The college basketball offseason brings significant change to almost every roster in the Division I landscape. As part of an offseason series highlighting local men’s hoops squads, PressBox takes a look at what Loyola men’s basketball has been up to.
Head Coach: Josh Loeffler
Last Season: 12-20 overall, 8-10 Patriot League
Returners: Everett Barnes, Carter Berg-McLean, Troy Cicero Jr., Sebastien Emenalo, Goap Kodi, Sam Springer
Portal Additions: Abdullah Amzil (UC Davis), D’Andre Harrison (Kansas City), Alex Huguet (Louisiana Monroe), Max Ortega (Wofford), Leo Ricketts (Citrus College)
High School Additions: Gage Howard (Our Lady of Mount Carmel), Robbie Long (Portland, Ore.), Zeke Walker (San Diego)
Portal Departures: Emmett Adair (George Mason), Jonas Sirtautas (Georgia State), Braeden Speed (Florida Atlantic), Jordan Stiemke (Jacksonville State), Jacob Theodosiou (Duke)
Out of Eligibility: Garrett Brennan, Tyson Commander, Peter Sposito
Loyola’s offseason began with its top four scorers from 2025-26 hitting the transfer portal, including two All-Patriot League players in Adair and Speed.
Adair, a 6-foot-9, 230-pound forward, averaged 14.6 points and 5.4 rebounds as a freshman while flashing better shooting prowess than his numbers would suggest (31.5 percent from three). Speed, a 6-foot-3, 190-pound point guard, averaged 15.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists while shooting 36.5 percent from deep.
With so much production out the door, Loyola will lean on rising sophomores Barnes, Berg-McLean and Emenalo to take steps forward. Emenalo is particularly interesting as a guard with length.
“[Emenalo] was good for us last year defensively,” Loeffler said. “He’s probably the best rebounder in the program, can guard multiple positions. He was just a little raw offensively last year. We’re excited about him. He’s huge. He’s 6-foot-7. He’s really strong now.”
All of the incoming transfers played sparingly at their previous stops aside from Ricketts, who averaged 19.7 points, 3.9 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game while averaging 47.5 percent from three at the junior college level in 2025-26.
“For us, we’re not able to go out there with the resources of some of the larger schools,” Loeffler said. “We’re getting guys who in our opinion were good players in interesting situations. … How much they were able to produce at their former school is kind of varied by each of them, but we like all of them and we know all of them. I think that’s a nice combination for us.”
The biggest name among high school recruits for local hoops fans is Howard, who played the three, four and five spots at Mount Carmel and even brought the ball up the floor at times. Loeffler anticipates Howard being able to make an immediate impact.
“He’s a combo forward. He can really handle. He can pass. He can shoot it pretty well,” Loeffler said. “Very long, so plays bigger than 6-7. Good athlete. Good player. In terms of a forward coming into the Patriot League, I don’t know if we can get much more talented than that coming out of high school.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Loyola Athletics