Game Information
Opponent	Boston University Terriers
Game Notes	Loyola
Date	Friday, January 7, 2022
Time	5:00 p.m.
Location	Boston, Mass. | Case Gymnasium
Directions	Click Here | Spectator Information
Watch	ESPN+ | International Video Stream
Online Media	Live Stats

Quick Hits About The Hounds

• Loyola University Maryland men's basketball heads to New England on Friday, January 6, for its next game at Boston University
• Tip-off against the Terriers is set for 5 p.m. in Reitz Arena on ESPN+.
• Loyola will play just its third game in 26 days, but it is the third of eight during a 24-day stretch to open the conference season.
• Cam Spencer is second in the Patriot League in points (18.3) and leads the league in steals per game (2.3) as of January 6. He also tops the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.4:1), a stat that ranks him No. 3 in NCAA Division I. He is 24th nationally in steals per game.
• Kenneth Jones tops the conference in assists per game (5.2).
• As a team, the Greyhounds rank 22nd nationally in assists per game (17.1).
• 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 Boston University    

• Loyola and Boston University will meet for the 20th time overall and 19th in the last 11 seasons when they take the floor on Friday. The Terriers hold a 13-6 record in the all-time series after winning the last four contests.

Last Time Out    

• Cam Spencer scored seven of his game-high 19 points during a 14-0 Loyola run midway through the second half that shot the Greyhounds into the lead for good during a 79-70 victory over visiting Holy Cross on Tuesday night in Reitz Arena.
• Two Holy Cross free throws put the Crusaders in front, 51-50, at 13:44, but after an Alonso Faure blocked shot and Jaylin Andrews steal on the offensive end, Andrews hit a 3-pointer that put Loyola in front 58 seconds later.
• Spencer then scored on a pair of paint field goals before a David Brown III basket in transition gave the Greyhounds a 59-51 advantage at 10:52.
• Holy Cross misfired on its next two possessions, the second time by virtue of another Faure block, and Loyola got out in transition after Faure grabbed that rebound. Kenneth Jones hit Spencer trailing down the left side, and Spencer hit a 3-pointer that would make it an 11-point lead at 10:07. Spencer then assisted on a Golden Dike layup at 9:13, stretching the advantage to 13, 64-51.
• Andrews finished with 17 points, while Nick Marshall came off the bench and scored one off his career-best with 11. Milos Ilic added nine points, and Dike tallied eight with a team-high seven rebounds.
• Jones scored seven points and had a game-high seven assists, while Spencer dished out six and matched Dike for game-high honors with seven rebounds. After Dike's basket, Holy Cross scored four-straight points to get back within nine, but Marshall drained a three off a Jones inbound pass, and the lead was back in double digits. Andrews had two free throws at 4:41 to make it 73-58, the largest gap in the game.
• The Greyhounds finished the game with 21 assists, its second-straight contest with 20 or more. Loyola also had a 37-30 rebounding advantage. Andrews and Faure each had five behind the combined 14 from Spencer and Dike.

Spencer To The Top    

• Cam Spencer has asserted himself this season as one of the top players in the Patriot League, ranking second in the conference, as of games of January 6, in points (18.4) per game, and he leads the league  in steals (2.2) per game. In 13 games this season, the junior guard has scored 239 points and has scored in double figures in all 13.
• He is also fourth in the conference in assists per game (4.1), and he ranks third in all of NCAA Division I with a 4.4:1 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 41 career games, Loyola is 24-17 as he averages 12.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.0 steals per game. He has a career 3.3:1 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 four games have seen Milos Ilic score in double-figures three times and scoring nine in the fourth game. This comes after he recorded 10 or more points just once in the Greyhounds' first nine games of the year.
• Over the last four outings, Ilic has made 17 of 25 (.680) shots from the field, 5 of 9 (.556), from 3-point range to average 10.5 points per game, raising his season scoring average to 5.9 points per game.
• He also has raised his rebounding average to 3.9 per game with 4.8 in the last four.

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 versus Hampton.
• 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 28 of 51 shots (.549).
• 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    

• Kenneth Jones now leads the Patriot League with 5.2 assists per game and has averaged 6.1 in the last eight Loyola contests. This season, Jones has five games with seven or more assists, the first five of his career.
• As a team, the Greyhounds have now recorded 20 or more assists five times this season (24 versus Elizabethtown, 22 against Chicago State, 21 at St. Bonaventure, 20 at Army West Point and 21 versus Holy Cross). The five games with 20 or more are tied for eighth in NCAA Division I this season. Loyola is 22nd nationally, and tops in the conference, in assists per game this year with 17.1.
• In Tavaras Hardy's three-plus years as Loyola's head coach, the Greyhounds have 15 games with 20 or more assists. In the prior eight years, they had just three such games.
• Cam Spencer and 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.

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 46.3 percent from the field in their seven victories, 36.4 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 16.9 and 16.4 points per game, respectively, in the victories, while Kenneth Jones is at 9.6 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 2.2 and 1.9, respectively, Loyola is 72nd in steal percentage according to KenPom. The Greyhounds are swiping a steal on 11.0 percent of opponents' possessions and are second in the Patriot League with 8.0 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 89 games, starting 23, and averages 6.3 points and 2.5 assists per game. His 224 career assists rank No. 21 in school history.

Stepping Into A Leading Role    

• Jaylin Andrews was the Greyhounds' top returning scorer this year, 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 91 career games, of which he has started 68, Andrews is averaging 9.0 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.

Freshmen Knocking Down Threes    

• Two freshmen, Nick Marshall and David Brown III, have combined for five 3-pointers in the Greyhounds' first two Patriot League games of the year. Brown hit a pair on back-to-back possessions and finished with eight points at Army West Point, and Marshall then drilled all three of his shots from behind the arc to tally 11 total against Holy Cross.
• This season, Marshall is 6 of 15 (.400) from 3-point range, and Brown has made 8 of 22 (.364).

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 return to Reitz Arena for their next two games, hosting Bucknell University on Monday, January 10, and Lafayette College on Wednesday, January 13.