The Loyola men’s basketball team received mixed results last week, pulling out a sloppy 45-38 win against UMBC on Wednesday at Reitz Arena, before being blown out by Butler, 80-39, on the road Saturday night.
The Greyhounds (2-2) struggled offensively over the week, scoring just 84 points in both games combined and shooting just 19-for-36 (53 percent) from the free throw line over the two contests.
Against the Retrievers on Wednesday, the Hounds were led by freshman guard Andre Walker, who finished with a game-high 16 points and five steals. Walker made seven of his nine free throw attempts, while the rest of the team shot just 7-for-16 from the charity stripe. Through his first four college games, Walker has led Loyola in scoring twice, and has scored in double-digits three times.
“If the opportunity presents itself, you’ve gotta take it,” the stand-out freshman said after the win. “G.G. hasn’t been limiting me or anything; he just lets me play basketball and he lets everybody play basketball.”
Trailing 33-31 with just over 10 minutes remaining, the Greyhounds went on an 8-0 run to pull ahead for good against UMBC. Walker scored five of those points during the run, including a three-pointer with 8:39 remaining to give the Hounds a 36-33 lead, which they would never surrender.
Loyola outrebounded UMBC, 44-38, and both teams turned the ball over a whopping 19 times. Freshman forward Cam Gregory grabbed 12 rebounds: his second straight game with double-digit boards.
Loyola’s 45 points were its fewest in a winning effort in the program’s Division I history (since 1981).
Against Butler on Saturday at Hinkle Fieldhouse, the Greyhounds put up a fight early, but the game quickly got away from them. A jumper by junior guard Eric Laster gave Loyola a 10-9 lead with 12:21 left in the first half, but the Bulldogs would close the half on a 33-8 run, en route to the dominant victory.
Only three Greyhounds got on the board against Butler; Laster scored a career-high 24 points, junior forward Franz Rassman had his first career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Gregory scored the other five Loyola points with four rebounds and two blocks.
Kelan Martin led Butler with 23 points and seven rebounds.
The Greyhounds played both games without junior guard Jarred Jones, who sprained his MCL in the team’s 76-71 win over Cornell on Nov. 16, according to Loyola coach G.G. Smith. It’s unclear when exactly Jones will return, but Smith hopes he’ll be back in a week or two.
The Hounds face another massive test on Nov. 25 against Syracuse at 7 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.
