Quick Hits About The Hounds
- Loyola University Maryland plays its second-straight road game to start the 2022-2023 season on Thursday, November 10, when it heads to State College, Pennsylvania.
- Game time is set for 7 p.m. when the Greyhounds will take on Penn State at the Bryce Jordan Center.
- The Greyhounds return 13 players from a year ago, including three fifth-year players who are pursuing their graduate degrees at Loyola: Jaylin Andrews, Kenneth Jones and Markese Redding.
- Andrews and Jones are the team's top two returning scorers after posting 13.9 and 8.7 points per game, respectively, last season.
- Jones led the Patriot League in assists (139) and assists per game (4.6), while Andrews was ninth in the conference in points per game. The duo ranked third and fourth in the Patriot League in steals per game, averaging 1.6 and 1.5.
- Jones finished the year ranked No. 58 in NCAA Division I in assists per game, while the Greyhounds were 51st as a team, averaging 15.0.
- Tavaras Hardy is in his fifth season on the Loyola sidelines after he was named the 21st head coach in Loyola men's basketball history on March 28, 2018.
Watch The Action
- Thursday's game will be available digitally on B1G+, the streaming arm of the B1G Network.
Series History Versus Penn State
- Loyola and Penn State will meet for the seventh time in series history but for the first time in nearly 22 years.
- The Nittany Lions moved to 5-1 in the all-time series with an 87-58 victory the last time the programs met on November 22, 2000 in State College.
- Loyola's lone win in the series came on December 7, 1986, when the Greyhounds scored a 74-70 victory in State College.
- The teams first played on January 26, 1981, an 88-47 Penn State win.
Last Time Out
- Kenneth Jones led three Loyola players in double-figures, tying his career-high with 20 points as the Greyhounds pulled within four in the final 10 seconds, but DePaul held for a 72-66 victory in the teams' season-opener in Chicago.
- Deon Perry made his collegiate debut with 13 points, and Jaylin Andrews had 12. Golden Dike posted nine points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead all players.
- DePaul led by 13, 53-40, on a second-chance basket by Da'sean Nelson with 10:07 left in regulation, but Loyola went on a 7-0 run to get within six on an Andrews pull-up jumper with 8:09 on the clock.
- The Greyhounds forced a turnover on the opposite end of the floor, but they could not convert that possession into points after the under-8 media timeout. The Blue Demons then scored the next five points to stretch their lead back to double digits.
- A Nelson jumper – he had 10 points for DePaul off the bench – staked the Blue Demons to a 62-48 lead with 2:44 on the clock, but threes on back-to-back possessions by Perry and Jones got Loyola within eight at 1:26.
- The Greyhounds deficit was nine, 69-60, with 20 ticks left after two Umoja Gibson free throws, but Jones hit a corner three in transition to cut it to six.
- Javan Johnson, who led all players with 24 points, made 1 of 2 at the free-throw line with 13 on the clock, and Perry knocked down his third three of the game to bring Loyola within four. Jalen Terry, however, sealed the game with two free throws late, providing the final difference.
Putting Up A Number
- Kenneth Jones opened his fifth season with the Greyhounds in impressive fashion, tying his collegiate-high with 20 points in the opener at DePaul. He made 4 of 7 from 3-point range and 8 of 13 from the field.
- The total matched his previous high of 20 points set on February 23, 2022, at the U.S. Naval Academy where he made 7 of 10 shots and 4 of 5 from behind the arc.
Debut Action
- Three Greyhounds made their collegiate debuts on Monday night, including Deon Perry who started his first Loyola game and finished with 13 points.
- Isaiah Alexander and Samuel Gibbs also saw action off the bench.
Welcome Back
- Markese Redding returned to the Loyola rotation in the season-opener after missing the 2021-2022 season following knee surgery. The post player from Brooklyn who started with the team as a walk-on before earning a scholarship prior to the 2020-2021 campaign saw more than eight minutes off the bench.
Big On The Boards
- Golden Dike finished Monday's game leading all players with 11 rebounds, six coming on the offensive glass. The game was the seventh of his career with 10 or more rebounds, and he finished a point shy of his fifth career double-double.
- With the 11 rebounds, he moved into 27th-place all-time at the school with 464 in his career.
Taking Advantage Of Time
- Chris Kuzemka missed two-thirds of his freshman season with an ankle injury suffered during the preseason, but he came back to average 7.8 minutes in 11 outings late in the year.
- Monday night at DePaul, he had his most productive game, statistically speaking, scoring seven to go with four rebounds in nearly 13 minutes of action.
- The 2021 Virginia Class 6A State Player of the Year set a career-high in both points and rebounds against the Blue Demons.
Exhibition Win
- Loyola finished with 14 steals and held NCAA Division III team Stevenson to 23.1 percent from the field on November 1, en route to a 75-38 exhibition win over the Mustangs.
- Deon Perry led the Greyhounds with 16 points, while David Brown III had 15, and Kenneth Jones added 12. That trio also combined for 12 of the 14 steals the Greyhounds had, each coming away with four.Jaylin Andrews scored nine, and Isaiah Alexander added six off the bench. Jones and Markese Redding led all players with eight rebounds.
Looking Back
- Loyola finished the 2021-2022 season with a 14-16 record, finishing sixth in the Patriot League standings with an 8-10 record. The sixth-place finish was the Greyhounds' highest since joining the conference for the 2013-14 season.
- The Greyhounds opened the year with a 1-4 record through November 17, but they then won four in a row and 10 of 12 games through the middle of January to get to 11-6 after a 69-57 win at Lehigh.
- Cam Spencer led Loyola and the Patriot League with an 18.9 points per game scoring average, while Jaylin Andrews joined him to form the Patriot League's top scoring duo by averaging 13.7.
- Kenneth Jones led the conference in assists (139) and assists per game (4.6), posting eight games of seven or more assists during the season.
- Loyola was second in the conference in scoring defense, holding opponents to 65.7 points per game during the year. It led the Patriot League in steals per game with 7.9 as three of the top four players in the conference were Greyhounds (Cam Spencer, 2.1; Jaylin Andrews, 1.4; Kenneth Jones, 1.3).
Business Suits Required
- Three Greyhounds – Jaylin Andrews, Kenneth Jones and Markese Redding – returned to the Loyola roster this season as graduate students. All three are completing classes in the fall and spring semesters to earn their M.B.A. degrees.
Scorers Under Hardy
- Loyola has had the total points scored leader in the Patriot League fourth year in a row since Head Coach Tavaras Hardy came to the Evergreen campus for the 2018-19 season.
- Andrew Kostecka led the conference in points scored during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons, as did Santi Aldama during 2019-20.
- Last year, Cam Spencer leads all Patriot League players with 566 points.
Guardian of the Game
- Tavaras Hardy was named the recipient of the 2022 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Guardian of the Game Award for Inclusion, honoring Hardy and the Greyhounds' commitment to building a program that embodies all cultures and backgrounds.
- Hardy formed a coaching staff that includes the only female assistant coach at the NCAA Division I level, a female director of operations and previously a former European coach.
- The Greyhounds have also recruited student-athletes from diverse backgrounds, including from four other countries.
Dishing
- Kenneth Jones led the Patriot League with 4.6 assists per game, and last season, Jones had eight games with seven or more assists, the first eight of his career. Loyola was third in the conference with 15.0 assists per game. Its 449 assists last season ranked sixth most in school history.
- As a team, the Greyhounds recorded 20 or more assists five times last season (24 versus Elizabethtown, 22 against Chicago State, 21 at St. Bonaventure, 20 at Army West Point and 21 versus Holy Cross). Loyola was 51st nationally in assists per game.
- Per KenPom.com, the Greyhounds dished out assists on 59.5 percent of their made baskets, the 24th-highest percentage in NCAA Division I this year.
- In Tavaras Hardy's four-plus years as Loyola's head coach, the Greyhounds have 16 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. He then had the same total on January 13 against Lafayette.
Stepping Into A Leading Role
- Jaylin Andrews was the Greyhounds' top returning scorer last 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.
- He finished the 2021-22 season ranked ninth int he Patriot League in points per game at 13.7, while he also averaged 1.4 steals and 4.1 rebounds per game.
- Andrews became the 39th player in school history to score 1,000 points in a career when on February 16, 2022, at Lafayette, his 104th career game .
- 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 that year's 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 109 career games, of which he has started 86, Andrews is averaging 9.7 points and 3.9 rebounds per game.
Shooting The Difference
- Shooting success played a pivotal role in Loyola's wins and losses last season, bared out by statistics.
- The Greyhounds shot 48.8 percent from the field in their 14 victories, 37.5 percent from 3-point range. Meanwhile, they shot 40.0 percent, overall, in 16 losses, while their 3-point average dips to 28.1 percent.
- Individually, Loyola had better balance in its scoring during the wins where Cam Spencer and Jaylin Andrews ere averaging 19.3 and 16.6 points per game, respectively, in the victories, while Kenneth Jones was at 9.9 points. In the 17 losses, Spencer averaged 17.8 points, Andrews 10.9 and no other player more than 7.8 per game.
Don't Forget The Defense
- The Greyhounds' defense put in the work, too, during the wins. Loyola limited opponents to 40.6 percent from the field in its 14 wins, 32.3 percent from 3-point range. Meanwhile, teams have shot 46.3 percent in the 16 Loyola losses, 35.2 percent from behind the arc.
On The Right Track
- Kenneth Jones was a consistent member of the Greyhounds' rotation throughout the first three years of his career, averaging 20.8 minutes over 76 games heading into his senior season. In 2021-22, however, Jones stepped into the role of a full-time starter and saw his minutes, and production, soar.
- He averaged 33.3 minutes per game, while producing 8.9 points, 2.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists per contest, all career-highs. He had a 2.21:1 assist-to-turnover ratio that ranks third in the Patriot League and is a career-high, as well. His 4.6 assists were 58th in NCAA Division I.
- His 139 assists were 10th in school single-season history.
- Jones averaged 4.6 assists in 18 Patriot League regular-season games last year, and his total of 83 dimes were 14 more than any other player in conference play.
- This season, Jones started with a 20-point outing at DePaul, matching his career-high set late in 2021-2022.
- Over his career, Jones has played in 107 games, starting 1, and averages 6.9 points and 2.8 assists per game. His 298 career assists are 13th in school history.
Glass Ceiling Shattered
- When Corin 'Tiny' Adams is in her third year on the Loyola bench as an assistant coach after joining the Greyhounds staff in October 2020.
- The all-time leading scorer in Morgan State women's basketball history is the sixth woman to serve as an assistant coach in NCAA Division I history, and she is currently the only woman in the position.
At The Next Level
- Former Loyola standout Santi Aldama has made a considerable impact in his second NBA season. Aldama, who played for the Greyhounds from 2018-2020, earning 2019 Patriot League All-Rookie honors and then 2020 All-Patriot League First Team recognition, was a first-round pick of the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2021 NBA Draft.
- After seeing action in 32 games a rookie, Aldama has stepped into Memphis' starting lineup this year at the four spot and is averaging 9.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocked shots per game for the Grizzlies through eight games.
Up Next
- The Greyhounds make their regular-season home debut on Sunday, November 13, when they host Brown University at 5 p.m. in Reitz Arena.
- They then remain at home for a Thursday, November 17, contest against Washington College.
