Loyola (M)

Preview from the Loyola website:

Quick Hits About The Hounds
Loyola University Maryland returns to Reitz Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 25, where it will hosts College of the Holy cross at 7:30 p.m.
Jarred Jones and Andre Walker have combined for 28 of the Greyhounds’ 47 games with 10 or more points this season. Jones has posted 10 or more 14 times, Walker 14. The duo of Walker and Jones lead Loyola with 15.5 and 14.8 points per game this season.
Cam Gregory has averaged 11.3 points in Loyola first seven Patriot League games, raising his season-long average to 7.6 points. He is shooting 69.8 percent from the field in those games, tops in the League in conference games.
Loyola has attempted more free throws (432) than all but one other Patriot League Team (Bucknell, 452), despite being tied for the fewest number of games played (19).
Loyola leads Patriot League teams in offensive rebounds per game with 11.7. Cam Gregory leads the way by averaging 2.5 offensive boards per game.
The Greyhounds also top the Patriot League in 3-point field goal defense, holding opponents to 31.2 percent. That mark is 41st nationally and a vast departure from last year when Loyola ranked 307th in NCAA Division I.
Patriot League Network

Series History Versus Holy Cross
Loyola and Holy Cross will meet for the first time this season and 13th time in series history when the teams take the floor Wednesday night. The teams met three times each of the last two seasons, including contests won by the Crusaders in the Patriot League Championships.
The Greyhounds won both regular-season contests during the 2015-2016 campaign, but Holy Cross won a Patriot League First Round game, 72-67, in Reitz Arena en route to claiming the conference title.
In the tournament game, Loyola made 10 first-half 3-pointers, and the Greyhounds hit 71.4 percent of their shots before halftime, but Holy Cross tightened its defense after the break and defeated Loyola.
Loyola built a five-point lead 4:48 into the second half on a Matt Staubi three, but Holy Cross scored the next 10 points to turn its deficit into a 55-50 lead on two Karl Charles free throws at 9:55. The Crusaders built the lead to as many as eight, but Loyola would chip away in the final minutes.
Staubi made threes on consecutive possession for Loyola. The first came with 1:42 left to get Loyola within one, and his second with 53 ticks left in regulation tied the score at 67-67. Holy Cross used nearly all of the shot clock on its ensuing possession, and Anthony Thompson made a three for his only points of the night with nine seconds left to put Holy Cross up for good.
Staubi finished with career-highs of 12 points and four 3-pointers made for the Greyhounds, while Eric Laster tallied 17 points and Andre Walker had 14. Walker also had a career-high nine assists for Loyola.
In last year’s two regular-season meetings, Loyola shot 52.8 percent from the field while holding Holy Cross to 39.8 percent, 20 percent from 3-point range.
The teams met less than a week prior to their Patriot League Championships outing, and Loyola dispatched the Crusaders, 78-63, to sweep the season series.

Walker scored a game-high 15 points to go with six assists, leading four Loyola players in double figures. Franz Rassman scored 13, while Tyler Hubbard tallied 11 and James Fives scored 10. Cam Gregory nearly had his second double-double of the season, falling a pair of points shy with eight to go with a game-high 11 rebounds.
Jarred Jones and Andre Walker combined to score 21-straight Loyola points during the second half, and the Greyhounds shot a season-best 57.7 percent from the field host of the Holy Cross, 71-54, in the programs’ first meeting last year. Jones finished with game-highs of 22 points, eight rebounds and four steals; Walker added 15 points, 11 coming after halftime, and three assists. Prior to playing on January 29, 2014, in Worcester, the programs last met in the consolation game of the Otis Spunkmeyer Classic in Oakland, Calif. Loyola defeated the Crusaders, 73-55, in that contest.

Last Time Out
Malcolm Regisford’s basket with under 20 seconds to play provided Colgate with the final difference Saturday afternoon as the Raiders rallied late to defeat Loyola, 52-49, in Hamilton, New York.
Sean O’Brien drove to the baseline for Colgate and was surrounded by three Loyola players, but he slipped a pass to Regisford in the paint where he dunked to put the Raiders ahead by one.
Andre Walker misfired on a three for the Greyhounds, and Regisford came down with the rebound. He was fouled, however, and missed the front end of 1-and-1 with under 10 seconds to play. Loyola came away with the rebound and called a timeout. Walker drove the length of the court, but his right-handed layup went off the mark, and Colgate came down with the rebound.
After trailing by as many as five in the second half, Loyola tied the game at 36-36 on a James Fives layup with 11:32 left in regulation, and a Cam Gregory putback two at 8:44 gave the Greyhounds a 38-36 lead. O’Brien tied the game with a layup less than 20 seconds later, but that was the last Colgate field goal for over six minutes.
Jarred Jones hit a fading jumper, and Walker knocked down one of his three 3-pointers, staking the Greyhounds to a 43-38 lead at 5:26. Cam Gregory added two free throws 45 seconds later, and Loyola’s lead was seven, the largest advantage either team held in the contest.
Jordan Swopshire made two free throws for Colgate at 4:23 for the Raiders’ first points since 8:21 were on the clock, but Gregory again extended the advantage to seven on a basket with 3:21 on the clock. That, however, was Loyola’s last field goal of the game. An O’Brien three from the left side bounced off the rim, caromed off the backboard and went in with 1:58 on the clock, giving the Raiders’ their first field goal in 6:23.
Walker finished with 14 points and seven assists to lead Loyola, while Gregory added 10 points and eight rebounds.

Walker’s Outstanding Outing
Andre Walker entered last Monday night’s nationally televised game against Boston University needing to score 29 to hit 1,000 for his career. By halftime, he was only nine points away from the plateau.
Walker finished with a career-high 35 points, the most by a Loyola player since Jamal Barney tallied 40 on Jan. 14, 2009, against NJIT.
He did so by going 9-of-12 from 3-point range, tying the school record for most made 3-pointers in a game. Walker matched the mark of Andre Collins who knocked down nine on Jan. 8, 2006, against Marist College.
Walker’s ninth three of the game came with 12:55 to play in regulation, a basket that gave him an even 1,000 points for his career. By reaching the milestone, Walker became the 35th player in school history with 1,000 or more points.

Upping His Game
Andre Walker has significantly upped his scoring in Patriot League action and is averaging 17.4 points through the Greyhounds first eight conference games. With the jump, he has raised his overall mark to 15.5 per game, a number that now leads the team.

Cam Contributing Big, Too
Cam Gregory has seen the biggest jump on the team of points per game in the Patriot League (11.3) versus overall (7.6). He has scored 90 of his 144 points (62.5 percent) this season in the last eight games.
Gregory scored 13 at both American and Lehigh, and he then scored a game- and season-high 16 points at Army West Point. After posting 15 points against Boston U., Gregory has made 37 of 53 shots, good 69.8 percent from the field that leads the conference in League games. He also is Loyola’s top rebounder in conference games with 57, 7.1 per game.
Gregory’s uptick in production stretches back to Loyola’s Nov. 30 win at Stony Brook when he finished with six points and 10 rebounds. In the Greyhounds’ last 13 games, Gregory is averaging 9.8 points and 7.5 rebounds.

Double Double-Doubles
Cam Gregory and Jarred Jones both posted double-doubles last Monday night against Boston University, the first Loyola pair to do so in the same game since Dylon Cormier (25 points, 11 rebounds) and R.J. Williams (12 points, 10 assists) turned the feat against Lafayette College on Jan. 13, 2014.
Gregory scored 15 points and had a season-high 12 rebounds, while Jones nearly had a triple-double with 14 points, 10 boards, eight assists and four steals. Jones’ eight assists set a career-high, besting his previous high of five from his freshman campaign.

Defense Key Against Terriers
Boston University came into Monday’s game second in the Patriot League in 3-point field goal percentage (37.6) and third in overall field-goal percentage (45.0), but Loyola held the Terriers well below both marks. Boston University made just 1-of-18 from behind the arc for a season-low 5.6 percent, and overall the Terriers shot 39.7 percent.

Leading When It Counts
Lehigh led for 39 minutes, 13 seconds of its Jan. 5 game, but Andre Walker’s three with eight-tenths of a second left gave the Greyhounds the win.
Loyola overcame an 18-point deficit to pick up the win marking the second time this season it has bounced back after being down 15 or more. The Greyhounds trailed Binghamton University by 15 with less than eight minutes to go in regulation, but they pulled out a 90-85 overtime win on Dec. 10, 2016.
The 18-point deficit is the largest Loyola has come back from during the four-year tenure of Head Coach G.G. Smith. It is the largest by any Loyola team since the Greyhounds rallied from 20 down on Dec. 10, 2008, to beat Coppin State University, 73-70, in Reitz Arena.

Clutch Late
Andre Walker’s game-winning three at Lehigh was his second game-winning basket of the season and third time he has been involved in a play that sealed a victory this year. Walker hit a winning layup with five-tenths of a second remaining at Stony Brook, giving the Greyhounds a 71-70 road win.
He then came up defensively at American, keeping the Eagles’ Sa’eed Nelson from driving and blocking his 3-pointer at the buzzer for a two-point win.
Walker scored 16 of his 19 points in the final nine minutes of regulation and all of overtime at Binghamton, helping aid the comeback victory.
He is also 22 of 26 from the free-throw line in the final five minutes of games through 15 games this year.
Walker now has scored game-winning points in the last 10 seconds of games five times during his career. Last year, he scored on a drive to the basket with less than five seconds left at home against Lehigh, and he hit two free throws with just over three ticks on the clock for a win at the U.S. Military Academy. As a freshman in 2013-2014, he made two free throws with 6.9 seconds left to beat Colgate University in triple overtime.

Jones Flourishing
Jarred Jones has been leading the Greyhounds in scoring and rebounding from the outset this season, and after 19 games his averages stand at 14.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Those marks both are eighth and fifth, respectively, in the Patriot League.
Starting with a 24-point, 11-rebound effort against Fairfield University on Nov. 23, Jones is averaging 15.3 points and 6.7 rebounds. He has scored in double-digits in 12 of the last 15 games and has posted four of his five double-doubles.
He has led the team, or tied for team-high honors, in scoring 11 times this year, something he has done in 10 of the last 15 games. The fifth-year senior – Jones received a medical hardship waiver for the 2014-2015 season – also leads the blocked shots (21) and steals (30) and is second in assists (36).
Recently, he broke into Loyola’s rebounding career top-20 and is 17th with 531. He logged his 100th career steal against Mount St. Mary’s, and he is now 13th all-time with 119. Jones is also fifth on the Greyhounds’ career blocked shots list with 108.
Jones is one of only two players in school history to post 500 rebounds along with 100 steals and 100 blocked shots. Erik Etherly (2010-13) had 699, 121 and 121.
Entering the Holy Cross game, Jones needs 17 points to become Loyola’s 36th 1,000-point scorer.

Defensive Improvements
An offseason key for the Greyhounds was to sure up their half-court defense, and through 19 games, statistics show an improvement in that area.
Last year, Loyola was 261st in NCAA Division I in scoring defense (75.3 points allowed per game), and it was even worse in opponent 3-point field-goal percentage (307th, .372).
This year, opponents are shooting just .312 (103-of-330) from 3-point range and averaging 70.2 points per game. Those numbers rank 41st and 130th in NCAA Division I through games of Jan. 22.

Getting To The Line
Loyola leads the Patriot League in free throws made per game (15.8) and attempts per game (22.7).
Despite being tied for the fewest games played (19), the Greyhounds have attempted just 26 fewer free throws than the League-leader in attempts, Bucknell University (458, 21 games).
Opponents, in fact, are averaging four fewer attempts from the line this season (354 total, 18.6 per game).
Andre Walker leads the League in free-throw percentage, having made 66 of his 76 attempts, good for 86.8 percent

Everyone has pet peeves and the bolded statement above includes one of mine.  The Loyola press release refers to alma mater as "College of the Holy Cross" and not "the College of the Holy Cross."  The HC Style book (available on the College website) www.holycross.edu/sites/default/files/files/marcomm/holycrossbrandguidev11webaugust2014.pdf  explains that on first reference, the College should be referred to as "College of the Holy Cross," but then offers an example that makes it clear that the definite article should be used in front of the name.   I guess, however, I cannot get too annoyed with our Jesuit siblings in Baltimore since the promotional video that runs during athletic events features a young woman who talks about attending "College of the Holy Cross."   I just don't like the sound of it.
  
Please accept this aside and return to your regularly scheduled reading.

Here are some thoughts on this vexing subject. The name of our school is "College of the Holy Cross". Because few schools start with "College" , choosing instead to have "college" after the school's name----"Bowdoin College", "Gettysburg College", "Centre College" and the like-----people can get confused in using our school's name. Still, just as no one would say "I go to University of Maryland" , instead saying I go to the University of Maryland; people should say I go to the College of the Holy Cross even though "the" is not part of the college's name, as it is not part of Maryland's name.

If Andrew Kostecka scores in double-figures, I predict we won't hear the end of it from ncaam/HC70.

He was just a verbal, wasn't he?

"Coach Brown got fired so I decommitted . . ." Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

www.thesentinel.com/mont/sports/item/2305-summer-league-sensation-kostecka-flips-choice

Wait, kids are entitled to their own opinions and can make their own decisions?

You're reaching... and perhaps spiteful?

I'll take Carm and his results to date over anything MB "accomplished" during his tenure, and so would every poster here would as well, except for HC70...oops I mean ncaam.

***NAILS IT*** 

roll call tomorrow night? sonsofspitler and i will be there representing crossports.

Road warrior No. 1

I hope so! That type of constant travel in such a short time can be rough.

Did you also have to play a game when you arrived your final destination after missing practice time?