Quick Hits About The Hounds
- Loyola University Maryland men's basketball opens play in the 2022 Patriot League Championships on Thursday, March 3, with a quarterfinal game at Boston University.
- The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. at Case Gymnasium
- Cam Spencer leads the Patriot League in both points (18.6) and steals (2.3) per game as of March 3. He also is second in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.5:1), a stat that ranks him No. 26 in NCAA Division I.
- Spencer is 14th nationally in steals per game, and sixth in total steals. His 66 steals through 29 games are sixth nationally and sixth in school single-season history and the most since Andre Collins' 67 in 2005-06.
- Jaylin Andrews and Kenneth Jones are third and fourth in the conference in steals per game, too.
- Jones tops the conference in assists per game (4.6) and is No. 56 nationally in that category. Loyola is 53rd in assists per game (15.1) as a team.
- The Greyhounds have the top scoring duo in the Patriot League with Spencer and Jaylin Andrews (13.8). Together, they average 32.4 points per game.
- 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.
Series History Versus Boston University
- Loyola and Boston University will meet for the 22nd time overall and 21st in the last 11 seasons when they take the floor on Thursday. The Terriers hold a 14-7 record in the all-time series after winning the last game, 67-50, in Baltimore. Loyola won the first game in the series season, taking a 66-58 decision on January 7, 2022, in Boston.
- Thursday's game will be the second meeting in the Patriot League Championships between the programs. The Terriers won a 2017 game, 64-60, on their home floor.
Last Time Out
- American scored the game's first 14 points and eventually took a 21-4 lead Saturday, pulling away for a 65-55 win over Loyola in the teams' regular-season finales.
- Stacy Beckton Jr. eventually extended the Eagles' lead to 35-14 with a 3-pointer 49 seconds before halftime, sending the teams to the locker rooms with American up 21. Beckton scored again to start the second half, and it was a 23-point gap, but Golden Dike and Cam Spencer scored the next 10 points – six from Spencer, four by Dike – and Loyola was within 13, 37-24, by the time three minutes had passed in the second half.
- Kenneth Jones knocked down a three at 9:02, and it was a 10-point margin, 49-39, but Beckton responded with a basket.
- Dike would make the second of two free throws at 8:04, and then Spencer converted a pair with 6:38 on the clock, and the deficit was single-digits, 51-42.
- A Spencer three at 5:10 cut the margin to six, 51-45, and then one from Jones made it 53-48 at 3:57, but Johnny O'Neil hit a shot from behind the arc, and Matt Rogers made one in the paint to push the American lead back to 10.
- Spencer led Loyola with 21 points, while Jones added 13. Dike scored nine to go with a game-high 10 rebounds.
Patriot League Championships History
- Loyola is making its ninth appearance in the Patriot League Championships since joining the conference in 2013-14. The Greyhounds are 4-8 in the Championships overall, 2-5 in first-round games, 1-2 in the quarterfinals and 1-0 in the semifinals and 0-1 in the championship game.
- This season marks the first that the Greyhounds have not played been seeded for a first-round game. Their tie for fifth in the regular-season standings and No. 6 seed in the tournament are the highest since joining the conference.
Spencer Named To All-Patriot League First Team
- Loyola junior guard Cam Spencer was named to the All-Patriot League First Team on this week, culminating a regular-season in which he led the conference in points and steals per game while finishing second in assist-to-turnover ratio, eighth in assists and 12th in rebounds per game.
- Spencer's award marks the fifth-straight year a Loyola player has been named to the first team, the longest active streak in the conference. He follows Andrew Kostecka (2018-19, 2019-20) and Santi Aldama (2020-21).
Locked Down
- The 42 points Loyola yielded to Lehigh on February 20 were the fewest the Greyhounds have allowed in a Patriot League game since joining the conference in 2013-2014. The Mountain Hawks' 29.8 percent from the field was the second-lowest by a Loyola opponent during the same span.
- Lehigh entered the game averaging 47.3 percent from the 3-point range, but Loyola held the Mountain Hawks to 4 of 19 (21.1 percent) from behind the arc.
- Coupled with the 52 points allowed on February 23 at Navy, the 94 combined were the fewest Loyola has allowed in back-to-back games against NCAA Division I opponents since moving up to the level in 1981-82.
- The Greyhounds have given up fewer than 92 points in consecutive games only once since 1981 when they beat Mount St. Mary's, 64-48, and Elizabethtown, 72-45, in December 2019.
Crossing The Plateau
- Jaylin Andrews became the 39th player in school history to score 1,000 points in a career when on February 16 at Lafayette. The senior did so in his 104th career game and is now averaging 9.7 points over his career.
Scorers Under Hardy
- Loyola is on track to have the total points scored leader in the Patriot League for the fourth year in a row since Head Coach Tavaras Hardy came to the Evergreen campus.
- Andrew Kostecka led the conference in points scored during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons, as did Santi Aldama during 2019-20;
- This year, Cam Spencer leads all Patriot League players with 538 points through games of March 2.
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 March 2, in points (18.6) and steals (2.3) per game. In 29 games this season, the junior guard has scored 538 points and has scored in double figures in all but two contests.
- He is also eighth in the conference in assists per game (3.2), and he ranks 26th in all of NCAA Division I with a 2.54:1 assist-to-turnover ratio. His steals per game mark is 14th nationally, and he is sixth in total steals (66), 37th in total points and 52nd in points per game.
- This year's start has come after Spencer played just 28 of 49 games over his first two seasons at Loyola due to injury, and the Greyhounds were only 4-17 in games he did not play during that stretch. In his 57 career games – Loyola is 31-26 in games he has played – as he averages 14.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.4 steals per game. He has a career 2.7:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
- Spencer, who was named to the Lou Henson Award Midseason Watch List, has scored 20 or more points 11 times this year, logging 25 or higher six 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.
- Spencer has two games this year with nine rebounds, home contests against Army West Point and Lehigh, and is second on the team with 4.9 boards per game.
- He went for 26 points, 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, again on January 10 versus Bucknell and once more on January 17 at Lehigh. He had his fifth game with 26 or more this season on February 9 when he went 11 of 15 from the field and finished with 27 at Holy Cross.
- 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 leads the Patriot League with 4.6 assists per game, and this season, Jones has eight games with seven or more assists, the first eight of his career. Loyola is third in the conference with 15.1 assists per game. Its 437 assists this season are eighth-most in school history.
- 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 53rd nationally in assists per game.
- Per KenPom.com, the Greyhounds dish out assists on 59.5 percent of their made baskets, the 24th-highest percentage in NCAA Division I this year.
- In Tavaras Hardy's three-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.
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 48.8 percent from the field in their 14 victories, 37.5 percent from 3-point range. Meanwhile, they are shooting 40.0 percent, overall, in 15 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 19.3 and 16.6 points per game, respectively, in the victories, while Kenneth Jones is at 9.9 points. In the 15 losses, Spencer has averaged 17.9 points, Andrews 11.0 and no other player more than 7.8 per game.
Don't Forget The Defense
- The Greyhounds' defense has been putting in the work, too, during the wins. Loyola has 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 15 Loyola losses, 35.2 percent from behind the arc.
Sticky Fingers
- Thanks to Cam Spencer, Jaylin Andrews and Kenneth Jones ranking first, third and fourth in the Patriot League in steals per game at 2.3, 1.7 and 1.5, respectively, Loyola is first in the Patriot League with 7.9 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 29 games, he has averaged 33.2 minutes per game, while producing 8.8 points, 2.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists per contest, all career-highs. He has a 2.13:1 assist-to-turnover ratio that ranks third in the Patriot League and is a career-high, as well. His 4.6 assists are 56th in NCAA Division I.
- His 34 assists are 10th in school single-season history.
- Jones averaged 4.6 assists in 18 Patriot League regular-season games this year, and his total of 83 dimes were 14 more than any other player in conference play.
- Over his career, Jones has played in 105 games, starting 39, and averages 6.7 points and 2.8 assists per game. His 291 career assists are 13th 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.
- Through 107 career games, of which he has started 84, Andrews is averaging 9.6 points and 3.9 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 was 12th in the NCAA in scoring (21.2 ppg) and 14th in rebounds (10.1).
