WASHINGTON – Heading into the final week of the regular season, American University men's basketball heads back to Baltimore to face PL South rival, Loyola Maryland, for the third time this season on Wednesday night.
QUICK INFO
- Date/Time: Wednesday, Feb. 24, 7 p.m.
- Site: Baltimore, Md. (Reitz Arena)
- Series History: AU leads, 51-48
- TV: ESPN+
- Talent: Gary Lambrecht (pxp), Jim Chivers (color)
INSIDE THE SERIES
- Loyola and American are facing off for the 100th time on Wednesday night. It's the most-played series for AU Men's Basketball, dating back to the 1927-28 season.
- AU has won five of the last six meetings in the series, including four straight, but all have been close. The last seven meetings in the series have been decided by 21 total points, an average of 3.0 ppg.
- Long before being in the Patriot League together, American and Loyola battled in the Mason-Dixon Conference in the early part of the 20th century before making the transition to NCAA Division I.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT AMERICAN
- On Sunday night on CBS Sports Network against Navy, Jamir Harris did just about everything he could on offense to keep AU in the game. The senior guard scored 30 points, marking the fourth time in six games this season he's eclipsed the 20-point plateau. He leads the nation by draining 4.2 three-point FGs/game and ranks third in three-point percentage (47.2). Although a small sample, Harris also leads all of Division I by averaging 40.3 minutes/game.
- Josh Alexander has continued to excel as the starting big this season. He scored a career-high 19 points on Saturday afternoon against Navy, adding a career-best four blocks.
- American leads the league in 3-point FG percentage, shooting 38.5 percent from long-range led by Harris shooting 47.2 percent.
- In the first start of his career, Colin Smalls scored eight first-half points on Saturday against Navy. The youngster battled foul trouble in the second half, but his impact offensively was still felt.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT LOYOLA
- Santi Aldama, who was named to the preseason All-PL squad, has been tearing it up over the last few weeks. He has earned three straight PL Player of the Week honors during the stretch. He had the first 30-point, 20-rebound game in the PL since Colgate's Adonal Foyle in 1995 by scoring 30 points and grabbing 22 rebounds against Lafayette (2/13). He's currently averaging a double-double (21.7 ppg, 10.7 rpg).
- Isaiah Hart became the 40th player in Loyola Maryland men's basketball history to reach 1,000 career points on Sunday against Lehigh on Sunday.
- Loyola's size is consistently a problem for teams in the Patriot League. The Greyhounds rank second in the league by grabbing 39.5 rebounds/game as a team. Golden Dike (6-10), Alonso Faure (6-10), and Santi Aldama (6-11) lead the way on the inside for Loyola.
OTHER NOTABLES
- In the 2019-20 season, American did not lose any games played on a Wednesday. The Eagles went 7-0 on Hump Day. Weekdays, in general, were friendly for AU, as they went 12-4 in games played during the week a season ago.
- With the addition of Lorenzo Donadio (Rome, Italy) and Christian Lorng (Paris, France) to the roster this season, AU continues its legacy of international-born ballers as 11 different players from 10 different countries have now played for Coach Brennan. Most recently, Yilret Yiljep (Nigeria) and Mark Gasperini (Russia) carried the torch as international players. The legacy of international players continues all the way back to the Jeff Jones era as an international player has been an Eagle for at least 20 straight seasons.
- When play tipped off in the season-opener against Navy, the Eagles became the second-to-last NCAA D-I men's basketball program that hadn't officially opted out of competition to open its season. Loyola Maryland tipped off a few hours later at 4 p.m. and was the final program to open play. Both programs went on pause prior to the first scheduled weekend of play due to a positive COVID-19 test within its Tier 1 personnel.
- In his eighth season at AU, head coach Mike Brennan looks to make moves on the all-time wins list. He is four wins away from becoming the fifth AU skipper to reach 100 wins. Six more wins this season will put Brennan in fourth place on the all-time wins list.
- Senior guard Stacy Beckton Jr. is looking to make his mark on the AU Men's Basketball record book this season. He currently sits in 9th on the all-time blocks list at AU with 80 career swats. His 36 blocks in 2018-19 also put him on 9th place on the single-season list. The Third Team All-PL honoree and PL All-Defensive Team member has also improved offensively over the course of his career and looks to continue that momentum this season. He is currently 265 points away from becoming the 33rd member of the 1,000 point club at AU.
POSTSEASON PLANS
- Teams in the conference are split into three mini-conferences: South (American, Loyola, Navy), Central (Bucknell, Lafayette, Lehigh) and North (Army West Point, Boston University, Colgate, Holy Cross). Teams will play multiple games within those mini-conferences with other games in the league serving as crossovers.
- Eight teams, as opposed to 10, will qualify for the Patriot League Championships this year.
- Each of the three mini-conference winners earns a spot into the tournament field and host a quarterfinal game. Those teams are seeded (one through three) by their overall League record winning percentage.
- Each of the second-place mini-conference finishers earns a spot in the tournament field. The runner-up team with the best overall record would earn the No. 4 seed and the right to host a quarterfinal game. Those teams are seeded (four through six) by their overall League record winning percentage.
- The seventh and eighth seeds are determined by a list of procedures, including but not limited to: best two overall League record winning percentages and head-to-head record (if applicable).
VIRTUALLY "PHIL BENDER" ARENA PRESENTED BY GEICO
- American University Athletics has announced a new virtual ticket campaign in an effort to sell out Bender Arena this coming basketball season. This new season-long initiative, presented by "TEAM AU" partner GEICO, will challenge Eagles fans and alumni to sell out each seat in Bender Arena for the 2020-21 basketball schedule. The "AU Founder" ticket price of $18.93 commemorates the year AU was founded. Click here to support AU Athletics by buying virtual tickets.
HOW TO WATCH ESPN+
- A subscription to ESPN+ is available for purchase via ESPN.com, ESPNPlus.com, or the ESPN App. Fans can access ESPN+ content only after they have subscribed. To subscribe, click here. It costs $5.99/month or $59.99/year.
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