Game Information
Opponent	Lafayette Leopards
Game Notes	Loyola
Date	Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Time	7:00 p.m.
Location	Baltimore, Md. | Reitz Arena
Tickets	Purchase
Directions	Click Here
Online Media	ESPN+ | Live Stats

Quick Hits About The Hounds

• The Loyola University Maryland men's basketball team opens a two-game homestand on Wednesday, January 22, with a 7 p.m. tipoff against Lafayette College in Reitz Arena.
• Loyola has three players averaging 12.1 points per game or more through the season's first 17 games and five at 7.9 or higher.
• Milos Ilic is one of 32 players nationally (who qualify for the national rankings) and average 13.5 or more points and eight or more rebounds per game this season. Ilic enters the seventh conference game with marks of 13.8 and 8.1.
• Loyola is second in the League in rebounding margin at +2.5 per game. Milos Ilic leads the Greyhounds with 8.1 rebounds per game and four other players – Jordan Stiemke, Veljko Ilic, Jacob Theodosiou and Braeden Speed – average 3.0 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-Lafayette game will stream live on ESPN+.

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). Loyola then eclipsed last year's total in its 17th game this season.
• 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 (.440 from .417), field-goal defense (.452-.465), 3-point defense (.330-.358), and scoring offense (70.6, 64.0).

Tightly Wound

• Loyola has played six Patriot League games this year, going 3-3 with two home wins, a road victory, two road losses and a home loss.
• The Greyhounds' January 5 win over Lehigh came by six points, and they lost two two-point decisions by matching 74-72 scores on the road (Holy Cross, Army West Point. The Navy win was a one-point margin. The Greyhounds lost to American by 19 and beat Lehigh on the road by 16.
• All of this adds up to the Greyhounds scoring and giving up and equal number of points in the Patriot League games (429 total, 71.5 per game).
• In 17 total games, Loyola has scored one more point than its opponents, 1,201 to 1,200), while both are averaging 70.6 per game.

Series History Versus Lafayette

• Loyola and Lafayette will meet for the 31st time in series history, and the 29th time since Loyola joined the Patriot League in 2013-14, on Wednesday night. The Leopards hold a 16-14 advantage in the previous 30 games after the teams split the regular-season series last year.
• The teams each won on the other's home floor last year with neither game being close in final margin. Lafayette scored a 70-44 victory in Baltimore on January 24, but Loyola picked up a 79-64 win on the Leopards' court on Valentine's Day. 
• Loyola and Lafayette first played during the 1930-31 season – a 31-27 Greyhounds win – and then met again in 1962-63 before playing as Patriot League foes in January 2014.

Last Time Out

• Loyola outscored host Lehigh by 18 in the second half, and the Greyhounds came back from a halftime deficit to finish with a 76-60 win at Stabler Arena on Saturday afternoon.
• Five Greyhounds scored in double figures – Veljko Ilic (15), Milos Ilic (14), Jacob Theodosiou, Jordan Stiemke and Tyson Commander (12 each) – and Loyola outrebounded the Mountain Hawks by 13.
• Loyola led by four with 3:10 to go in the first half, but Lehigh scored eight of the last 10 points in the period to take a 33-31 lead at the break.
• Less than three minutes into the second half, Veljko Ilic scored in the paint to put the Greyhounds in front, 36-35, and Loyola would not relinquish the lead. A Stiemke jumper with 12:09 on the clock pushed the lead to double digits for the first time, 51-40, although Lehigh would draw back within seven. 
• Theodosiou had a steal and transition layup at 7:12, and the margin rose to 12, 63-51. But for a 32 second stretch less than two minutes later, Loyola was ahead by 10 or more for the remainder of the game.
• The Greyhounds shot a modest 53.3 percent from the field in the second half, but it had five offensive rebounds, but the Mountain Hawks did not grab one amongst their nine total second-half rebounds.
• Loyola also had five steals – four by Theodosiou – and forced nine Lehigh turnovers after the break. Stiemke had three of his career-high blocked shots after halftime.
• Milos Ilic, Theodosiou and Stiemke combined for just five points in the first half, but the trio had 12, 11 and 10, respectively, in the second.
• Veljko Ilic led Loyola with nine rebounds as the Greyhounds had a 35-22 advantage on the boards. Lehigh's 22 rebounds were the second lowest by a Loyola opponent this year (21 at Coppin State), and the Mountain Hawks' two offensive boards are tied for the fewest given up by a Patriot League team this season.

Playing Efficiently

• After six conference games, Loyola ranks second in the Patriot League in offensive efficiency per Ken Pom with a 109.6 rating. 

Improvement From Three

• The Greyhounds have shot the ball considerably better from 3-point range since starting Patriot League games. They finished their 11 non-conference games at 29.5 percent from behind the arc, but in the League, they are shooting 35.6 percent. 
• Loyola's non-conference percentage was worst in the 10-team League, but they rank fifth in the six conference games.

Five With Two

• Five Loyola players – Tyson Commander, Milos Ilic, Jordan Stiemke, Braeden Speed and Jacob Theodosiou – made two 3-pointers each on January 18 at Lehigh. It was the first time five Greyhounds have had two or more from behind the arc since November 25, 2019, in a neutral-site game against IUPUI, a span of 155 games.

Focal Point

• Milos Ilic has become the focal point of the Greyhounds' offense this year, and the 6-foot-10 post from Gornji Milanovic, Serbia has responded with his best start to a season in four years at Loyola. Ilic has led the Greyhounds with 13.8 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.
• Ilic's 13.8 points per game are almost six higher than his previous season-high after he put up 7.6 points per game last year. 
• Per Ken Pom, Ilic is taking 28.1 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 30.2 percent this year, a rate that ranks in the top-50 nationally.
• Ilic ranks 28th 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 53.4 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 86.4 percent of his shots this year as two-pointers, and he has made those at a clip of 56.6 percent (86 of 152) through 17 games, a 3-percent improvement over his first two seasons.
• He has attempted only 24 shots from 3-point range this year (13.6 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 on 183 shots.

Pounding The Boards

• Milos Ilic is third in the Patriot League in rebounding through games of January 20 with 8.1 per game. His rebounding average is also 75th in NCAA Division I, and he ranks in the top 125 nationally in both offensive (86th, 2.76) and defensive (125th, 5.24) rebounds.

Dishing, Too

• In addition to leading the team in scoring and rebounding, Milos Ilic leads the Greyhounds in assists with 49, an average of 2.88 per game. He is the only Patriot League player to lead his team in all three categories.
• He ranks ninth in the nation in assists per game for players 6-foot-10 or taller, and he is one of three players nationally of that height category to lead his team in rebounds, assists and points per game, joining College of Charleston's Ante Brzovic and Davidson's Reed Bailey.

Veljko In VIctories

• Veljko Ilic has been key in Loyola's wins this year, and his statistics reflect it. The senior post player has averaged 10.7 points in the seven wins he has played in – he missed the VMI game with an injury – a more than five-point increase over the 5.1 he's averaged in seven losses.
• Ilic has shot 66.0 percent from the field in the wins (31 of 47) compared to 38.7 (12 of 31) in the losses. The numbers in wins are buoyed significantly by going 7 of 9 in wins against both Navy and at Lehigh.
• With his 7 of 9 shooting performance at Lehigh on January 18 moved him into qualifying for the conference statistics in field goal percentage. He ranks fourth at 55.1 percent.

On The Defensive

• Loyola's perimeter defense has helped it rank third in the Patriot League – and No. 183 in Division I – through games of January 19 in 3-point field goal defense. Opponents are shooting just 33.0 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 (28.8) through 17 games as a first-year player on the Greyhounds' roster.
• 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 (12.1), tied for first in steals (1.4) and fourth in rebounds (3.8).

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 14.3 points (157 total) in the last 11 games dating to his 23-point effort on December 2 against Coppin State. During the 11 games, a big difference has been his ability to get to the free-throw line. He has averaged 6.4 attempts from the stripe per game in those contests, up from 1.7 in the year's first six games. He has also shot 38.9 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 14.8 points over Loyola's last 10 games.

Bench Scorer

• Jordan Stiemke has been the top scorer off the bench in the Patriot League this season, averaging 12.8 points per game through 17 Loyola contests to lead conference players who have started eight or fewer games.
• Nationally, he is ranked 15th in points per game among NCAA Division I players who have played in 15 or more games and have eight 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 11.99 points over the Greyhounds' last 26 games.

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 207 NBA games through January 20 and is averaging 13.0 points and 7.0 rebounds in 37 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.