BOSTON – Riding a two-game win streak, the Boston University men's basketball team will host Loyola Maryland on Saturday with the American Sports Network broadcast slated for 12 p.m.
Saturday will mark the program's "Lace Up 4 Pediatric Cancer" game, which supports the Go4theGoal Foundation in helping kids with cancer achieve their goals. The Terriers and coaches will be wearing the foundation's Gold Laces during the game to support children battling cancer and to raise awareness for the cause. Donations will be collected at the game that will go directly to the Go4theGoal Foundation.
The Terriers (14-11, 9-4 PL) are currently tied for second in the Patriot League standings with Navy with just five games remaining in regular season play. They have earned three sweeps in the last four contests following wins over Lehigh, Lafayette and American and will now have to avoid suffering their first sweep against a Loyola squad that sits two games behind in the standings.
TERRIER TIDBITS
- BU leads the Patriot League with 10 home wins and needs just one more for the most home wins since the Terriers recorded 11 in 2013-14.
- The Terriers are shooting 44.6 percent from the field and an even better 46.4 percent at Case Gym ... Opponents are averaging 39.5 FG% in the 13 contests as well.
- BU has also been a far superior 3-point shooting team at home at 39.5 3FG% compared to the 32.6 3FG% road mark.
- Senior Eric Fanning remains the team leader in both scoring (14.8 ppg) and rebounding (6.2 rpg) ... John Holland ('11) was the last Terrier to accomplish the feat in 2008-09 at 18.1 ppg and 5.5 rpg.
- Senior Justin Alston is averaging 13.0 ppg, 60.2 FG% and 6.8 rpg in conference play ... On Wednesday at American, he reached 20+ points for the third time this season with 21 points.
- Freshman Tyler Scanlon (7.8 ppg) scored 16 points against the Eagles on Wednesday and is now shooting a stellar 47.5 3FG% in conference play.
- The Terriers ranked 32nd nationally in steals per game at 8.0 spg and 93rd in field goal percentage defense (42.0 FG%).
- Junior Cedric Hankerson (10.2 ppg) ranks 55th nationally in steals at 1.91 spg while sophomore Kyle Foreman is 81st at 1.78 spg ... Foreman also ranks 65th in assists at 4.9 apg.
SCOUTING LOYOLA
- The Greyhounds are 5-9 on the road compared to an 8-2 home mark.
- In PL action, they are 3-4 on the road with wins at Lehigh (84-83), American (68-66) and Lafayette (68-62) ... They fell at Navy on Wednesday, 62-59, as their four-game win streak came to an end.
- Loyola shared two non-conference opponents with the Terriers, first falling at LIU Brooklyn (65-61) and then winning at home against UML (69-60).
- The Greyhounds are holding opponents to 31.2 percent shooting from behind the arc, which is the 37th best mark in the country, and rank 61st in steals at 7.3 spg.
- In 13 conference games, Loyola is averaging 66.4 ppg and 44.2 FG% while holding opponents to 67.2 ppg and 46.8 FG%, respectively.
- Both 6-foot-0 guard Andre Walker and 6-foot-6 forward Jarred Jones are averaging an identical team-high 15.1 ppg, while Cam Gregory (9.1 ppg) is averaging a team-high 6.9 rpg ... Walker is also averaging a team-high 3.8 apg and 1.5 spg.
SERIES HISTORY
- BU leads the all-time series, 6-4, with a 3-0 home mark and is 5-2 since joining the PL in the summer of 2013 ... BU won the first meeting in 1996 on a neutral court in FL and then dropped the next two at Loyola in the 2012 BracketBusters and 2013 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tourney.
- They have gone to OT each of the previous two years ... Last year in Case Gym, down by as many as 14 (68-54) at 8:45, BU rallied back and went 1-of-2 FT at both 10s and 3s in regulation to send the game to OT, thanks in part to Loyola missing both FTs at 8s ... Fanning made all four FTs in the final 35s of OT to seal 87-84 victory.
- In 2016, Fanning first scored a career-high 37 pts. and then had 14 points and career-high 15 rebs. ... He followed up in January at Loyola with 27 points (13-15 FT) and 13 rebounds.
- Loyola jumped out to a 20-5 lead in the first six minutes of action with Andre Walker hitting four of his career-high nine 3-pointers and went into the locker room leading, 43-31 ... BU eventually pulled within four (69-65) with 43 seconds remaining but the Greyhounds hit a pair of free throws and forced a Terrier turnover to help seal the win.
- Both Jarred Jones (14p, 10r) and Cam Gregory (15p, 12r) had double-doubles with Andre Walker tallying 35 points, the most scored by an individual this season against BU.
- The Terriers went 1-of-18 from three and had just one 3-pointer in a contest for the first time since the 2014 Patriot League title game ... The Greyhounds finished with a 34-21 advantage in free throw attempts.
