The next nine days could very well decide the postseason chances of the Loyola men?s basketball team, which is just one game behind Siena, Marist and Rider in the race for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular season title.
After a dominating, 85-56 victory over conference-leading Siena (12-7, 7-2) Thursday night at Reitz Arena, the Greyhounds (10-10, 6-3) improved to .500 for the first time since Dec. 7.
For Loyola, which is 7-1 at home this year, it comes down to this: four road games in little more than a week ? a daunting task for a team that is 2-8 on the road this season. Loyola?s trip begins this afternoon at 4 against Manhattan (8-11, 2-7) in Draddy Gym in New York City in front of a national television audience on ESPNU. The Greyhounds defeated Manhattan, 77-54, at Reitz Arena on Dec. 9.
“About a month ago people had written us off for dead and we have great character on this team,” Loyola coach Jimmy Patsos said. “The chase is far from over, but we are in the hunt. We broughtourselves back with hard work, and we are going to keep working hard.”
After visiting the Jaspers, the Greyhounds have a non-conference game at New Jersey Institute (0-20) on Tuesday at 7 p.m., before playing at defending conference champion Niagara (11-6, 5-3) on Feb. 1 and at Canisius (3-15, 1-7) two days later.
The race for the regular-season conference title in the MAAC is huge for a mid-major program. The winner is guaranteed a berth in the National Invitation Tournament if it fails to win the conference tournament and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“It sent another message out to the MAAC and the rest of the conference that we got our chemistry back,” senior guard Gerald Brown said. “We are ready to play and we aren?t going out without a fight.”
The Greyhounds were nearly flawless in their dissection of the Saints, making a school-record 18-of-32 three-pointers and holding Siena to a meager 29 percent shooting. Siena entered the game in sole possession of first place, and was the preseason favorite to win the conference title.
The improved play of Loyola?s seniors, including Brown and forward Michael Tuck, has been one of the key differences for a team that has won four of its past five. Brown reached the 1,000-point mark as a Greyhound in a 20-point performance against Siena, and Tuck scored 23 against the Saints, the second straight game the reigning MAAC Player of the Week has set a career-high.
“People forgot about us for awhile but now we are going to have people coming after us,” Patsos said. “We didn?t handle that so well the first time around but we will see how we handle it this time.”
