Game Information
Opponent	American Eagles
Game Notes	Loyola
Date	Wednesday, December 31, 2025
Time	1:00 p.m.
Location	Washington, D.C. | Bender Arena
Tickets	Purchase
Getting There	Directions
Online Media	ESPN+ | Live Stats

Quick Hits

• Loyola University Maryland opens its 13th season in the Patriot League on Wednesday, December 31, with a game at American University.
• The New Year's Eve contest is set for 1 p.m. at Bender Arena in Washington, D.C.
• The game will stream live on ESPN+.
• After playing nine games in November, Loyola will play five games in the final month of the calendar.
• Josh Loeffler is in his second year as the Greyhounds' head coach after taking the position as Loyola's 22nd all-time head coach in March 2024. Last year, he led the Greyhounds to a five-win improvement over the 2023-24 season.
• Loyola returns nine players to its roster from a year ago and features three seniors, four juniors, four sophomores and four freshmen.

Series History

• Loyola and American will meet for the 109th time in series history on Wednesday, most of any current Patriot League opponent of the Greyhounds.
• American has won six of the last 10 games and holds a 56-52 lead in the all-time series.
• The Eagles were the first team to sweep the regular-season series since 2019-20 with a pair of wins over Loyola last year. American scored a 73-54 win at the Greyhounds' Reitz Arena on January 13, 2025, before taking a 72-51 decision in Washington, D.C., on February 15, 2025.
• American is 15-11 in 26 meetings since the teams have been members of the Patriot League since Loyola joined the conference in 2013-14.
• The Greyhounds and Eagles, who first played in 1927-28, were previously conference foes. They were both members of the Mason-Dixon Conference concurrently from 1940-66.

Watch The Action

• Wednesday game will stream live on ESPN+.
• All Loyola home games this season will also stream live on ESPN+ and be available internationally on Sidearm.

Last Time Out

• An Emmett Adair 3-pointer on the first possession of the second half gave visiting Loyola a 43-35 lead, but George Mason scored the next nine points to move back in front in what would become an 86-79 Patriots victory on December 21 at EagleBank Arena.
• Loyola would lead for more than 19 minutes of the game that featured 12 lead changes and six tie scores.
• Tyson Commander knocked down a three off a George Mason turnover, pushing Loyola up 49-48 with 12:57 left in regulation. Braeden Speed then hit a three for the Greyhounds at 12:09, and Loyola was up four.
• George Mason would tie the score on a Jahari Long jumper at 11:11, but Jordan Stiemke converted three free throws on Loyola's next possession, and the Greyhounds were up, 55-52, at 10:53.
• The Patriots would score the next four to go up one, and it would build to 71-64 on a Kory Mincy pull-up at 4:23.
• Loyola got the deficit down to three with a Jacob Theodosiou three with 48 seconds left in the second half, and after two Mincy free throws made it 79-74 Patriots, another Theodosiou three made it a two-point game, 79-77. Mincy, however, converted five free throws over the next 37 seconds to secure the win.
• Speed scored a career-high 24 points to lead the Greyhounds, and he also had a team-high six assists. Theodosiou added 22 points and five rebounds, while dishing out four assists. Stiemke scored 11, and Adair added 10 for the Greyhounds. Mincy scored 26, and Long had 18 for the Patriots.

Second Half Sparks

• Through 13 games this year, the Greyhounds' offense has been better during the second half of games, averaging 41.5 points to 34.2 in the first half.
• Loyola has shot .480 from the field after the break, compared with .416 in the first.
• On the defensive end, Loyola has limited opponents to 38.2 points after halftime, compared to 38.8 in the opening 20.

Adair Up There

• Emmett Adair had the best game of his young career against Coppin State making 11 of 17 shots from the field, 3 of 6 from 3-point range, en route to scoring 29 points. He was named Patriot League Rookie of the Week after that game and a 10-point, 7-rebound performance against Washington College.
• He is one of just 15 freshmen in NCAA Division I to score 29 or more points in a game this year (per Stathead). His 29 points are third-most by a Patriot League player this season.
• Adair had the second 20-plus point game of the season on December 9 at VMI, making 10 of 18 from the field to finish with 21 points.
• Adair missed the first five games of Loyola's season with an illness, but he's been a key contributor since making his debut November 19 at Duquesne. The Sydney, Australia, native has averaged 12.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists in his six games played while averaging just 23.1 minutes.
• Adair, who played for the Australian Senior National Team this summer as it went 6-0 to qualify for in FIBA Asia Cup qualifying, has shot 46.1 percent from the field in those games.

Back To Speed

• Braeden Speed is second on the team in scoring at 12.8 points per game, a mark that is up more than a point after Loyola's last four outings.
• The sophomore guard from Arizona had a stretch of five-straight games with 11 points or more (Nov. 6-19) snapped when he finished with five at then-No. 12 Kentucky, a game that started a three-game stretch where he totaled just 20 (six in limited action versus Washington College and nine against Coppin State).
• Since then, Speed has scored 14 at Hampton and his second-best total of the year, 17 at VMI 10 against Mount St. Mary's and then a career-best 24 points at George Mason.
• The game against the Patriots was the second 20-plus point game of Speed's collegiate career, joining his November 15 game against Stonehilll when he had 21.

Stiemke's Shots Fall

• Jordan Stiemke had his best shooting performance of the season to-date against Coppin State, making 7 of 10 shots overall and 5 of 8 from 3-point range to score a season-high 21.
• The junior wing followed that with a 16-point performance on December 3 against Hampton, followed by 11 on December 9 at VMI. He topped the 20-point mark for the second time this season and fifth in his career on December 13 with a 22-point effort against Mount St. Mary's. He made five 3-pointers in that game for the second time this season.
• Over Loyola's last six, Stiemke has scored at least 10 points in each outing and is averaging 15.2. He is 18 of 43 (41.9 percent) from 3-point range in those games.

Theodosiou's Last Ten

• Jacob Theodosiou put together the best pair of games, statistically, in a three-game stretch against Stonehill, Fairfield and Duquesne, averaging 23.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 3.3 steals, but his numbers have been robust over the last 10. He has scored 20 or more five times during a run in which he is averaging a team-best 17.1 points per game. 
• The junior guard scored 21 on November 15 against Stonehill before posting 27 the next day versus host Fairfield. He was named Patriot League Player of the Week following those games before scoring 21 against Duquesne on November 19.
• The three games represent the first time in his career that he's scored 20 or more in three-straight games and the first time a Loyola player has done so since Deon Perry did in January 2024.
• Over Loyola's last 10 games, Theodosiou has averaged 17.1 points, 4.5 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 2.2 steals.
• In Loyola's last two games against Mount St. Mary's and at George Mason, Theodosiou has shot 46.7 percent (7 of 15) from 3-point range after opening the year 6 of 30 (20.0 percent) in the first 11 games of the season.

On The Offensive Glass

• Loyola is up to second in the Patriot League in offensive rebounds per game, averaging 11.5 through 13 outings. 
• Emmett Adair has played in just eight games thus far, but he is tied for sixth in the conference with 23 pulls off the offensive glass. In those eight games, Loyola is averaging 12.5 offensive rebounds after averaging 9.8 in the year's first five.

Shots Were Falling

• Loyola has made 69 of 121 shots over a two-game stretch, a pair of wins against Washington College and Coppin State, good for a .570 mark from the field.
• The Greyhounds shot .576 (38 of 66) against the Shoremen before going 31 of 55 Sunday night against Coppin State. It is the first time Loyola has made 55 percent or better of its shots in back-to-back games since December 5-8, 2018, when it shot .579 in a loss at Drexel and .552 in a win at Binghamton.
• The hot shooting came to an end in the first-half at Hampton, however, when Loyola made just 8 of 25 (.320). The Greyhounds did come back to shoot .469 in the second half against the Pirates. Loyola then shot .439 at VMI, .467 in the second half.

Ninety-Five Plus

• Loyola's two games with 101 points (Washington College) and 95 (Coppin State) represent the first time since January 1989 that the Greyhounds have posted 95 or more points in consecutive games. In that stretch, they beat LIU Brooklyn, 104-93, and Monmouth, 97-77.

Inside The Arc

• Jacob Theodosiou has shot 44.7 percent from the field this year and is third the Patriot League with 68 field goals made through 13 games.
• He has been particularly efficient in converting inside the 3-point line, scoring 2-point field goals at a 56.1-percent clip.
• The Greyhounds have two players ranked in the top 11 of the Patriot League in two-point field-goal percentage with Jonas Sirtautas leading the conference at 81.6-percent. Sirtautas has made 31 of 38 shots from inside the arc.
• As a team, the Greyhounds are third in the conference in 2-point percentage, making 54.5 percent through 13 games. That is the best 2-point percentage for the program in at least 45 years (per Stathead).

Field Goals In Bulk

• Jacob Theodosiou (10) and Braeden Speed (9) combined for 19 made field goals against Stonehill, marking the first time since the 2017-18 season that two Loyola players had nine or more in a game. The last time it occurred was on January 24, 2018, in a 91-88 win over Lehigh when Andre Walker scored 32 on 11 of 30 shooting, and Cam Gregory added 24 while making 9 of 15. 
• Speed and Theodosiou went 9 of 14 and 10 of 18, respectively, and shot a combined .594 against the Skyhawks.

Theodosiou's Thievery

• Jacob Theodosiou had a career-high five steals on November 15 against Stonehill, four which came in the second half and three on back-to-back-to-back possessions that led to his fast-break layups.
• He led the Patriot League in steals per game a year ago, averaging 1.7 with 54 total steals. This year, he has 27 swipes in 13 games and leads the conference at 2.1 per game. He is 44th nationally in total steals.

Progress Made

• Loyola picked up its seventh win of the 2024-25 season in its 15th game, matching the Greyhounds' win total from the 2023-24 season (32 total games). Loyola then eclipsed the previous year's total in its 17th game this season. Through 31 games, the Greyhounds made a five-win improvement over 2023-24.
• In Josh Loeffler's first year as Loyola's head coach, the Greyhounds saw improvements in just about every statistical category from the season prior, notably: field-goal percentage (.436 from .417), scoring offense (69.2, 64.0) and scoring margin (-1.9, -7.9).

From Afar

• Loyola's roster of 15 players will represent six different nations by nationality this season: Australia (Emmett Adair), Canada (Jacob Theodosiou), England (Sebastien Emenalo), Lithuania (Jonas Sirtautus), New Zealand (Carter Berg-McLean) and the United States.
• In addition to the six countries represented, Loyola players hail from seven different states in the U.S.: Arizona (Braeden Speed), Connecticut (Peter Sposito), Illinois (Troy Cicero Jr.), Maryland (Tyson Commander, Jordan Stiemke), New Jersey (Everett Barnes), Ohio (Ben Menker, Sam Springer) and Virginia (Garrett Brennan, Goap Kodi).

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 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 Pat Spencer is a member of the Golden State Warriors.
• 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. He has played in 267 NBA games through December 29 and is averaging 14.3 points and 6.7 rebounds in 32 outings this season after signing a four-year contract during the summer. He has starred for his native Spain, earning TISSOT Most Outstanding Player honors at the 2024 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, 2024 for the Grizzlies and is averaging 12.4 points in 31 games this year.
• 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 64 games over the last three years for Golden State. This year, he's averaging 7.0 points and 3.0 assists in 21 outings. 

Up Next

• Loyola makes its 2026 Patriot League home debut against Lafayette on January 3 with a 5 p.m. home game. The Greyhounds then Army West Point on January 7 and Bucknell three days later.