Quick Hits
The Loyola University Maryland men's basketball team opens the Patriot League Championships on Thursday, March 5, with a quarterfinal game at Colgate University.
Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Hamilton, New York.
Loyola is the No. 6 seed in the tournament, and Colgate is third.
The Greyhounds tied for their best conference record in their 13 seasons in the Patriot League (8-10 also in 2021-22, 2016-17).
The No. 6 seed also tied for the best seed they have received since entering the League (also 2021-22).
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.
Series History
The Greyhounds and Colgate will play for the 29th time in series history when the teams take the floor on Thursday night with Colgate holding a 21-7 lead in the series.
The game will be the second Patriot League Championships meeting between the two schools. Colgate won the 2021 Championship Game, 85-72, in Hamilton, New York.
All seven of the Greyhounds' victories have come in the 13 games played in Baltimore with six of those wins taking place in Reitz Arena.
This year, the Raiders swept the season series that culminated with a 101-98 overtime victory on February 21. Colgate led that game by 10, 80-70, on its home floor with 2:46 to play, but the Greyhounds tied the score on a Jacob Theodosiou layup with 17 seconds left in regulation.
Tyson Commander stopped a Jordan Cox driving layup attempt before the buzzer, sending the game to overtime where the Raiders edged the Greyhounds for the win.
Theodosiou scored 25 to lead Loyola, while Emmett Adair had 29 and Braeden Speed 19.
When the teams played on January 14 in Baltimore, Colgate led by nine with less than five minutes to play, but Loyola got the margin to one with 68 seconds left only to see the Raiders hold on for an 86-80 win.
Braeden Speed had his first collegiate double-double in the game with 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Sebastien Emenalo scored a to-date career-high 19 points, shooting 7 of 9 from the field and 3 of 3 from 3-point range. Emmett Adair added 13, and Jordan Stiemke had 12 for Loyola, while Jalen Cox led the Raiders with 17.
Watch The Action
Thursday's 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
Loyola scored the first 12 points Saturday afternoon at Holy Cross, and the margin was never closer than nine after the first six minutes during a 76-62 victory.
Emmett Adair had the fifth game of 25-plus points during his freshman year, going 11 of 22 from the field to score 25 to go with seven rebounds.
Braeden Speed added 15 points, and Tyson Commander scored a season-best 14 with grabbing six rebounds. Troy Cicero Jr. led Loyola with a career-high eight rebounds.
Adair scored the first four points of the game in the paint, and then Jordan Stiemke and Speed hit threes to put Loyola up 10. A Speed jumper in the paint made it 12-0 Greyhounds before Holy Cross would score. An Adair three at 9:37 in the first half made it 26-7 Loyola, and Commander made it a 19-point lead again at 7:53.
The Greyhounds pushed the lead to 20 or more for the first time less than two minutes in the second half with a Commander three at 18:13, and it grew to 22, 66-44, with two Sebastien Emenalo free throws at 9:20.
Holy Cross had a run in it, though, scoring the next 13 points to cut its deficit to nine, 66-57, with a DeAndre Williams transition jumper at 5:57.
The teams traded possessions without points, and Commander drew a foul on the next possession, converting two free throws to put the margin back in double digits. It would stay there for the remainder of the game, giving Loyola its second wire-to-wire win of the season.
Patriot League Championship History
Loyola is making its 13th appearance in the Patriot League Championships since joining the conference in 2013-14. The Greyhounds are 6-12 in the Championships overall, 6-6 in first-round games, 1-5 in the quarterfinals, 1-0 in the semifinals and 0-1 in the championship game.
Loyola is 2-10 in Patriot League Championships games played on the road. Last year, the Greyhounds lost in the quarterfinal round at Navy.
All-League Honors
A pair of Greyhounds earned All-Patriot League honors by a vote of the conference coaches following the conclusion of the regular-season. Braeden Speed was named to the second team, and Emmett Adair earned third-team recognition in addition to being named to the All-Rookie Team.
Two more Loyola players – Jordan Stiemke and Jordan Theodosiou – were tabbed to the Academic All-Patriot League squad.
Winning Formula
Braeden Speed and Emmett Adair's All-Patriot League honors can be further quantified by their statistics in Loyola conference victories during the regular-season. Speed led the team with 19.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists in those eight games, while Adair was close behind with 17.9 points and 6.1 rebounds.
One or the other of the pair led Loyola's scoring in each of the eight games.
Back To Speed
Braeden Speed leads the team in scoring at 15.2 points per game, a mark that is up more than four points since the start of December over Loyola's last 22 games. He has led the Greyhounds in scoring in nine of the last 19 games, including eight of 18 conference 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 in double figures in 20 of 22 outings with seven 20-plus games and 11 with 15 or more mixed in. He dropped his first 30-point game of his career on January 28 with 30 in a win over American.
He had his first collegiate double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds against Colgate. The game against the Raiders was the third 20-plus point game of Speed's collegiate career, joining his November 15 game against Stonehill when he had 21 and the December 21 contest at George Mason. Speed logged his second double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds at Lafayette, falling three assist short of a triple-double, and he backed that up with 25 points, nine rebounds and seven assists versus Holy Cross.
During the last 22 outings, Speed has averaged a team-high 16.8 points per game to go with 4.6 rebounds and a team-best 3.7 assists. He has shot 44.7 percent from the field, making 38.9 percent (44 of 113) from 3-point range.
Overall this year, he is also first on the team in assists (112) and is second in total rebounds (140).
Speed scored 20 or more in four-straight recent games (at Lehigh, Bucknell, American, at Navy). He was the first Loyola player to do so since Deon Perry did in January-February 2024.
Guards Seeing Red (Maroon Actually)
A pair of Loyola guards have experienced a good bit of success against Colgate over the last four games with four combined games of 20 or more.
Jacob Theodosiou had two of the best long-distance shooting games of his career against the Raiders last season. In Hamilton, New York, on February 8, 2025, he made 6 of 12 from 3-point range and scored a to-date career-high 32 points. He followed that on February 23 with 22 points, making 6 of 9 from three.
He went down with an injury in this year's first meeting – he finished the game but missed the next five – but scored six. In the game at Colgate, he had a team-best 25 points. He has averaged 21.3 points in the last four games against the Raiders.
Braeden Speed logged his first collegiate double-double on January 14, 2026, in Baltimore, scoring 20 to go with 10 rebounds. Speed left the game with an injury in the first half only to return in the second and score all of his 20 points.
He then had 19 points in the February 21 game at Colgate, pushing his scoring average to 14.5 points per game in four against the Raiders.
Adair Among Freshmen
Emmett Adair is second on the Greyhounds in scoring during Patriot League games, averaging 15.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.
He is one of two Patriot League freshmen (Colgate's Andrew Alekseyenko) – and 12 freshmen nationally – to average 14-plus points and five or more rebounds per game this year. Overall, he's at 14.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.
Adair has scored 25 or more points in five games this year, something only eight other NCAA Division I freshmen have accomplished this season. He has seven games with 20 or more, one of 27 freshmen to do so. (per Stathead)
All By Himself
Emmett Adair is the only Loyola freshman since 2010-2011 to have seven or more games with 20 or more points.
In the same time span, he is one of 10 Patriot League freshmen with seven or more 20-plus point games, joining Bucknell's Amon Dörries (10) this season.
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 14.5 points and a team-high 5.5 rebounds in his 26 games played while averaging 25.2 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 46.8 percent from the field this year, 58.0 percent from 2-point range.
Second Half Sparks
Through 30 games this year, the Greyhounds' offense has been better during the second half of games, averaging 39.6 points to 34.0 in the first half.
Loyola has shot .453 from the field after the break, compared with .410 in the first.
On an individual basis, Braeden Speed has been the Greyhounds player with the biggest jump in the second half. Speed has taken 31 more shots after halftime this season and is averaging 9.3 following the break to 5.8 in the first 20 minutes.
Community Affair
Loyola is third in the Patriot League in rebounds per game at 35.5, but the Greyhounds have only one player ranked in the top 15 of league individual rebounding (Emmett Adair, 5.5). Braeden Speed averages 4.5 per game and is No. 20 in the League. A total of 10 players on the roster, however, average 2.1 or more rebounds per game.
On The Offensive Glass
Loyola is second in the Patriot League in offensive rebounds per game, averaging 10.7 through 31 outings.
Emmett Adair has played in 26 games thus far, but he third in the conference with 63 pulls off the offensive glass.
Better With The Ball
Loyola's turnover numbers have improved since the start of Patriot League games on December 31.
The Greyhounds averaged 12.8 a game in 13 non-conference outings, but since then they have averaged only 9.9 in their 18 Patriot League regular-season outings.
Loyola's three turnovers at Holy Cross in the regular-season finale are its fewest since January 30, 2016 against Lafayette when it also had three.
Helping Trains Run On Time
Tyson Commander's stats do not pop off the sheet as he's averaging a modest 4.2 points and 2.6 rebounds per game this season, but his contributions to Loyola's efficiency come on the court.
The senior has started the last 16 games for Loyola, contests in which the Greyhounds' KenPom offensive efficiency is 108.6, almost five points higher than its season average of 103.8. Loyola's defensive number is 108.4, more than 10 points less than the season average of 118.5.
The Kids Are Alright
Loyola's freshmen trio of Emmett Adair, Carter Berg-McLean and Sebastien Emenalo have seen their combined playing time increase significantly during Patriot League games, and they have produced.
Adair is averaging 15.5 points in the conference after posting 12.4 pre-League.
Berg-McLean is second on the team in assists (35) in Patriot League games and has seen his minutes per game rise from 6.9 to 18.2.
Emenalo has averaged 4.2 rebounds per game in 16.8 minutes of conference action after grabbing 2.0 in 11.4 minutes during non-conference.
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 278 NBA games through March 4 and is averaging 14.0 points and 6.7 rebounds in 43 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 11.4 points and 5.5 assists in 58 games this season.
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 86 games over the last three years for Golden State. This year, he's averaging 6.3 points and 3.5 assists in 45 outings.
