win, the Greyhounds have averaged only 11.5 giveaways in wins as opposed to 16.4 in the other nine.
Fast Starts In The Championships
- Strong first halves have given the Greyhounds double-digit halftime leads during both of their Patriot League Championships games, as they led 40-28 on March 6 in the quarterfinal round at Navy and 42-25 four days later at Army West Point.
- Loyola shot 58.6 percent from the field during the opening 20 minutes of those two games, almost 20 points better than the Midshipmen and Black Knights (.397).
- Three-point shooting and rebounding also played roles in the first halves as Loyola has shot 50 percent from behind the arc to their opponents' 19 percent in the games. Loyola also outrebounded those teams 19.5-11.5.
- Prior to March 6, Loyola had led at halftime just four times out of 14 regular-season games. In the 14 regular-season games, Loyola shot 42.6 percent from the field in the first half compared to opponents' 44.9.
Offensive Surge Against The Mids
- Loyola had its best shooting output of the season against Navy in the Patriot League Quarterfinals, making 32 of 55 shots (58.2 percent) in the win. The percentage was the best a Patriot League foe has shot against the Midshipmen since Colgate went 37 of 63 (58.7 percent) in a February 23, 2019, game.
- The Greyhounds' 58.2 percent from the field was their best this season and is tied for 16th in school since-game history.
One And Only Aldama
- Santi Aldama is the only player in NCAA Division I this season to average more than 18 points, eight rebounds, two assists and 1.5 blocks per game (per SportsReference.com).
- The sophomore from the Canary Islands has posted 21.8 points, 10.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.8 blocks per game through 16 outings.
- If his stats hold average out for the remainder of the season, he would be the only player in Patriot League history with those numbers in a season.
Big Game At Big Moment
- In the Greyhounds' first-ever Patriot League Semifinal appearance, Santi Aldama put together his best career numbers. He scored a to-date career-high 33 points, making 13 of 15 field goals and 5 of 6 3-pointers, and grabbed 12 rebounds.
- His 13 field goals made are tied for 12th most in school history, and his 86.7 percent mark from the field is the second-best at Loyola for players who made more than 10 shots in a game. Only Mark Sparczak's 1993 outing against Saint Peter's, in which he knocked down 11 of 12 (91.7), stands taller.
Aldama's Last 10
- Santi Aldama has put up his best basketball over the last 11 games. He has eight games with 20 or more points, and another was a 19-point outing.
- Seven of the games have come as double-doubles, while he has grabbed at least six boards in the other four.
- Over the stretch, Aldama has averaged 23.6 points, 11.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocked shots.
Spencer Returns
- Cam Spencer missed the season's first 12 games recovering from off-season surgery, but he made his presence felt in the Greyhounds last four 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 four games, Spencer is averaging 11.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists.
- Last year, 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.
Above Average
- Santi Aldama is on pace to become just the second Loyola player this century to average 10 or more rebounds per game. Currently averaging 10.3, Aldama would be the first Greyhound to top 10 since Brian Carroll did in 2000-01. In all, players have averaged 10 or more 14 times in school history.
Not The First
- Rare as games where an individual has 18 or more rebounds are, Santi Aldama is not the first player in school history to do it twice in one season.
- His 22 rebounds on February 22 at Lafayette and his 18 February 21 at home against Lehigh mark the second time at Loyola that a player has posted 18 or more in a year. Mike Krawczyk did it in consecutive games, posting 19 on February 3 and 6, 1971, against Western Maryland (now McDaniel) and Towson. The four combined games by Krawczyk and Aldama are two of the eight instances of players grabbing 18 or more rebounds in a game at Loyola.
Context To Aldama's 30-20 Game
- Santi Aldama broke the school's single-game rebounding that had stood for nearly 45 years. Jimmy "Jumpshot" Smith set the previous best on February 23, 1976 – before any member of the Loyola coaching staff was born – when he had 21 in a game against American.
- Aldama matched the 22 rebounds by Colgate's Adonal Foyle – a player who went on to a 13-year NBA career – for most in a Patriot League game. Foyle had 22 in a 1995 game against Army West Point.
- Aldama is the first player in Loyola history to amass a game with 20 or more points and rebounds, and obviously the first to have a 30-20 game.
- Foyle is the only other Patriot League player to have a 30-20 game, something he did twice. He had 32 points and 20 rebounds in February 1995 against Army.
- Per SportsReference.com, Aldama is one of three NCAA Division I players to have 30-20 games this season, joining Long Island's Eral Penn, who had 33 points and 20 rebounds against Fairleigh Dickinson earlier this month, and The Citadel's Hayden Brown, who in December had 31 points and 21 boards against NAIA foe Columbia International.
- In the last 10 years, Aldama's accomplishment marks the 26th time a NCAA Division I player has had 30-20.
Two Points Or Less
- Loyola's first four games of the season were decided by a total of seven points with a pair of two-point losses to Lafayette and a one-point and a two-point setback to American.
- It had 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).
- The four-straight games separated by two or fewer points marked the first time in program history that the Greyhounds have played that many games of that nature, regardless of outcome.
- In all, seven of the Greyhounds' 10 losses this year have come by four or fewer points, and nine of the 10 have been by eight or fewer.
Stepping Into 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.
- 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, and he followed that with a 22-point, 6-rebound, 4-steal game against the Eagles at home the next day.
- He led the Greyhounds with 17 points, making 7 of 11 shots from the field, in the Patriot League Quarterfinals, and he is second on the team with 11.1 points, and he is third with 5.0 rebounds per game, this season.
Glass Ceiling Shattered
- When Corin 'Tiny' Adams assumed her seat on the Loyola bench January 16 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 fifth woman to serve as an assistant coach in NCAA Division I history.
As Advertised
- Santi Aldama was heralded as one of the Class of 2019's Top 100 players by national recruiting analysts prior to his arrival, and he has lived up to the strong billing since making a late debut for the Greyhounds.
- The Most Valuable Player of the 2019 FIBA U-18 European Championships was ranked as high as the No. 65 recruit in the nation prior to his freshman season, but he missed the first 22 games of 2019-2020 before debuting on February 1, 2020, against the U.S. Naval Academy. He came off the bench in that game to score 11 points, and he followed that with two more 11-point outings while his minutes were built up.
- He had a nine-point game on February 12, 2020, at American, but since then, Aldama has put together a streak of 22-straight games scoring in double-figures with 13 games of 20 or more intermixed.
Senior Leaving His Mark
- On Sunday, February 21, Isaiah Hart became the 40th player in Loyola men's basketball history to score 1,000 career points, dropping his two in with a layup midway through the second half.
- February 24 against American, he tallied a game-best 20 points, his high for the season, and he is now averaging 9.5 points this season
- Hart is the Greyhounds' active leader in nearly every statistical category, including games played (107), started (98), minutes (2,969) and points (1,041). He has averaged 9.8 points per game in his three-plus years, and he is 37th in school history in total points.
Triple The Fun
- Loyola's triple-overtime game on February 13 at Lafayette is tied for the longest in the school's documented history, and it comes only 20 days after the Greyhounds played a three-overtime game on February 24 against American. The games match contests in 1991 (loss to Saint Peter's), 2002 (loss to Siena) and 2015 (win versus Colgate). All four of the documented games prior to February 13 took place in Reitz Arena.
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. He had his first double-double of the year on February 13 at Lafayette, and he enters the championship game averaging 7.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. His 37 assists are tied for the team lead with Jaylin Andrews.
Cool Hand Luke
- With Loyola's top three returning guards (by scoring average and minutes played) sidelined due to injury to start the year, senior guard Luke Johnson brought experience to an otherwise green backcourt for the Greyhounds early in the year.
- His steady hand has continued through the season as he has received the most extended playing time of his career, averaging 23.8 minutes per game. He made his first career start on January 24 against American, the first of 11-straight starts.
- The Lexington, Kentucky native was sidelined for nearly all of the 2019-2020 Patriot League season with a broken foot, and he entered this year with 310 minutes played over the last three seasons.
- Through 16 games, Johnson leads Loyola with 26 steals, and he is third in the Patriot League with 1.9 steals per game.
