Loyola guard Brett Harvey received an uncommon order from Coach Jimmy Patsos about a month ago: take more shots.
Harvey was moved from point guard to shooting guard, which has allowed more playing time for standout freshman Brian Rudolph and enabled the Greyhounds? offense to run smoother, resulting in a four-game winning streak.
“I was primarily a passer,” Harvey said. “But now the coaches have told me to look for my shot instead, and when I get a couple buckets, it helps us get that separation form the other team.”
And that?s just how Patsos planned it.
“Brett Harvey?s been tremendous for us,” Patsos said. “We have a real advantage in the fact that very few teams have a point guard that is a two guard.”
Harvey began feeling comfortable with his transition on Jan. 11 at Fairfield, when the 6-foot, 170-pounder scored a career-high 20 points to propel Loyola (11-10) to its first road win of the season. The Greyhounds have won four of five games since Harvey?s best performance of the season, and are finally resembling the team that was predicted in the preseason to finish second in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and contend for a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
“The way we played earlier was really selfish,” said Harvey, who averages 7.3 points and 4.1 assists per game. “But now we are passing the ball and getting easy shots, our big guys are scoring and [guards] Marquis [Sullivan] and Gerald [Brown] are playing really well.”
The team takes its new attitude and renewed confidence into the Prudential Center at 7 in Newark, N.J., tonight at 7 to face New Jersey Institute of Technology (0-21) in a non-conference game. The Highlanders, along with North Florida (0-17), are the only winless teams in Division I.
The Highlanders are on a 25-game losing streak dating to last season, and haven?t won a game since beating provisional-Division I Longwood, 78-74, on Feb. 19, 2007. This season, the team has lost 19 games by at least 10 points, and its other two losses were each by nine points.
But Harvey emphasizes the Greyhounds are in no position to take any team lightly.
“They play hard for 40 minutes,” he said. “And that?s been our motto the past few games: each game takes 40 minutes to win.”
GREYHOUNDS (11-10) VS. NEW JERSEY INSTITUTE (0-21)
» Tipoff: Tonight, 7 p.m.
» Where: Prudential Center, Newark, N.J.
» Radio: 1300 AM
