Photo By Bill Bride
| Game Information | |
| Opponent | Cornell Big Red |
| Date | Sunday, November 16, 2014 |
| Time | 4:00 p.m. |
| Location | Baltimore, Maryland | Reitz Arena |
| Getting There | Directions |
| Tickets | Purchase |
| Online Media | Live Stats | Mobile Live Stats | Video (Patriot League Network) |
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| Game Notes | Loyola  |
Loyola University Maryland will make its 2014-2015 home debut Sunday, Nov. 16, when it hosts Cornell University at 4 p.m. in Reitz Arena.
The game is the final of a two-game series that started last season in Ithaca, N.Y., also on the first Sunday of the year.
Loyola had a first-half lead of as many as 11 Friday night at Texas Tech, but the Red Raiders came from behind for a 71-59 win in the Smith Bowl.
Andre Walker was one of six players to make his Loyola debut in the game, and he led all scorers with 17 points.
Loyola outrebounded Texas Tech, 40-37, led by a game- and career-high 12 boards by Jarred Jones
Last Time Out
The Greyhounds hit their first four 3-point attempts Friday night at Texas Tech and led 12-2 just three minutes in. Loyola extended its advantage to as many as 11 in the first half, but the Red Raiders came back to take the lead late in the stanza and go up 35-33 at intermission.
Texas Tech went on a 14-5 run to open the second half and break open an 11-point lead that would grow to 16 on four occasions in the second half.
Walker made 8-of-8 from the free-throw line for Loyola, en route to his 17.
The Greyhounds made 9-of-19 from 3-point range, as Tyler Hubbard was 4-of-7 and Eric Laster was 3-of-5.
Home Opener
Loyola will open its 31st season of play in Reitz Arena Sunday afternoon when Cornell visits the venue for the first time. Reitz opened in December 1984.
The Greyhounds have won their last three home openers, defeating Coppin State, Binghamton and Fairfield over the last three seasons. Their last loss in a home opener came 75-72 on Nov. 12, 2010, to Drexel.
Since the venue opened in 1984, the Greyhounds are 21-9 in home openers.
Series History Versus Cornell
Loyola and Cornell will meet for the third time in series history when the teams play Sunday. Each team has won one game in the previous two outings.
Last year, Dylon Cormier scored seven unanswered points in a stretch of 54 seconds late in the second half to tie the score at 73-73, and after the teams ended regulation tied at 79-79, Cormier score eight of Loyola’s 14 points in overtime to secure a 93-89 victory over the host Big Red.
Cormier finished with career-highs of 34 points and 11 rebounds for his first collegiate double-double, while Jarred Jones added 13, and Jordan Latham and Eric Laster each had 10.
Loyola’s bench outscored Cornell’s 30-13 in the game.
Cornell won the team’s first meeting, 82-72, on Nov. 18, 2008, in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Patriot League Network Year Two
Sunday’s game will air live on the Patriot League Network with Gary Lambrecht calling the play-by-play and Jim Chivers ’06 handling the analysis.
Fans can watch every home Loyola game, as well as all Patriot League road contests in free HD this season, live on the Patriot League Network.
Powered by Campus Insiders, the Network started last year and provided one of the most comprehensive digital packages of any conference nationally. Check LoyolaGreyhounds.com for links to each game.
Opening Notes
Although the Greyhounds did not come away with a win over Texas Tech in the season-opener, Head Coach G.G. Smith and staff saw several positive things in the game.
Loyola made 9-of-19 3-point attempts, and its 47.4 percent from behind the arc was its highest with 19 or more attempts since going 10-of-20 on March 19, 2013, in the College Insider Postseason Tournament to defeat current Patriot League foe Boston University. Last year, Loyola made nine threes just once (at Cornell) and it shot better than 45 percent only once when attempting 15 or more (8-of-16, 50.0, at UMBC).
The Greyhounds also finished the game plus-three in the rebound column, outrebounding the Red Raiders, 40-37.
Loyola also held Texas Tech to 39.7 percent shooting from the field and a 34.5 percent mark before halftime.
Dog Debuts
Six players saw their first regular-season action for Loyola on Friday night at Texas Tech: Chancellor Barnard, Colton Bishop, Cam Gregory, Stefano Mancini, Matt Staubi and Andre Walker.
Barnard, Gregory and Walker each played 14 or more minutes, and Bishop was in the action for seven.
Walker Posts Top Debut
Loyola freshman Andre Walker led all scorers with 17 points on Friday night at Texas Tech becoming the first Loyola true freshman to score as many points in a game since Justin Drummond tallied 22 on Feb. 13, 2010, against Canisius.
Walker’s points were the most by a Loyola player in his Greyhounds’ debut outing since Gerald Brown had 24 on Nov. 10, 2006, against Navy; Brown was a junior transfer from Providence.
The last Loyola true freshman to score 15 or more in their first regular-season game was Freddie Stanback who scored 16 on Nov. 19, 2004, at Virginia Tech in the first game as a head coach for former Loyola bench boss Jimmy Patsos. In the starting lineup that day for Loyola was current Greyhounds color analyst Jim Chivers; he finished the game with six points to open his senior campaign.
Walker’s 17 were also the most by a Patriot League freshman on opening night.
From Way Downtown
Loyola made 9-of-19 attempts from 3-point range on Friday night, including its first four and 7-of-10 in the first half.
Tyler Hubbard hit 4-of-7 from behind the arc, matching his career-best for 3-pointers made, while Eric Laster was 3-of-5. Franz Rassman hit his only three, one in transition in the game’s first two minutes, and Andre Walker was 1-of-4.
Jones On The Boards
Jarred Jones led the Loyola rebounding effort as the Greyhounds pulled down 40 boards to the Red Raiders’ 37. Jones had a career-high 12 rebounds in the game, 10 on the defensive glass. His previous career-high came in his last game when he had 10 rebounds in the Patriot League First Round on March 3, 2014, against Lafayette.
The last time a Loyola player had 12 or more rebounds in the Greyhounds’ first game was Nov. 29, 1993, when B.J. Pendleton had 12 at William & Mary.
A Look At Laster
Eric Laster went 5-of-10 from the field on Friday night at Texas Tech and scored 15 points for the Greyhounds in a team-best 28 minutes of action. The 15 points for Laster were three off his career-high of 18, set last year at home against Boston University, and the third-most of his career.
The junior averaged 15 points in Loyola’s five games during its August 2014 Canadian Tour, and he was the team’s second leading returning scorer after averaging 8.3 points per game last year.
In addition to his points, Laster grabbed six rebounds, one off tying his career-best that he set three times a year ago.
On The Bench
G.G. Smith begins his second season as Loyola’s head coach after taking over reigns of the program in April 2013. Prior to his appointment to the top seat on the bench, Smith was an assistant at Loyola for six seasons to Jimmy Patsos (now head coach at Siena).
Smith’s staff from a year ago remains intact with assistant coaches Keith Booth, Josh Loeffler and Dan FIcke back as assistants and Kevin Farrell returning as director of operations.
Montreal Matters
The Greyhounds took advantage of the NCAA rule that teams may partake of an off-season foreign tour once every four years when they visited Montreal and Quebec City in August.
Loyola played four games against Canadian universities – Universite du Quebec a Montreal, Laval Universite, McGill University and Concordia University – and one versus a local club team – Brookwood Elite – going 5-0 on the tour.
All 14 members of the Greyhounds’ squad, including the freshmen, were able to play in the games and participate in the 10 practice sessions prior to the trip.
Eight Return From A Year Ago
Loyola returns eight players, including a senior and five juniors, who saw playing time a year ago.
Denzel Brito is the team’s lone senior this year and is back after playing in 28 games and starting 10 a year ago.
Tyler Hubbard, Jarred Jones, Eric Laster and Franz Rassman form a strong junior class. Each player played in all 30 games a year ago and they had a combined 67 starts while Jones was one of the Patriot League’s top sixth men. The quartet averaged a cumulative 22.8 minutes per game in 2013-2014.
Josh Forney, Nick Gorski and Sean Tuohy Jr. are sophomores that return to the program. Gorski saw the most playing time of the three, taking the court in 26-of-30 games and making three starts.
Overall, the Greyhounds return 53.3 percent (80-of-150) starts from a season ago and 59.6 percent (3.621-of-6,075) of all minutes played.
Returning Points & Rebounds
With the eight players back in the fold from a year ago, the Greyhounds return just over half (52.7 percent, 1,031-of-1,957) of the points they scored last season. On the rebounding side, players that grabbed 63.9 percent of boards (597-of-935) last year are back for 2014-2015.
Jarred Jones is the team’s top returning scorer and rebounder. As the Greyhounds’ sixth man off the bench – Jones played in all 30 games, starting three, and averaged 23.6 minutes per contest – he averaged 8.6 points and 4.5 rebounds per contest.
Eric Laster was just behind Jones in the scoring column, tallying 10 fewer points overall, an average of 8.3 per game. Franz Rassman was also just shy of Jones’ rebounding line, grabbing seven fewer and an average of 4.3.
New Hounds
Five freshman, and junior who sat out the 2013-2014 season under NCAA transfer guidelines, will join the Greyhounds’ program for this season.
Stefano Mancini is now a part of the junior class as a player who began his collegiate career at Maine and Wisconsin-Parkside.
Chancellor Barnard, Colton Bishop, Cam Gregory, Matt Staubi and Andre Walker will make their Loyola debuts officially at Texas Tech.
A Look At The New Guys
Chancellor Barnard was an All-Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association ‘A’ Conference All-Star as a senior at Glenelg Country Day School where he averaged 21.6 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.6 blocked shots per game. He was the leading scorer in Howard County and was named to the Washington Post All-Met Honorable Mention.
Colton Bishop scored more than 1,350 points as a four-year letterwinner at Forsyth Country Day School, and he earned All-State honors at the 3A level in North Carolina and all-area laurels from the Winston-Salem Journal.
Cam Gregory posted 14 double-doubles as a senior at St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School in Alexandria, Va., and averaged 15.1 points and 10.0 rebounds in 26 games as a senior. He was also a Washington Post All-Met Honorable Mention player and earned All-Virginia second team recognition.
Matt Staubi graduated from Darien (Conn.) High School where he scored 1,108 points in just two seasons after transferring from Rye Country Day School before his junior year. He averaged 20.0 points and 8.0 assists as a senior after tallying 17.1 and 6.0 as a junior.
Andre Walker led Christ The King High School in New York City to the New York State Federation Tournament of Championships title as a senior in 2013-2014. He scored 25 in the title game and was an All-Catholic High School Athletic Association honoree.
Stefano Mancini was a member of the program in 2013-2014 while sitting out the season under NCAA transfer rules. The 2010 Maine Gatorade Player of the Year, Mancini scored 24.5 points per game as a senior at Falmouth High School.
Notes From North Of The Border
Eric Laster led the Greyhounds in scoring during the five-game trip to Canada in August, averaging 15.0 points per contest. Tyler Hubbard shot 45.2 percent from 3-point range on the tour and checked in at 12.8 points per game.
Franz Rassman and Laster each grabbed 30 rebounds and led Loyola with 6.0 per game.
The trio of Laster, Hubbard and Rassman, along with post players Cam Gregory and Jarred Jones were strong from the free-throw line on the tour, going 56-of-65 (86.2 percent) from the stripe in the games.
Freshmen Andre Walker and Cam Gregory averaged 8.0 and 7.2 points per game for Loyola, as well.
Denzel Brito led Loyola with 17 assists against just seven turnovers on the trip, while Walker was right behind with 15 assists.
Pro Hounds
Five former Loyola players are currently on the rosters of professional teams abroad. Dylon Cormier ’14 is playing for ZZ Leiden in The Netherlands, while Anthony Winbush ’12 is a member of the Saint John’s Mill Rats in Canada.
Cormier was named ZZ Leiden’s Player of the Month for October after averaging 15.8 points during his first professional month.
Michael Tuck ’08 returns for another season with the Sheffield Sharks in England, and Shane Walker ’12 will play for Lourdes in France. Andre Collins ’05 continues his career with Spirou in Belgium, and Jason Rowe ’00 will suit up for ASS Sale in Morocco.
Exhibition Notes
Loyola defeated Bridgewater (Virginia) College, an NCAA Division III team, 71-49, in exhibition play on Nov. 6 as five Greyhounds scored nine or more points.
Tyler Hubbard led the way with 14, while Franz Rassman added 12 to go with a team-high seven rebounds. Jarred Jones scored 11, while Cam Gregory and Andre Walked added 10 and nine, respectively.
Denzel Brito led all players with seven assists and did not commit a turnover as the Greyhounds had just 11 miscues with the ball.
Defensively, Loyola held the Eagles to 36.4 percent shooting from the field, and the Greyhounds had 11 steals and forced 18 Bridgewater turnovers.
MASN Back On Board For TV
For the ninth year in a row, Loyola will partner with MASN and the contest at Texas Tech, the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, to produce and televise several men’s basketball games. The network, which can be seen from Pennsylvania to North Carolina, will broadcast three games from Reitz Arena this season starting with the Nov. 19 game against UMBC. It will also air the Dec. 6 Mount St. Mary’s game and the Feb. 11 Lafayette contest.
In addition to the game on MASN, the Greyhounds will appear on network television at least four other times this year. Loyola’s games at Butler (Fox Sports 2) and Syracuse (ACC Regional Network/Comcast Mid-Atlantic) will air in November, while the home game against Bucknell and date at American will be broadcast nationally on the new American Sports Network.
Patriot League Prognostications
Loyola was picked to finish ninth in the preseason poll of Patriot League coaches. Defending champion American was slotted first, followed by Army, Holy Cross, Lafayette, Bucknell, Boston U., Lehigh, Colgate, the Greyhounds and Navy.
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