Game Information
Opponent	American Eagles
Game Notes	Loyola
Date	Monday, January 13, 2025
Time	7:00 p.m.
Location	Baltimore, Md. | Reitz Arena
Tickets	Purchase
Directions	Click Here
Television	CBS Sports Network | Channel Finder
Online Media	Live Stats

Quick Hits About The Hounds

• Loyola University Maryland men's basketball plays the second game of a two-game homestand on Monday, January 13, with a 7 p.m. tip-off against American University.
• Loyola has three players averaging 12.9 points per game or more through the season's first 15 games and five at 7.3 or higher.
• Milos Ilic is one of only 20 players nationally (who qualify for the national rankings) and average 14 or more points and 8.5 or more rebounds per game this season. Ilic enters the fifth conference game with marks of 14.1 and 8.5.
• Loyola is second in the League in rebounding margin at +2.3 per game. Milos Ilic leads the Greyhounds with 8.5 rebounds per game and four other players – Jordan Stiemke, Veljko Ilic, Jacob Theodosiou and Braeden Speed – average 3.1 or more per game.
• Josh Loeffler is on the bench as the Greyhounds' head coach after taking the position as Loyola's 22nd all-time head coach in March 2024.
• The Greyhounds are a new-look team in more ways than just its head coach for the 2024-25 season. Of the 6,475 total minutes played by Loyola players last year, only 53 percent of those returned to the roster this season.

Watch The Action

• The Loyola-American game will air live nationally on CBS Sports Network as part of a Greyhounds-Eagles doubleheader from Reitz Arena. The Loyola women's team hosts American in a 4 p.m. contest.

Progress Through 15

• Loyola picked up its seventh win of the season in its 15th game, matching the Greyhounds' win total from the 2023-24 season (32 total games).
• In Josh Loeffler's first year as Loyola's head coach, the Greyhounds have seen improvements in just about every statistical category from last season, notably: field-goal percentage (.436 from .417), field-goal defense (.448-.465), 3-point defense (.302-.358), and scoring offense (71.4, 64.0).

Busy Start To League Play

• Loyola will play its first five Patriot League games over a stretch of just 12 days spanning from January 2-13.
• The Greyhounds are one of two teams (American) in the conference to have as many games in as few days. 

Series History Versus American

• Loyola and Navy will meet for the 107th time in series history on Monday when the teams take the floor in Reitz Arena. The Eagles, who are the Greyhounds' most-played Patriot League opponent, hold a 56-52 lead in the previous 106 games.
• The teams split a pair of regular-season meetings last year, each winning on the other's home floor. American took a 66-52 victory in Baltimore during a game that was also broadcast on CBS Sports Network on January 15, 2024. Loyola then outlasted American in a 44-43 decision on February 7 in Washington, D.C.
• Loyola and American, which were longtime foes in the old Mason-Dixon Conference, first met during the 1927-28 season when the teams split a pair of meetings.

Last Time Out

• Braeden Speed grabbed an offensive rebound and scored in the paint with 3.1 seconds left on Saturday evening to lift Loyola to a 75-74 victory over visiting Navy in Reitz Arena.
• Navy regained the lead with 12 seconds to play on two Austin Benigni free throws, and Loyola had the last full possession of the night.
• Jacob Theodosiou drove the left side of the lane and slipped a pass to Milos Ilic in the middle. Ilic's shot was too strong, but it bounced off the back of the iron to a crashing Speed who laid it in and pushed Loyola up a point. Navy called a timeout, and Benigni's halfcourt heave was wide left.
• Theodosiou and Velko Ilic both had career highs in the scoring column on Saturday. Theodosiou recorded his third game this season with 20 or more points, going for a career-high 27 thanks in part to a career-best six 3-pointers made. He was also 7 of 8 from the free throw line to help secure the win.
• Ilic played a season-best 26 minutes and responded with 18 points, making 7 of 9 shots from the field while also grabbing eight rebounds and coming up with a pair of steals.
• Loyola trailed by as many as 12 in the first half, going down 35-23 on two Mike Woods free throws with 3:46 left in the half. 
• The Greyhounds, however, scored the last 11 points of the half with six coming on a pair of Theodosiou 3-pointers and another three out of the hands of Jordan Stiemke with 40 ticks to go in the stanza.
• Navy built a six-point lead, 56-50, with 10:55 left in regulation, but Loyola reeled off nine-straight points to take the lead for the first time since the game's first two minutes.
• After two Theodosiou free throws, Samuel Gibbs knocked down a three from the left side to make it a one-point Loyola game. Gibbs then grabbed a long rebound on the defensive end and started a fast break that finished with his outlet to Veljko Ilic leading to a layup at 9:29.
• A Veljko Ilic tip-in with 4:28 on the clock gave Loyola a 67-64 lead, but Navy nabbed the advantage on two Benigni free throws at 2:46.
• The lead changed hands five times between those foul shots and two from Theodosiou with 28 ticks left that put Loyola in front 73-72.
• Coming out of that possession, Benigni drove the left side of the lane and appeared to lose his footing, but Loyola was whistled for a foul, and he went to the line where he made both shots to set up the final sequence.

Tightly Wound

• Loyola has played four Patriot League games this year, going 2-2 with road losses at Holy Cross and Army West Point and  home wins against Lehigh and Navy. Those four games have been decided by a cumulative margin of three points. 
• The Greyhounds' January 5 win over the Mountain Hawks came by six points, and they then lost two two-point decisions by matching 74-72 scores on the road. The Navy win was a one-point margin.
• Overall this year, Loyola's point differential is plus-four in 15 games. The Greyhounds have averaged 71.4 points per game to their opponents' 71.1.
• Home Court Holds
• Through four rounds of Patriot League games, the home team has won all but one of the 20 games (Army at Lehigh) that have been played.

Tempo & Efficiency

• After four conference games, Loyola ranks first in the Patriot League in offensive efficiency per Ken Pom with a 112.5 rating. It is fourth in tempo, averaging 66.4 possessions per game.

Focal Point

• Milos Ilic has become the focal point of the Greyhounds' offense this year, and the 6-foot-10 post from Serbia has responded with his best start to a season in four years at Loyola. Ilic has led the Greyhounds with 14.1 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.
• Ilic's 14.1 points per game are almost double his previous season-high after he put up 7.6 points per game last year. 
• Per Ken Pom, Ilic is taking 27.6 percent of Loyola's shots when he's on the court this season, up from 17.2 percent a year ago and 16.9 as a freshman in 2021-22. His Ken Pom usage rate is 29.4 percent this year, a rate that ranks in the top-75 nationally.
• Ilic ranks 19th in NCAA Division I in points per game for players listed as 6-foot-10 or taller.

Shooting On Point

• Milos Ilic's rise to the top of the Greyhounds' production has been fueled by many things, with a significant improvement in shooting percentage the majority of the reason.
• This year, Ilic has shot 52.5 percent from the field, up from 48.1 in 2023-24 and 40.1 as a freshman in 2021-22.
• That percentage is in large part to the fact he has played more than 90 percent of his minutes at the five position for the Greyhounds this year after spending almost all of his time on the court as a four in his first two seasons.
• As a result, Ilic has taken 87.7 percent of his shots this year as two-pointers, and he has made those at a clip of 56.3 percent (80 of 142) through 15 games, a three-percent improvement over his first two seasons.
• He has attempted only 20 shots from 3-point range this year (12.3 percent of his shots attempted). As a freshman in 2021-22, he took 71 3-pointers before his season-ending injury which comprised 51.8 percent of his 137 attempts. Last year, he took threes 23.4 percent of the time in 183 shots.

Pounding The Boards

• Milos Ilic is third in the Patriot League in rebounding through games of January 11 with 8.5 per game. His rebounding average is also 49th in NCAA Division I, and he ranks in the top 90 nationally in both offensive (67th, 2.93) and defensive (90th, 5.53) rebounds.

Dishing, Too

• In addition to leading the team in scoring and rebounding, Milos Ilic is tied with Braeden Speed for the team lead in assists (43, 2.9 per game).
• He ranks eighth in the nation in assists per game for players 6-foot-10 or taller.

On The Defensive

• Loyola's perimeter defense has helped it rank tied for first with American in the Patriot League – and No. 119th in Division I – through games of January 11 in 3-point field goal defense. Opponents are shooting just 31.6 percent from behind the arc against the Greyhounds this year.
• It's a significant turnaround for Loyola from a year ago when it ranked 310th out of 351 Division I teams as teams shot 35.8 percent from 3-point range against the Greyhounds.

Contributions In Many Areas

• Jacob Theodosiou leads the team in minutes played (28.7) through 15 games as one of only three players on the roster averaging more than 27 minutes.
• The sophomore transfer scored a then-career-high 23 points at Coppin State, making 4 of 8 3-pointers with three in the final 11 minutes of the comeback win. He had another 20-plus point game at DePaul when he made 9 of 10 shots to score 22. The native of Waterloo, Ontario, then put up a new high of 27 points in a one-point win over Navy, going 6 of 11 from 3-point range and 7 of 8 at the free-throw line.
• He is third on the team in scoring (12.9), tied for first in steals (1.3) and fourth in rebounds (3.9).
• Theodosiou has also been the Greyhounds' best free-throw shooter this year. He has gone to the line a team-leading 74 times and made 62 for an 83.3 percentage from the charity stripe. His 74 free throws attempted are fourth in the Patriot League.

Settled In

• Jacob Theodosiou opened his Loyola career with 14 points against Columbia, but then he was averaging just 8.2 through six games.
• Since then, he has averaged a team-leading 16.1 points (145 total) in the last nine games dating to his 23-point effort on December 2 against Coppin State. During the nine games, a big difference has been his ability to get to the free-throw line. He has averaged 7.1 attempts from the stripe per game in those contests, up from 1.7 in the year's first six games. He has also shot 40.5 percent from 3-point range since the start of December.

Bouncing Back Nicely

• Jordan Stiemke had his lowest scoring output of the 2024-25 season to start December when he saw just 14 minutes of action, went 1 of 5 from the field and scored two points at Coppin State.
• Stiemke responded by tying his to-date season-high in scoring with 15 points five days later at Delaware State before scoring a game-best 22 at Mount St. Mary's on December 14. He then scored 12 on December 21 against Hampton and had 10 at DePaul. 
• He had his second-highest scoring output of the year with 19 in the Patriot League opener at Holy Cross, and he set a to-date career-high with 25 against Lehigh. Stiemke has averaged 15.6 points over Loyola's last eight games.

Bench Scorer

• Jordan Stiemke has been the top scorer off the bench in the Patriot League this season, averaging 13.0 points per game through 15 Loyola contests to lead conference players who have started six or fewer games.
• Nationally, he is ranked 14th in points per game among NCAA Division I players who have played in 10 or more games and have five or fewer starts per stathead.com.
• The native of Bel Air, Maryland, was Loyola's second-leading scorer in the last 10 games of his freshman season (2023-24), averaging 10.3 points. Prior to that, he had scored just 34 points in 15 games.
• Spanning the last two seasons, Stiemke is averaging 12.0 points over the Greyhounds' last 24 games.

Turnaround On The Line

• Loyola is second in the Patriot League and No. 109 in the nation as of January 6 with a 73.9 percent mark from the free-throw line. This year's percentage is almost  10 points better than the 64.4 percent the Greyhounds shot from the charity stripe in 2023-24 when they ranked 341st out of 351 NCAA Division I teams.

At The Next Level

• As a school of less than 4,000 undergraduate students, Loyola University Maryland boasted three former student-athletes on NBA rosters as players and one as a head coach last month on opening night. Two members of the men's basketball incoming class of 2019, Santi Aldama (SAHN-tee ALL-dah-muh) and Cam Spencer are on the Memphis Grizzlies' roster, and four-time men's lacrosse All-American is a member of the Golden State Warriors.
• Michael Malone, a 1994 graduate of Loyola, was a four-year letterwinner as a point guard for the Greyhounds. He is now the head coach of the Denver Nuggets.
• Aldama was a first-round draft pick in the 2021 NBA Draft after leading the Patriot League in scoring and rebounding in 2020-21, and Cam Spencer led the conference in scoring the following season.
• Aldama has played in 203 NBA games through January 11 and is averaging 12.9 points and 7.2 rebounds through 33 outings this season.
• He starred for his native Spain this summer, earning TISSOT Most Outstanding Player honors at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament before averaging 17.7 points and 9.3 rebounds in three games during the Olympics.
• Cam Spencer, who was a three-year starter for the Greyhounds from 2019-22, and won an NCAA Championship at Connecticut in 2023-24, made his NBA debut on November 20 in a Grizzlies game against Philadelphia and later scored his first NBA basket on November 23... off an Aldama assist.
• Pat Spencer holds the Loyola men's lacrosse records for career assists and points and was the 2019 NCAA Division I Player of the Year for the Greyhounds. He switched to basketball after graduating from Loyola and has seen action in six career games with the Warriors.
• Malone had 282 assists in 108 career games with the Greyhounds from 1989-93. He is in his 12th season as an NBA head coach and guided the Nuggets to the 2023 NBA Championship.

Up Next

• Loyola goes on the road to Lehigh on Saturday, January 18, for a 2 p.m. game.