Quick Hits About The Hounds
- The Loyola University Maryland men's basketball team will close a two-game homestand with a 7 p.m. game on Monday, January 15, 2024.
- The Greyhounds will host American University in a game that will be televised live on CBS Sports Network.
- Golden Dike leads the Patriot League in field-goal percentage this season. He is shooting 59.4 percent from the field (60 of 101) through 17 games.
- Dike is second in the conference in rebounds per game (7.8).
- Deon Perry tops the Greyhounds with a 14.9 points per game average, a mark that is fourth in the Patriot League this year. His 21.0 points per game through four conference games thus far is tops in the League.
- Perry has now played in 22 Patriot League regular-season games and is averaging 15.0 points in those contests (329 total).
- Milos Ilic has raised his scoring average from 7.2 points per game after a December 16 contest at George Mason to its current point of 8.7. Over a six-game stretch, Ilic is second on the team with an 11.5 points per game mark.
- Ilic has shot 61.4 percent during those six games (27 of 44) to bring his second percentage to 51.8.
Watch The Action
- The Loyola-American game on Monday night will be televised live on CBS Sports Network.
Series History Versus American
- Loyola and American will meet for the 105th time in series history and the 23rd time as Patriot League foes.
- American leads the all-time series, 53-51, after the teams have split the last two season series.
- The Eagles took a 71-55 decision in the first game of 2023 on January 2 in Washington, but Loyola came back to deliver an 83-77 victory on February 25 in the teams' regular-season finale in Baltimore.
- The teams first met in 1927-28 when the Eagles pulled out a 27-25 win in Baltimore. They were later conference opponents in the Mason-Dixon Conference from the early 1940s through mid 1970s.
- Loyola is 39-25 in games played on its home campus in the series, while the Eagles hold a 12-9 advantage in Patriot League contests.
Familiar Face
- First-year Loyola assistant coach Mike Brennan will face American for the first time on the Greyhounds' sideline after service as the Eagles' head coach for 10 years from 2013-23.
- The 1994 graduate of Princeton guided the Eagles to the 2014 NCAA Tournament and was 12-9 with American against Loyola. Coincidentally, Brennan was an assistant coach at Georgetown before taking the head coaching job at American in 2013-14, and Tavaras Hardy replaced him on John Thompson III's staff with the Hoyas at that time.
Last Time Out
- Boston University used a 14-0 run over four minutes in the second half to erase a 54-40 deficit and eventually leave Reitz Arena on Saturday with a 60-58 Patriot League victory over host Loyola.
- Golden Dike got free for a dunk with 8:23 left in regulation to give Loyola a 54-40 lead, but that was the last basket the Greyhounds would score until Deon Perry's floater with 3:16 left snapped a 14-0 Terriers' run and gave Loyola a 56-54 lead.
- Boston University's stretch was keyed by three 3-pointers and 11 total points by Anthony Morales who led all players with 24 points. Morales made a three with 5:43 on the clock to get the Terriers within a point, 54-53, and Nico Nobili made the second of two free throws with 4:21 left, and the game was tied for the first time since it was 8-8 with 15:18 left in the first half.
- Perry's basket momentarily put Loyola back in front, but Morales scored on a driving layup and converted a free throw with 2:59 on the clock, and Boston University had a 57-56 lead. Only 16 seconds later, Perry was fouled, and he made both foul shots to give Loyola the advantage, 58-57, with 2:43 on the clock, but Morales made a three with 2:28 on the clock to put Boston University up two.
- That basket with 2:28 left in regulation was the last either team would make in the game.
- D'Angelo Stines and Milos Ilic tied for team-high honors with 13 points each for Loyola, and Dike added 12. Perry scored seven, and Alonso Faure had six points and seven rebounds. Tyson Commander finished with a career-high four steals.
Perry's Last Six
- Deon Perry has increased his scoring output over the last six games – including three games of 22 or more with a career-high 30 coming at Army West Point – to average of 20.2 over the stretch.
- The 2022-23 Patriot League All-Rookie guard has shot 47.7 percent from 3-point range during the stretch, averaging 3.5 made threes per game.
- Prior to the last five games, Perry was 22 of 76 from 3-point range (28.9 percent) in the season's first 11 games.
- The six games have boosted his scoring average by more than two points to 14.7. He is now fourth in the conference in points per game and sixth (3.4) in assists.
- Perry has raised his career mark to 12.6 points.
Lighting Up The League
- In four conference games, Deon Perry leads all Patriot League players in scoring by averaging 21.0 points per game. In 22 career conference regular-season games, Perry has averaged 15.0 points per game.
- He has shot 50 percent (12 of 24) from 3-point range in this year's four games, good for second in the conference among players averaging two or more made threes per game.
Back To The Line
- Part of Deon Perry's recent success can be attributed to getting back to the free throw line where he excels as a shooter. He was 11 of 12 on January 10 at Army, logging career highs in free throws made and attempted.
- Last year, Perry averaged 16.2 points per game over Loyola's last 16 outings, raising his season scoring average from 6.9 on January 9 to 11.4 by the end of the 2022-2023 season. He did so in part by getting tot he line 53 times during the last 16 games and making 49.
- This year, Perry had gone to the free-throw line just 27 times in Loyola's first 15 games, but after the Army game, he is tops int he conference with an 89.5 percent mark from the line, having made 34 of 38 this year.
Triple-Double Time
- Golden Dike logged the second triple-double in program history, and the first in almost 35 years, on January 6 against Lehigh when he scored 13, grabbed 11 rebounds and had 10 assists.
- His feat was the first for a men's basketball player at Loyola since Dave Wojcik turned in the first on February 4, 1989, during a home win over St. Francis (Pa.) with 14 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists.
- Dike, who had six career double doubles coming into the January 6 game, had a career-best 10 assists in the contest against the Mountain Hawks, eclipsing her previous high of eight. As of January 11, his triple-double is one of 20 in NCAA Division I this year. At 6-foot-10, Dike is tied with UNC Asheville's Drew Pembler as the tallest player to post one this season.
Top 5 On The Boards
- With his ninth and final rebound against Sacred Heart, Golden Dike moved into a tie for 10th all-time at Loyola with 690 rebounds, matching Bernard Allen's total from 2001-05.
- Against Missouri, he became the 10th player in school history to grab 700 or more rebounds in a career. Later, in the game at St. Joseph's, Dike's season-high 14 rebounds vaulted him from ninth in school history to fifth all-time where he sits entering the American game with 793. Mark Rohde (1972-76) is fourth in school history with 836.
- Dike has also risen the Patriot League's all-time charts and checks in 13th all-time with his 775; Bucknell's Zach Thomas is 12th with 796.
Twenty Or More For Deon
- Deon Perry's 30-point effort at Army marked the 10th time in his 50 collegiate games that he has scored 20 or more. It was also the second time he has scored 20 or more in three-straight games after also doing so during February 2023.
- Since 2011-12, 10 Loyola players have scored 20 or more points 10 or more times. The only player to have done so in fewer games is Santi Aldama who had 14 20-plus point games in 27 Loyola games before he was a first-round draft pick of the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2021 NBA Draft.
- Three-pointers have been the spark to Perry's 20-point games. He has shot 43 of 88 from 3-point range in those nine games, good for 48.6 percent. In his other 39 games at Loyola, Perry is 74 of 206 (35.6 percent) from behind the arc.
- Loyola is 8-2 all-time when Perry scores 20 or more points.
Record-Setting Performance
- Loyola's shooting against St. Mary's on December 22, 2023, was on point as the Greyhounds set a school record by making 71.7 percent of their shots from the field (33 of 46). The program's previous best mark of 70.5 percent (31 of 44) came in January 1978 against Lehigh.
- In the win over the Seahawks, Loyola made 21 of 27 (77.8 percent) of its 2-point field goals while shooting 63.2 percent (12 of 19) from 3-point range. Loyola was 11 of 11 on 2-point attempts in the second half and shot 88.9 percent (16 of 18) overall after the break.
Stines Steps Up As Second Scorer
- D'Angelo Stines has been a solid second scorer for the Greyhounds this season behind Deon Perry, averaging 9.7 points though 17 games this year.
- Stines has scored 10 or more in 10 of the Greyhounds' 17 outings.
- He is the first incoming transfer to play for Loyola since Tavaras Hardy has been the head coach (dating to 2018-19). After spending two years at Old Dominion, the Baltimore-area native joined the Loyola program this offseason. Stines played in 55 games over two seasons for the Monarchs, making six starts and averaging 12.1 minutes per game. He averaged 2.5 points per game in those two seasons.
- The product of Baltimore Catholic League power Mount St. Joseph's High School made his Loyola regular-season debut at Florida and finished with 13 points, hitting 3 of 7 from 3-point range and 5 of 12 overall. He also had three assists against the Gators in 25 minutes.
Golden Efficiency
- Golden Dike led the Greyhounds in scoring for just the third time in his career at Loyola when he scored 16 points at Florida in the season opener, doing so with efficient fashion.
- Dike made all five shots he took from the field and six of his eight free throws. He then scored 14 points on 7 of 12 shooting in the win at Brown, and he went 6 of 7 for 15 points at UMBC.
- Through Loyola's first 17 games, he leads the Patriot League in shooting percentage at .594 (60 of 101).
- He entered the season ranked second in school history in field-goal percentage at 55.9 percent, a mark is now at 56.5 after the Boston University game.
- His three games with 14 or more points, through 17 contests, are already more than he's had in any one of his previous seasons. He had two such games as a freshman, sophomore and senior, as well as a one during his junior season.
- Dike is in his fifth year at Loyola and pursuing his M.B.A. in the university's graduate studies program.
Building On His Return
- Milos Ilic missed the entirety of the 2022-23 season while rehabbing a knee injury suffered on January 25, 2022, at Lafayette. His return this season has seen him start all 17 games, averaging 25.1 minutes, 8.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.
- After opening with five points at Florida, Ilic has scored nine points at Brown and then 12 against both Binghamton and Sacred Heart. He had four rebounds in each of the first four games before grabbing nine against the Pioneers.
- He had his first collegiate double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds at La Salle, leading the team in rebounds with his first double-digit performance on the boards. He scored a season-high against another Atlantic 10 Conference opponent, registering 13 at St. Joseph's.
- Over the last six games, Ilic is second on the team with an 11.5 points per game mark. Ilic has shot 61.4 percent during those six games (27 of 44) to bring his second percentage to 51.8.
Faure Breaks Out
- Alonso Faure entered the November 25 game at Missouri averaging just 4.4 points per game while shooting 37 percent from the field, but the senior post player went 6 of 7 from the field against the Tigers, was the same from the free-throw line, and he had a game-high 18 points.
- The 18 points matched his career-high output He then led the Greyhounds with 16 points against Delaware State, and he had a team-best 14 at La Salle. He is now averaging 7.1 points per game, and his field-goal percentage is 51.1 percent.
- The native of Alicante, Spain, shot a team-best 58.1 percent from the field last year, making 115 of 198 shots to rank fifth in the conference in field-goal percentage; his 2-point field goal percentage was 63.6 percent (105 of 165). He has a career field-goal percentage of 54.2 percent that ranks fourth in school history.
The Spanish Affair
- Loyola took an eight-day, three-game trip to Spain during August that enabled the Greyhounds to play outside competition while spending time immersed in the culture of a foreign country.
- The Greyhounds visited the cities of Bilbao, Madrid and Alicante while also taking trips to San Sebastian and the town of Loyola, birthplace of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuit order which founded the university.
- On the court, the Greyhounds went 2-1 with a win over a junior team from Bilbao and a professional select group from Madrid. Valencia's juniors edged the Greyhounds by three in their final game. Note: the junior teams were comprised of college-age players in Spain.
- Tyson Commander led the Greyhounds with a 16.0 points per game average in Spain, while D'Angelo Stines put up 14.7 and Deon Perry averaged 12.0. Golden Dike and Alonso Faure both nearly averaged double-doubles with each averaging 9.3 points per game; the former posted 12.7 rebounds per game and the latter 10.3.
At The Next Level
- Former Loyola standout Santi Aldama (SAHN-tee ALL-dah-muh) has made a considerable impact in his second NBA season during 2022-23. 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, averaged 9.0 points and 4.8 rebounds per game for the Grizzlies in 77 games played. In 29 games this season, Aldama is averaging 10.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. He led the Grizzlies with 24 points on November 14 against the Los Angeles Lakers, and he had a double-double with a career-high 28 points to go with 12 rebounds on November 19 against Boston. Aldama had his fourth double-double of the season, and second against San Antonio, with 13 points and 11 boards on January 2.
Up Next
- Loyola heads to Massachusetts, for a Saturday, January 20, game at Holy Cross.
