Updated fan attendance policies were announced prior to the game against Holy Cross. Please visit Loyola's COVID Spectator Policy page for complete details about limited attendance and vaccination requirements.

Game Information
Opponent	Holy Cross Crusaders
Game Notes	Loyola
Date	Tuesday, January 4, 2022
Time	7:00 p.m.
Location	Baltimore, Md. | Reitz Arena
Directions	Click Here | Spectator Information
Watch	ESPN+ | International Video Stream
Online Media	Live Stats

Quick Hits About The Hounds

• Loyola University Maryland plays its first home Patriot League game of the season on Tuesday, January 4, 2022, when it hosts College of the Holy Cross.
• Tip-off against the Crusaders is set for 7 p.m. in Reitz Arena on ESPN+.
• Loyola will play just its second game in 23 days, but it is the second of eight during a 24-day stretch to open the conference season.
• Cam Spencer leads the Patriot League in points (18.3) and steals per game (2.3) as of January 3. He also tops the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.9:1), a stat that ranks him No. 5 in NCAA Division I. He is 14th nationally in steals per game.
• Kenneth Jones tops the conference in assists per game (5.0).
• As a team, the Greyhounds rank 33rd nationally in assists per game (16.8).
• 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.
• 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 Versus Holy Cross    

• Loyola and Holy Cross will play for the 21st time in series history with the Crusaders holding a  11-9 advantage in the previous 20 contests.
• The Greyhounds have won each of the last three meetings, taking the second meeting in 2018-2019 and both the following season.
• Since Loyola joined the Patriot League in 2013-2014, Holy Cross has a 9-7 record in the series including two wins in the Patriot League Championships.
• The teams first met in December 1975, and they played three more times between then and December 1995. They did not meet again until the Greyhounds joined the Patriot League.

Last Time Out    

• Cam Spencer hit a 3-pointer while falling into the Loyola bench to send Saturday's game to overtime, but Army West Point held off the Greyhounds for a 77-74 win in extra time during the Patriot League opener for both teams.
• Spencer scored a game-high 26 points while also compiling seven rebounds, four assists and three steals, while Kenneth Jones just missed his first career double-double with 11 points and a career-best nine assists.
• Army West Point built an 18-point lead, 51-33, just 67 seconds into the second half, aided by 20 first-half points off 13 Loyola turnovers. It was a 17-point Black Knights lead after two in the paint by Matt Dove at 15:29, but shortly thereafter, David Brown III hit threes on back-to-back possessions, and Spencer knocked down another after a Jones steal. Golden Dike then scored in the paint, and Loyola's 11-0 run had the Greyhounds within six, 57-51 at 10:58.
• Dove broke the six-minute, seven-second scoreless stretch for Army West Point with a pair of points at 9:22, but Veljko Ilic had two in the paint, and his twin brother, Milos Ilic, scored in transition on a Spencer assist, drawing contact and making a free throw for a 3-point play at 7:18.
• The free throw trimmed the gap to 59-56, but Army West Point got a three from T.J. Snell to extend it back to six on the next possession. Jones made a three at 3:28 to cut it to one, 64-63, and after Josh Caldwell scored for the Black Knights, Alonso Faure hit two free throws to get the Greyhounds within a point at 2:19.
• It would over 90 seconds for either team to score, and it was Army West Point that converted with a Caldwell bucket as 35 seconds remained in the half, putting the Black Knights ahead 68-65. Loyola ran its half-court offense and called a timeout with 18 seconds left in the game, but a 3-point attempt by Brown was tipped by Small, and Army West Point grabbed the rebound with less than five seconds in regulation.
• The Greyhounds immediately fouled, but it was only their third foul of the second half. Loyola fouled three more times, as Army West Point was able to take about two seconds off the clock. On the Black Knights' next inbound attempt, the ball deflected off Caldwell's hands and out of bounds, giving Loyola possession with a little more than two seconds on the clock.
• Jones triggered the inbound in front of Loyola's bench, and Spencer came off a high screen to catch a pass in traffic. He launched a three while fading into the Greyhounds' bench, making it as the buzzer sounded to send the game to overtime.
• The Black Knights scored the extra period's first six points before Faure went 1 of 2 at the line with 3:21 on the clock. Spencer scored in transition off a Brown steal and assist, getting Loyola within three, 74-71, at 1:50.
• Jalen Rucker made two Army West Point free throws with 31 seconds showing after both teams had misfired on their previous possessions. Spencer got a look at a layup in traffic, but it rimmed out, and the Black Knights' Charlie Peterson rebounded the ball and made 1 of 2 free throws to get it to a 77-71 Army West Point lead.

Spencer Returns    

• Cam Spencer has asserted himself this season as one of the top players in the Patriot League, leading the conference through games of January 1 in points (18.3) and steals (2.3) per game. In 12 games this season, the junior guard has scored 220 points and has scored in double figures all 12 times.
• He is also fourth in the conference in assists per game (3.9), and he ranks fifth in all of NCAA Division I with a 3.9:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
• This year's start has come after Spencer played 28 of 49 games over his first two seasons at Loyola due to injury. In his 40 career games, Loyola is 23-17 as he averages 12.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.0 steals per game. He has a career 3.2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
• Spencer has scored 20 or more points five times, logging 26 or higher three times. He set a to-date career-high with 32 points at College of Charleston and came back the next day to score 23 against Lipscomb on November 14.
• He went for 26, making 12 of 12 free throws, versus Mount St. Mary's on December 4, a point total he would equal on January 1 in the Patriot League opener at Army West Point.
• 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.
• 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.

Building On Consistency    

• The last three games have seen Milos Ilic score in double-figures each time after recording 10 or more points just once in the Greyhounds' first nine games of the year.
• Over the last three outings, Ilic has made 13 of 19 (.684) shots from the field 5 of 8 (.625) from 3-point range to average 11.0 points per game. That has raised his season scoring average to 5.7 points per game.
• He also has raised his rebounding average to 4.0 per game with 5.3 in the last three contests.

Rookie Honors    

• Milos Ilic became the second Loyola freshman to earn Patriot League Rookie of the Week recognition this season when he received the award on December 13.
• Ilic averaged 11.5 points and 4.5 rebounds while shooting 75 percent from the field and 57.1 percent from 3-point range in game against St. Bonaventure and Hampton. He scored in double-figures in both games with 13 against the Bonnies and 10 in Sunday's game.
• Ilic has made a significant jump in his efficiency since the first week of the season when he started the year 3 of 20 from the field in the Greyhounds' first four games. Since then, he has made 20 of 38 shots (.526).
• Two weeks prior, fellow freshman David Brown III received the award after wins over Elizabethtown and Fairfield.

Better Starts    

• Loyola's four-game winning streak that was broken at St. Bonaventure could be attributed, at least in part, to improved first-half shooting. During the recent stretch, the Greyhounds shot a modest 46.8 percent from the field, a number that is far better than the 34.4 percent they shot in their first five games of the season.
• As a result – Loyola was also improved in first-half 3-point and free-throw shooting – the Greyhounds have averaged eight more points (35.2-27.2) in the first half of the last four games.

Dishing    

• Cam Spencer and Kenneth Jones both had seven assists December 1 in the Greyhounds' win over Chicago State, the first time two Loyola players have reached that total in the same game in at least a decade.
• Jones tallied a career-best nine assists in the Patriot League opener at Army West Point, finishing one away from his first career double-double.
• Jones now leads the Patriot League with 5.0 assists per game and has averaged 6.0 in the last seven Loyola contests. This season, Jones has four games with seven or more assists, the first four of his career.
• As a team, the Greyhounds have now recorded 20 or more assists four times this season (24 versus Elizabethtown, 22 against Chicago State, 21 at St. Bonaventure and 20 at Army West Point). In Tavaras Hardy's three-plus years as Loyola's head coach, the Greyhounds have 14 games with 20 or more assists. In the prior eight years, they had just three such games.

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 45.7 percent from the field in their six victories, 36.0 percent from 3-point range. Meanwhile, they are shooting 40.8 percent, overall, in six losses, while their 3-point average dips to 28.1 percent.
• Individually, Loyola has had better balance in its scoring during the wins where Cam Spencer and Jaylin Andrews are averaging 16.5 and 16.3 points per game, respectively, in the victories, while Kenneth Jones is at 10.0 points. In the four losses, Spencer has averaged 20.2 points, Andrews 11.6 and no other player more than eight per game.

Sticky Fingers    

• Thanks to Cam Spencer and Jaylin Andrews ranking one-two in the Patriot League in steals per game at 2.3 and 1.9, respectively, Loyola is 64th in steal percentage according to KenPom. The Greyhounds are swiping a steal on 11.3 percent of opponents' possessions and are second in the Patriot League with 8.2 steals per game.

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.
• He followed this year's game against Fairfield with a 15-point, 7-assist output versus Chicago State, and over his career, Jones has played in 88 games, starting 22, and averages 6.3 points and 2.5 assists per game. His 217 career assists rank No. 23 in school history.

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.
• 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 90 career games, of which he has started 67, Andrews is averaging 8.9 points and 3.8 rebounds per game z

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    

• Loyola heads to New England to face Boston University on Friday, January 7.
• The game against the Terriers is the third of eight in a 22-day stretch to start the conference schedule.