Game Information
Opponent	Lafayette Leopards
Game Notes	Loyola
Date	Wednesday, February 5, 2025
Time	7:00 p.m.
Location	Easton, Pa. | Kirby Sports Center
Tickets	Purchase
Directions	Click Here
Online Media	ESPN+ | Live Stats

Quick Hits About The Hounds

• Loyola University Maryland's men's basketball team starts a two-game swing away from home on Wednesday, February 5, with a game at Lafayette College. Tipoff at the Kirby Sports Center is slated for 7 p.m.
• Loyola has three players averaging 12.2 points per game or more and five at 8.0 or higher.
• Milos Ilic is one of 44 players nationally (who qualify for the national rankings) and average 13.8 or more points and 7.4 or more rebounds per game this season. Ilic enters the 11th conference game with marks of 13.8 and 7.4.
• Loyola is third in the League in rebounding margin at +0.5 per game. Milos Ilic leads the Greyhounds with 7.4 rebounds per game and four other players – Jordan Stiemke, Veljko Ilic, Braeden Speed and Jacob Theodosiou – average 3.2 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 (.437 from .417), field-goal defense (.455, .465), and scoring offense (69.6, 64.0).

Familiar Territory

• Loyola Head Coach Josh Loeffler will be back on the Lafayette College campus where he spent the 2008-12 seasons as an assistant coach to Fran O'Hanlon, the Leopards' all-time leader in victories as a head coach.

Series History Versus Lafayette

• Loyola and Lafayette will meet for the 32nd time in series history, and the 30th time since Loyola joined the Patriot League in 2013-14, on Wednesday night. The Leopards hold a 17-14 advantage in the previous 31 games after winning the first game of the 2024-25 regular-season series on January 22 in Baltimore.
• In that game, the Greyhounds cut the Leopards' halftime lead to six with 16:23 left on a Jordan Stiemke layup, but Lafayette commenced on an 18-0 run and went on to an 80-59 victory in Reitz Arena. Milos Ilic had a team-high 15 points in the game, and Veljko Ilic grabbed six rebounds.
• 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

• Tyson Commander and Jacob Theodosiou made 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions inside of four minutes left in the second half, and Commander sparked a defensive hold on Boston University's final possession Saturday to give Loyola a 69-67 victory in Reitz Arena.
• Theodosiou came up with a steal at 4:05 and then hit a long three 15 ticks of the clock later to give Loyola a 59-54 lead. The Terriers (11-12, 5-5) got back within three on a Miles Brewster basket in the paint 20 seconds alter, but then Commander knocked down a three at 3:09 for the Greyhounds.
• Boston University would respond, and Kyrone Alexander's free throw with 39 seconds on the clock made it a 67-66 game. Jordan Stiemke coverted two free throws for the Greyhounds a second later, but Malcolm Chimeize brought the visitors to within 69-67, making the second of two free throw attempts with 26 seconds remaining. 
• Stiemke drew a foul, but missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity with 20 seconds left in regulation. After a Terriers time out, the Greyhounds doggedly defended a set-play, forcing a low-percentage Michael McNair attempt, which barely grazed the rim. 
• Brewster twice used a high-ball screen to try to get separation on Commander, but he switched twice on the defense with Milos Ilic, and Brewster threw to McNair on the perimeter for the final heave.
• A balanced attack featured four Greyhounds in double figures. Theodosiou led the way with 14 points, while Braeden Speed added 13 points and a career-best and team-high nine rebounds. 
• Stiemke and Milos Ilic added 11 points apiece. Commander finished with nine points and four steals, and Veljko Ilic scored eight. Stiemke matched his career best with four blocked shots.

Fewer Turnovers

• The Greyhounds' increase in assists per game during conference play (13.9 from 13.1) has also come with a significantly better assist-to-turnover ratio in League contests with a plus 1.3-to-1.0 rate
• Loyola has reduced its turnovers per game to 10.9 in its 10 conference outings compared to 13.7 out of the league.

Speed Honors

• Braeden Speed was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week for the third time this season on Monday after averaging 12.5 points in games against Bucknell and Boston University last week. Speed is one of two conference players (Holy Cross's Max Green) to receive the award more than once this year.
• Speed is second on the team in minutes played (28.9) while averaging 8.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists while starting all 21 games. 

Scoring Twins

• Milos and Veljko Ilic are one of 10 sets of twins playing for the same team in NCAA Division I Men's Basketball this year, and they rank third among twins in scoring. They lead the country's twins in rebounding with a combined 12.8 per game.
• Elon's TJ and TK Simpkins lead the group with a combined 28.8 points per game, while Utah's Gabe and Mason Madsen have combined for 23.8.
• The Ilic brothers are averaging a combined 21.9 points per game. 

Starting Consistency

• Through 20 games, Head Coach Josh Loeffler had used only two starting lineup combinations. Milos Ilic, David Brown III, Jordan Stiemke, Jacob Theodosiou and Braeden Speed started the opening game, and since then Tyson Commander has been in the opening five with Stiemke coming off the bench. Loeffler switched things up on February 1 against Boston University with Stiemke re-entering the starting five and Veljko Ilic making his frist career start (in place of Brown and Commander)
• The Greyhounds are one of three  teams in the Patriot League to use three starting lineups combinations this year, Army West Point and Navy.

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 7.4 rebounds per game.
• Ilic's 13.8 points per game are more than six higher than his previous season-high after he put up 7.6 points per game last year. 
• Per Ken Pom, Ilic is taking 29.2 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 30.1 percent this year, a rate that ranks in the top-55 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 52 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 83.8 percent of his shots this year as two-pointers, and he has made those at a clip of 56.2 percent (108 of 192) through 21 games, a 3-percent improvement over his first two seasons.
• He has attempted only 37 shots from 3-point range this year (16.2 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.

Dishing, Too

• In addition to leading the team in scoring and rebounding, Milos Ilic leads the Greyhounds in assists with 57, an average of 2.71 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 10.4 points in the eight wins he has played in – he missed the VMI game with an injury – a more than five-point increase over the 6.5 he's averaged in 12 losses.
• Ilic has shot 66.7 percent from the field in the wins (34 of 51) compared to 45.3 (24 of 53) 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 55.8 percent.

Scoring Outside The Starting Five

• Loyola tops the Patriot League and ranks 96th in NCAA Division I in points from players coming off the bench this season, averaging 24.7 per game.
• The effort has been led by Jordan Stiemke and Veljko Ilic who have averaged 12.3 and 8.1 points per game when coming off the bench this year.

Bench Scorer

• Jordan Stiemke has been the top scorer off the bench in the Patriot League this season, averaging 12.2 points per game through 21 Loyola contests to lead conference players who have started 10 or fewer games.
• Nationally, he is ranked 25th in points per game among NCAA Division I players who have played in 18 or more games and have 10 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 11.8 points over the Greyhounds' last 30 games.
• He set a to-date career-high with 25 against Lehigh. Stiemke has averaged 13.4 points over Loyola's last 14 games.

Contributions In Many Areas

• Jacob Theodosiou leads the team in minutes played (29.2) through 21 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. His 22-point game at Bucknell marked his fourth with 20 or more this year.
• He is second on the team in scoring (12.3), first in steals (1.5) and third 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 leads the team with 14.0 points (210 total) in the last 14 games dating to his 23-point effort on December 2 against Coppin State. During the 14 games, a big difference has been his ability to get to the free-throw line. He has averaged 4.8 attempts from the stripe per game in those contests, up from 1.7 in the year's first six 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. He has played in 212 NBA games through February 3 and is averaging 12.8 points and 6.8 rebounds in 42 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 for the Grizzlies
• 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 18 games this year for Golden State.
• 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

• The Greyhounds continue their road trip on Saturday, February 8, with a trip to Hamilton, New York, where they will face Colgate University at 2 p.m.