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Game Information
Opponent	Bucknell Bison
Game Notes	Loyola
Date	Monday, January 10, 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 men's basketball kicks off a two-game homestand on Monday, January 10, against Bucknell University.
• Tip-off against the Bison is set for  p.m. in Reitz Arena on ESPN+.
• The game will be Loyola's fourth in a nine-day stretch and fourth of eight in a 23-day span to open Patriot League action.
• Cam Spencer leads the Patriot League in both points (18.4) and steals (2.1) per game as of January 9. He also tops the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.4:1), a stat that ranks him No. 5 in NCAA Division I. He is 24th nationally in steals per game.
• Kenneth Jones tops the conference in assists per game (5.1).
• As a team, the Greyhounds rank 21st nationally in assists per game (16.9).
• 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 Bucknell    

• Loyola and Boston University will meet for the 24th time in series history on Monday night with the Bison entering while holding a 19-4 all-time advantage.
• The Greyhounds broke a six-game losing streak in the series in the most-recent meeting when Loyola scored a 78-65 victory on February 8, 2020, in Reitz Arena. The teams did not play during the 2020-2021 COVID-shortened season, snapping a streak of 11-straight seasons they had met. That dates back to 2009, four years before the Greyhounds joined the Patriot League.

Last Time Out    

• Aside from two early ties, Loyola lead Boston University for the entire game Friday, handing the Terriers a 66-58 loss on their home floor.
• Cam Spencer a game-high 19 points, Jaylin Andrews added 12, and Kenneth Jones tallied 10 points to go with five assists. Golden Dike grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, helping Loyola to a 39-30 advantage on the boards.
• Jones hit a deep three just under six minutes into the game to break a 4-4 tie, and Loyola would lead the rest of the way. His bucket started an 11-0 Greyhounds run, a stretch in which they would hold the Terriers without a field goal for more than seven minutes.
• Dike caught an Andrews feed as he slipped a screen and shot down the paint for a dunk at 2:30 to stretch the lead to 12, 23-11. At that point, the Terriers had made just four of their first 26 shots from the field and none from 3-point range.
• Boston University's Javante McCoy did hit a three on the Terriers' next possession, but after two baskets by Andrews, Loyola took a 27-17 lead into the locker room at halftime. McCoy hit his second three of the game 3:09 into the second half, cutting the deficit to seven, but Jones responded with one in kind to put Loyola back up by 10. Ethan Brittain-Watts made a three at 12:57 in the second half, and the Greyhounds' advantage was down to four, but Alonso Faure scored in the paint 25 ticks of the clock later, and Wade Jackson converted an and-one at 11:45, pushing the gap to 44-35. A Spencer jumper at 10:17 off a Boston University turnover gave the Greyhounds an 11-point edge, but the Terriers quickly scored the next seven over two minutes to make it a four-point game after a Sukhmail Mathon traditional 3-point play.
• Andrews converted a pair of free throws at 6:18, and it was 51-44 in the Greyhounds favor, but a McCoy three started a stretch of triples on three of the Terriers' next four possessions. Loyola stayed in the lead by converting two-point makes by Spencer and Jones, but Jonas Harper knocked down a three from the right corner at 3:05, and it was 58-56 Loyola. After the Greyhounds called a 30-second timeout, Spencer floated in a pair of points on a runner, and Dike blocked a Mathon layup attempt. Andrews then beat his defender off the dribble from the top of the perimeter to score at 1:22, pushing the lead to six.
• The Greyhounds got another stop as a Boston University 3-pointer fell short, and Jones made two free throws with 58.1 on the clock. Thirty seconds later, Jones blocked a McCoy 3-point attempt, grabbing the defensive rebound before giving an outlet pass to Spencer who was fouled and made two from the line to give Loyola a 10-point lead.
• Loyola shot 52.9 percent from the field while holding the Terriers to 33.9 percent cumulatively, 20.7 in the first half. The Greyhounds also finished with 12 turnovers after posting eight in the game's first 12 minutes.

Spencer To The Top    

• Cam Spencer has asserted himself this season as one of the top players in the Patriot League, leading the conference, as of games of January 6, in points (18.4)and steals (2.1) per game. In 14 games this season, the junior guard has scored 258 points and has scored in double figures in all 14.
• 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 just 28 of 49 games over his first two seasons at Loyola due to injury. In his 42 career games, Loyola is 25-17 as he averages 12.9 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.3 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.

Dishing    

• Kenneth Jones now leads the Patriot League with 5.1 assists per game and has averaged 6.0 in the last nine Loyola contests. This season, Jones has five games with seven or more assists, the first five of his career. Loyola leads the conference with 16.6 total per game.
• As a team, the Greyhounds have 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). Loyola is 32nd nationally, and tops in the conference, in assists per game this year with 16.9.
• Per KenPom.com, the Greyhounds dish out assists on 63.1 percent of their made baskets, the ninth-highest percentage in NCAA Division I this year.
• 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 47.0 percent from the field in their eight 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 17.1 and 15.9 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.

Building On Consistency    

• The four-game stretch from the St. Bonaventure game through the home win over Holy Cross saw Milos Ilic score in double-figures three times and score nine in the fourth game. This came after he recorded 10 or more points just once in the Greyhounds' first nine games of the year.
• He was held to two points at Boston University while playing limited minutes with foul issues, but over those four outings, Ilic 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 5.6 points per game.
• He also has raised his rebounding average to 3.6 per game with 4.8 in the 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.

Sticky Fingers    

• Thanks to Cam Spencer and Jaylin Andrews ranking one-two in the Patriot League in steals per game at 2.1 and 1.9, respectively, Loyola is 19th in steal percentage according to KenPom. The Greyhounds are swiping a steal on 10.8 percent of opponents' possessions and are second in the Patriot League with 7.8 steals per game.

On The Right Track    

• Kenneth Jones has been a consistent member of the Greyhounds' rotation throughout his career, averaging 20.8 minutes over 76 games heading into his senior season. This year, however, Jones has stepped into the role of a full-time starter and seen his minutes, and production, soar.
• Through 14 games, he has averaged 33.1 minutes per game, while producing 8.7 points, 2.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists per contest, all career-highs. He has a 2.1:1 assist-to-turnover ratio that ranks fourth in the Patriot League and is a career-high, as well. His 5.1 assists are 34th in NCAA Division I.
• Over his career, Jones has played in 90 games, starting 24, and averages 6.4 points and 2.5 assists per game. His 229 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.
• During Andrews' six most-recent games, he has scored 11 or more in each contest, averaging 16.5 points per contest.
• 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.
• Through 92 career games, of which he has started 69, Andrews is averaging 9.0 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.

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 continues its homestand on Thursday, January 13, when it hosts Lafayette College at 7 p.m. in Reitz Arena.