Loyola men’s basketball put together its best performance of the season in an 84-65 win against Colgate on Feb. 23, snapping a four-game losing streak and showing what the team looks like when clicking on all cylinders.
It was a 14-point loss at Colgate on Feb. 8 that kicked off the four-game losing streak, but Loyola led for 39:12 of the rematch and led by as many as 23 points after a 10-0 second-half run.
The Greyhounds moved to 11-16 overall and 6-10 in the Patriot League, putting them in a position to potentially host a first-round conference tournament matchup on March 4.
So why did it all come together against the Raiders on Feb. 23?
“If I knew that, we’d be 27-0,” Loyola first-year head coach Josh Loeffler joked.
Truth be told, Loeffler and his players had a similar theory for why the Greyhounds played so well.
“I think one of the things we did well today was we shared the ball well and we really for the most part let the game come to us offensively, so we weren’t forcing anything,” Loeffler said.
“I feel like today we played team basketball, so just keep playing together, keep trusting one another and it’ll all take care of itself,” sophomore guard Jacob Theodosiou said.
“I think this was maybe probably the most together game of the year,” senior big man Veljko Ilic said.
Eighty-four points was Loyola’s biggest output of the campaign. The Greyhounds shot 50.8 percent from the field, assisting on 20 of 30 field goals. They also shot 46.2 percent from 3-point range, assisting on 10 of 12 threes.
Theodosiou was 6 of 9 from deep as part of a 22-point day, and five of those makes were assisted. A 34 percent shooter from 3-point range on the season, the 6-foot-4, 190-pound guard out of Waterloo, Ontario, has been working on his shot every day with assistant coach Matt Blue.
“I owe a lot of credit to Coach Blue,” Theodosiou said. “He’s always in with me every morning. Just keep refining and keep correcting my shot. It’s a constant growth, even during the season. Some people think we can’t constantly correct, but you’re constantly correcting if you want to be a good shooter.”
Twin Serbian centers Milos and Veljko Ilic got in on the act as well, combining for 33 points on 13 of 19 shooting, 14 rebounds and 7 assists against Colgate. Loeffler initially didn’t play the two 6-foot-10 big men together much this season, with the two seniors essentially sharing the center position. However, Veljko has joined his brother in the starting lineup in each of the past seven games as their time on the floor together continues to inch up.
The 2024-25 campaign marks the first season the two have played together since 2021-22. Both players have missed a season due to a torn ACL (Milos, 2022-23; Veljko, 2023-24), and they just now might be finding their rhythm together.
“Playing with my twin brother, that’s a great experience for me,” Veljko said. “We missed my sophomore and junior year playing together, so playing senior year together, it means a lot.”
Milos and Veljko have one year of eligibility remaining, opening the possibility that the two return to Loyola in 2025-26. Milos is averaging 14.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, while Veljko is averaging 8.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per contest. The two can also pass out of the post, having combined for 102 assists on the season.
“We’re really not that far removed from Veljko being really limited,” Loeffler said. “He wasn’t live, full-go until the end of August. So we’re six months into him being really healthy. I think that’s why you see him taking strides. And then I think for Milos and V, they do a very good job of taking care of themselves. They’re very professional in their approach. And on game days I think they feel good because they put in all the work.”
The Greyhounds close out the regular season at home against Bucknell on Feb. 26 and on the road at Navy on March 1. Loyola (6-10 in the Patriot League) is battling with Lafayette (6-10), Lehigh (5-11) and Holy Cross (5-11) for position at the bottom of the league standings. The teams that finish seventh and eighth host a first-round game to kick off the conference tournament on March 4. The top six squads earn a bye.
Should Loyola continue to play like it did against Colgate on Feb. 23, the Greyhounds just might make life difficult on opponents in the tournament.
“I just think the practices have been really good lately,” Theodosiou said. “We’ve had good lineups in practice, good team bonding in practice. So I feel like just continuing to practice what we are going to do in the game will help us.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Loyola Athletics