Loyola?s men?s basketball players will be the first to acknowledge they haven?t lived up to their preseason expectations of at least a second-place finish in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. But tonight at 7 at Reitz Arena, the Greyhounds can continue to turn their season around by defeating conference-leading Siena in front of a regional television audience on MASN.
“We are coming together and everyone on the team is gelling,” Loyola forward Michael Tuck said. “Everyone is playing really well right now and it shows.”
The Greyhounds (9-10, 5-3) started the season by winning four of their first six, but were just 5-8 on Jan. 4. But since a two-point defeat against Fairfield ? Loyola?s only home loss in seven games ? the Greyhounds have played some of their best basketball of the season, winning four of six to thrust themselves into the conference race.
If the Greyhounds beat Siena (12-6, 7-1), the conference?s preseason favorite, they will be just a game out of first place. While winning the conference tournament earns a team an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, finishing first in the regular season guarantees a berth in the National Invitation Tournament.
Loyola?s string of improved play coincides with it fielding a healthy lineup for the first time since the season opener. Freshman guard Brian Rudolph, the reigning and two-time winner of the MAAC?s Rookie of the Week award, has played himself back into the starting lineup by averaging 5.6 points and shooting 76.1 percent from the free-throw line.
“In the beginning of the season I didn?t know the offense,” Rudolph said. “I tried to make smarter decisions and pick it up on defense, too.”
The return of senior forward Hassan Fofana has bolstered the frontcourt and creates a mismatch for Tuck, which he exploited with a 22-point, 16-rebound performance in a 62-57 win at St. Peter?s on Saturday that earned him Player of the Week honors.
But defense likely will be key against the Saints, who average 77.4 points per game and shoot better than 45 percent from the field and 40 percent from beyond the arc.
“All of us, the seniors, really want to go to that [NCAA] Tournament and win the MAAC championship,” Tuck said. “We are really starting to play like we should right now, to our potential.”
GREYHOUNDS (9-10 overall, 5-3 MAAC) VS. SIENA SAINTS (12-6, 7-1)
» Tipoff: Tonight, 7 p.m.
» Where: Reitz Arena
» TV/Radio: MASN, 1300 AM
