Quick Hits About The Hounds
- Loyola University Maryland heads to Hamilton, New York, for the Patriot League Championships Quarterfinal Round where it will face Colgate University at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 2.
- The contest will stream on ESPN+.
- Loyola has won five out of its last six games overall and its last four at home.
- In those five wins, the Greyhounds have averaged 82.0 points.
- Deon Perry has raised his scoring average throughout conference play and is averaging 13.6 points in 18 Patriot League games. In 13 regular-season non-conference outings, he averaged 7.8 per game.
- Golden Dike and Alonso Faure similarly boosted their rebounding numbers during the conference season. Faure has averaged 6.9 against Patriot League teams, compared to 4.8 in non-league games. Dike is up to 6.6 over 6.0 earlier in the year.
- Kenneth Jones is the only Patriot League player to have 10 assists in a game this season, a feat he's accomplished twice.
- The Greyhounds lead the conference in steals through March 1 with an average of 7.6 per game. Jones is third individually with 56 total and 1.7 per game, and Deon Perry ranks sixth in the conference with 53 total.
Watch The Action
- Thursday's game, along with all non-televised Patriot League contests, will stream live on ESPN+.
Series History Versus Colgate
- Loyola and Colgate will meet for the 22nd time in series history on Friday, the 20th since Loyola joined the Patriot League prior to the 2013-14 season.
- The Raiders lead the series 15-6 and have taken the last five dating back to the 2021 Patriot League Championship Game.
- Colgate won both regular-season meetings this year, posting a 101-67 win on December 30 in Baltimore and a 76-63 victory on January 30 in Hamilton, N.Y.
- The Greyhounds are 0-10 all-time on the Raiders' home floor.
- Thursday's game will be the second time the teams have met in Patriot League Championships action. The Raiders beat Loyola, 85-72, in the 2021 Patriot League Championship Game.
Patriot League Championships History
- Loyola is making its 10th appearance in the Patriot League Championships since joining the conference in 2013-14. The Greyhounds are 5-9 in the Championships overall, 3-5 in first-round games, 1-3 in the quarterfinals and 1-0 in the semifinals and 0-1 in the championship game.
Last Time Out
- Golden Dike tipped a Holy Cross pass at the top of the perimeter, collected a steal and went all the way for a fast-break dunk with 1:51 left in regulation, electrifying the Loyola crowd and helping the Greyhounds pull away for a 73-69 win in the Patriot League Championships First Round.
- Seventy seconds later, Dike made two free throws to put Loyola in front by six, pushing him over the double-double mark for the third time this year. He finished with 11 points and matched his season-high with 16 rebounds. Deon Perry scored 16 of his game-high 25 points in the second half and made two free throws with eight ticks on the clock to provide the final margin.
- The Greyhounds built a 30-14 lead on a Jaylin Andrews turnaround jumper with 4:44 to play in the first half, and the advantage was 35-22 at halftime, but the Crusaders chipped into their deficit early in the second half. Bo Montgomery scored off a Loyola turnover at 15:17, and Loyola's lead was down to 38-37.
- Gerrale Gates then made two free throws at 14:01, tying the game at 41-41, but Perry took over the scoring load for the next several trips down the court.
- He made a three at 13:40 and then converted a traditional 3-point play less than 20 seconds later. He made another three at 11:59, this one coming as he was fouled. After a timeout, he made the free throw to make it 10-straight points he scored for Loyola as it opened up a 51-42 lead.
- Holy Cross got the lead down to two twice with under four minutes to play, the second time coming when Caleb Kenney scored in the paint at 2:18.
- Loyola had a turnover on its next possession, but Dike poked a pass out of the hands of a Holy Cross player, got the steal and went all the way for a dunk. Holy Cross misfired on its next two trips down the court, and on the second, Dike was fouled on a rebounding attempt. He made both foul shots to stretch the lead to six.
- That started a stretch where the Greyhounds made their last eight free throws with Kenneth Jones, Chris Kuzemka and Perry also converting.
- Andrews added 15 points for the Greyhounds, while Jones had seven, David Brown III six and Kuzemka five. Alonso Faure battled foul trouble and had four points with 10 rebounds in only 15 minutes.
Second Half Story
- Loyola finished the first half of Patriot League play with a 2-7 record, but it went 5-4 during the second half.
- Improved offense was the key to the improved second half as the Greyhounds shot 47.3 percent from the field, 40.4 from 3-point range and 70.4 from the free-throw line. During the first half of the conference schedule, Loyola shot 43.7 overall, 31.3 from 3-point range and 57.1 from the line. This led to an increase in scoring from 59.7 points per game to 74.4
- Assists were up, as well, going from 10.9 to 15.1, while turnovers decreased from 14.6 to 10.8.
- Individually, Kenneth Jones was the only Loyola player averaging more than nine points per game in the first nine conference games, but in the second half, all five Greyhounds starters – Deon Perry (18.7), Jaylin Andrews (13.9), Jones (11.4), Alonso Faure (11.3), and Golden Dike (8.4) – were at eight points or more.
- Perry made the biggest increase, going from 8.4 points in the first nine games to 18.7 in the last nine. Faure raised his scoring average from 6.7 to 11.3, while Andrews jumped from 8.1 to 13.9.
Cleaning The Glass
- Golden Dike has grabbed fewer than nine rebounds only once during the month of February, a stretch of seven games. He had three outings with nine, two with 10, and he then matched his season-high with 16 in the Patriot League Championships First Round against Holy Cross on February 28.
- Dike, a senior from Malaga, Spain, has averaged 9.4 rebounds per game since the start of the year's second month, raising his season average to 6.7, good for fourth in the Patriot League.
- Dike's 16 rebounds versus Holy Cross tied a Patriot League First Round record and are tied for 14th-most in school history.
- He's also been a part of Loyola's improved offense as he averaged 3.4 assists during the month of February.
Playing Big
- Deon Perry, who was named to the Patriot League All-Rookie Team following the regular season, has been the Greyhounds' leading scorer over their last 15 games, averaging 16.9 points in a stretch that opened January 11 with a then-career-high 22 at Bucknell, moving him into the team's overall points per game lead with 11.8
- The 5-foot-8 guard has shot 44.6 percent (50 of 112) from 3-point range during the 15 games, raising his per-game scoring average from 6.9 after the January 8 game at Holy Cross to its current mark of 11.6.
- Perry has been more aggressive in getting into the paint during the stretch of 15 games and has gone to the free-throw line 53 times, making 49. Prior to the first Bucknell game, he had taken only 16 free throws this year.
- In his last 10 games, Perry has averaged 19.3 points per game and is 39 of 82 from 3-point range (47.6 percent).
- Defensively, Perry has 19 steals in Loyola's last 10 games to raise his season total to 51, a number that is sixth in the Patriot League.
In Terms Of Freshmen
- Perry's 28 points on February 11 at Lehigh are a to-date career-high, and they're the most by a Loyola freshman since Lucious Jordan scored 28 in February 2002, a stretch of 21 years.
- Perry has six games with 20 or more points, the most by a Loyola freshman since Kevin Green had seven of the same ilk in 1988-89. Green went on to finish his career ranked second all-time in points at Loyola, and he is now fifth with 2,154.
- Amongst a strong crop of Patriot League freshmen this season, Perry's 13.6 points during conference play ranked third behind Holy Cross's Will Batchelder (14.6) and Army West Point's Ethan Roberts (14.3). Overall, Perry's scoring average was 11th among all players.
20 Point Games
- All six of Deon Perry's 20-plus point games have come in Loyola's last 15 games. He has three in each of the last three Greyhounds' outings. The last player to post three 20-plus point games in a row was current Memphis Grizzlies forward Santi Aldama from February 7-13, 2021.
One Of A Kind
- Perry became the first player in Patriot League history to earn Player and Rookie of the Week in the same week when he garnered the honors on February 27. He averaged 24.5 points over the last two regular-season games, wins over Holy Cross and American, to take the awards.
Righting The Ship
- Jaylin Andrews had his best game of the conference season against Bucknell on January 28, scoring 24 points on 7 of 8 from the field and 9 of 12 from the line.
- The game, and nine subsequent outings to close the regular season, raised his conference scoring average to 11.1 points after he entered averaging 8.1 points in nine games. Andrews shot 50 percent from the field overall in the last nine Patriot League play after he was shooting 37.3 percent through the first nine games.
- Andrews is averaging 13.7 points in Loyola's wins this year, 9.7 in its losses.
Swiping Steals
- The Greyhounds lead the Patriot League in steals per game through 31 contests, averaging 7.6 per game with 244 total. Loyola's steals per game rank 68th in the nation.
- Kenneth Jones is third in the conference, averaging 1.75 per game, an average that ranks No. 88 in NCAA Division I. His 56 total steals are 51st in the nation. Deon Perry is fifth in the conference with 1.59 steals per game. He's 84th nationally with 51 total steals.
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.
- He opened the season with seven points and four rebounds at DePaul and has continued to contribute significantly since.
- Kuzemka had a career-high night in the points column, making 6 of 7 shots, 5 of 6 from 3-point range, finishing with 18 points at Binghamton. He posted his third double-digit scoring night at Hampton, making 4 of 5 from three and scoring 14, a point total he matched on December 13 against UMBC. He led Loyola with 14 points on January 8 at Holy Cross, and he added 12 in a win at Bucknell. Kuzemka scored 11 of his 15 in the second half of a win over Navy.
- In 31 games this year, Kuzemka has averaged 6.7 points per game. Kuzemka, who has started 3 of 32 games, is the conference's No. 2 bench player who has opened less than half of his team's games.
Faure Rounding Into Form
- Alonso Faure did not play in the Greyhounds' preseason scrimmage or exhibition due to an injury, and he played just nine minutes in the opener against DePaul before a hand injury forced him out for the second half and the following game at Penn State.
- The native of Alicante, Spain, scored eight in 19 minutes versus Brown and then had a career-best 18 points – making 8 of 11 shots – and three steals in 20 minutes versus Washington College.
- He then saw 26 minutes of action against Clemson and went 6 of 9 from the field to score a game-high 15 points while leading Loyola with six rebounds. He continued to convert from the field, making 7 of 10 for 17 points and a team-high seven rebounds at Binghamton. Faure logged his first collegiate double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds against Goucher, making 7 of 9 baskets in 21 minutes. He posted his second double-double with 16 points and 10 boards at Lehigh in February, and he followed that with 13 and eight against Lafayette.
- Faure is shooting a team-best 58.7 percent from the field this year, making 113 of 192 shots, and his 2-point field goal percentage is 64.4 percent (103 of 160). His field-goal percentage this season ranks fifth in the Patriot League. Entering this year, he was shooting 50.7 percent in his career after putting up nearly identical numbers of 34 of 67 (.5074) in 2020-2021 and 35 of 69 (.5072) last year.
- Faure has scored in double-figures in five of Loyola's last six games – the longest stretch of his career – and has averaged 12.7 in those games along with 9.0 rebounds
Chart Climbers
- Jaylin Andrews and Kenneth Jones both took advantage of their fifth years of eligibility, and they are continuing to climb the Loyola career-record charts.
- Andrews is 15th in points (1,368), 11th in 3-pointers made (134) and seventh in steals (168).
- Jones is fourth in 3-pointers made (196), fifth in assists (408) and tied for eighth in steals (161). On February 4, he became the 41st player in school history with 1,000 points and now has 1,084.
- Against Lafayette on January 28, Jones became Loyola's all-time leader in games played with 128 (now 138). Andrews is now second at 137.
- Through 137 career games, of which he has started 114, Andrews is averaging 10.0 points and 3.9 rebounds per game.
- Over his career, Jones has played in 138 games, starting 71, and averages 7.9 points and 3.0 assists per game.
- Golden Dike, meanwhile, is now 13th in rebounds (654) and second in career field-goal percentage (.557).
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 as a rookie, Aldama stepped into Memphis' starting lineup early this year at the four spot and is averaging 9.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game for the Grizzlies in 57 games played.
Up Next
- The winner of the Loyola-Colgate game will take on the winner of Army West Point and Boston University in a semifinal game on Sunday, March 5.
- That game will be televised live on CBS Sports Network at either 2:00 or 4:00 p.m.
