Feb. 28 marks the first round of the Patriot League men’s basketball tournament, with No. 8 seed Loyola hosting No. 9 seed Holy Cross for the right to travel to top-seeded Colgate for a quarterfinal matchup.
The Greyhounds enter the first round playing their best basketball of the season, having won four of their past five games and showing significant offensive improvement from the first half of league play to the second half. Loyola finished the regular season with an 83-77 overtime win against American on Feb. 25, pushing its overall record to 12-19 and conference record to 7-11.
Loyola head coach Tavaras Hardy credited the offensive uptick to his team having a better understanding of how to play big. The Greyhounds start a traditional center in 6-foot-10, 248-pound Golden Dike and another big man at the four spot in 6-foot-10, 238-pound Alonso Faure, who does have the ability to play from the perimeter but has only attempted 32 threes.
Plus, Hardy tried to integrate 6-foot-10, 230-pound Veljko Ilic into the rotation throughout the first 14 games of conference play before a knee injury forced him to the sideline.
“We were turning the ball over a lot trying to be big, but as time went on as guys started to understand what we looking to accomplish,” Hardy said following the win against American. “We played big, but it was just a piece of what we do. It wasn’t the focus, and that’s really helped our offense grow. The numbers are astounding when you look at the first nine versus the second nine. We just want to keep that going.”
| First Nine Patriot League Games | Last Nine Patriot League Games | |
| Record | 2-7 | 5-4 |
| Points Per Game | 59.7 | 74.4 |
| Field Goal Percentage | 43.7 | 47.3 |
| 3-Point Percentage | 31.3 | 40.4 |
| Free-Throw Percentage | 57.1 | 70.4 |
| Turnovers Per Game | 14.6 | 10.8 |
| Assists Per Game | 10.9 | 15.1 |
Fifth-year guard Kenneth Jones scored 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting against American. The 6-foot, 175-pound guard last scored that many on Jan. 16, when he posted 23 against Lehigh. Jones pointed to several reasons as to why Loyola has grown so much offensively throughout the past month: sharing the ball effectively, shooting well from the outside, getting efficient play from the big men inside and taking care of the ball.
Ball movement and 3-point shooting was on display in overtime against the Eagles, when Jones found sophomore guard David Brown III late in overtime to help give the Greyhounds one more game in front of the home fans at Reitz Arena.
“Today, this could’ve been my last home game at Loyola,” Jones said. “I’ve never had a home game in the playoffs. I think you can see the smile on my face. I was so excited for a home game in the playoffs. So just keep pushing through, really.”
The play of freshman guard Deon Perry helped make that a reality, too. Perry is shooting 42.7 percent from 3-point range on the year after a 5-for-9 performance from deep against American. The 5-foot-8, 160-pound guard has shot 36-for-73 (49.3 percent) from 3-point range during Loyola’s last nine games. That includes this nifty one against American.
Perry credited the confidence he gets from his teammates for his effectiveness beyond the arc.
“When I’m missing shots and I’m not on, they just give me confidence, bring me more swagger to my game,” Perry said. “I work on shots throughout practice. We stay after practice and shoot jump shots. Me just being myself throughout the game, it just helped me down the stretch.”
Loyola also developed into a more resilient bunch as conference play wore on. League play couldn’t have gotten off to a much worse start for the Greyhounds: They lost, 101-67, to eventual regular-season champion Colgate as the Raiders hit 67.2 percent of their shots.
Colgate went on a 28-6 first-half run to take control of the game, and the Raiders’ lead ballooned to as many as 42 points in the second half. Long story short, once the game began to head south, the Greyhounds simply couldn’t get back on their feet.
Fast forward a couple months against American, and Loyola responded when challenged. The Eagles’ lead grew to as many as eight in the first half and nine in the second half, but the Greyhounds remained connected throughout the game, with some timely scoring bursts proving beneficial.
So how has Loyola gotten tougher?
“The way we go hard in practice, the way we push each other, the way we grow together every day, the way we push each other to make shots, play harder on defense, stuff like that,” Jones said. “The guards are improving. The bigs are improving. We just go at it every day. Hardy just pushes us.”
Next up for Loyola is Holy Cross. The two teams split the regular-season series and finished with identical conference records, but the Greyhounds defeated the Crusaders, 60-68, on Feb. 22. Perry poured in 27 points during that matchup, while Loyola held Holy Cross leading scorer Gerrale Gates to just 10 points.
Hardy told his players not to assume anything even though they’re playing the same team twice in less than a week.
“I talked to the guys that the worst thing you can do in college basketball — and they know that — is to think that just because you beat somebody you’re going to automatically beat them again,” Hardy said. “They’re going to come in hungry. We should be hungry because we both want a chance to keep playing. It’s win or go home.”
Photo Credits: Courtesy of Loyola Athletics