BOSTON – Coming off a thrilling three-point overtime win at Holy Cross to end the regular season, the No. 2 seed Boston University men's basketball team will host No. 7 Loyola Maryland in the Patriot League quarterfinals on Thursday night with tip-off slated for 7 p.m.
Both the Terriers (17-13, 12-6 PL) and Greyhounds (15-15, 8-10 PL) joined the PL together in the summer of 2013 and will be meeting in the conference tourney for the first time ever after splitting the two regular-season matchups. In other PL quarterfinal contests, No. 1 Bucknell will host No. 8 Army, No. 3 Lehigh will host No. 6 Colgate and No. 4 Navy will host No. 5 Holy Cross.
TERRIER TIDBITS
- After fulfilling the preseason expectations of finishing second in the conference standings, the Terriers received three All-Conference awards.
- Senior Eric Fanning earned his second All-Patriot League 1st Team award after ranking third in PL-only scoring (16.0 ppg) and ninth in rebounding (6.6 rpg) ... 2012 America East Player of the Year Darryl Partin ('12) was the last Terrier to claim back-to-back All-Conference 1st Team honors.
- Senior Justin Alston earned his first All-Conference award after missing the last 26 games last season due to injury ... He became the first true BU post player since Kevin Gardner ('06) to be recognized as one of the top 10 players in a conference ... He averaged 12.8 ppg, 6.8 rpg and 57.5 FG% in PL games.
- Tallying a season-high 19 points at Holy Cross on Saturday, freshman Tyler Scanlon (8.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg) became the sixth Terrier in five years to earn All-Rookie Team honors ... He ranked fourth in conference games at 45.2 3FG% and tied-for-7th in made 3FGs (2.1).
- The Terriers are 11-4 at Case Gym this season and just need one more win for the most home victories since they claimed 12 in 2011 ... They went 6-3 against conference opponents, including wins over the Greyhounds, Lehigh and Holy Cross.
- BU ranks 16th nationally in steals at 8.3 spg ... Junior and 2014 All-PL Rookie member Cedric Hankerson (9.7 ppg) ranks 31st in steals (2.00), while 2016 All-PL Rookie honoree Kyle Foreman ranks 46th in steals (1.93) and 79th in assists (4.6 apg).
- The Terriers are averaging 72.9 ppg and shooting 44.6 FG% while holding opponents to 70.4 ppg and 42.7 FG%, respectively.
BU Conference Tournament History
- The Terriers are 45-30 (.600) all-time in conference tournaments and 2-3 in the Patriot League after reaching the 2014 Championship Final ... BU is 22-14 (.611) in quarterfinals.
- BU clinched a No. 2 seed for the ninth time ... Banned from participating in the 2013 America East tournament due to the move later that year to the Patriot League, the Terriers are 7-0 all-time in the quarters with a 4-3 record in the title game.
- The Terriers captured their last automatic NCAA berth in 2011 as a No. 2 seed.
- In 2014, BU set the PL quarterfinal record for largest margin of victory with 91-54 win vs. Lafayette with a school-record 66.1 FG%.
SCOUTING LOYOLA MARYLAND
- The Greyhounds may be the No. 7 seed after an 8-10 performance but will enter the quarterfinals as one of the most dangerous teams ... They are the only squad to have earned a win this season against No. 1 Bucknell (split), No. 2 BU (split) and No. 3 Lehigh (sweep), and four of their losses were by three points or less with a fifth requiring overtime.
- They opened the PL tournament with a 67-64 win over Lafayette to improve to 10-4 at home but are just 5-11 on the road, including 3-6 conference mark ... Their key road wins came against Lehigh, Stony Brook and American.
- Loyola matched BU in having a pair of players earn All-Conference honors ... Junior guard and All-PL First Team member Andre Walker averages 14.8 ppg and team-high 4.0 apg, while senior forward and second team honoree Jarred Jones averages a team-high 15.3 ppg and 6.5 rpg.
- Junior forward Cam Gregory has provided a formidable third option averaging 9.7 ppg and 7.4 rpg.
- The Greyhounds are a perfect 9-0 when scoring at least 70 points in a game ... They are averaging 66.0 ppg while shooting 42.4 FG% ... They are holding opponents to 68.5 ppg and 46.7 FG%, respectively.
SERIES HISTORY
- BU leads the all-time series, 7-4, with a 4-0 home mark and is 6-2 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.
- Facing a 21-20 deficit with 7:13 left in the first, the Terriers went on a 10-0 run keyed by 3-pointers from Scanlon and junior Will Goff to grab the lead for good in a 78-63 victory ... Down by as many as 14 (54-40) in the middle of the second half, the Greyhounds pulled within six (56-50) at 6:40 on a pair of free throws, but the Terriers scored eight straight with the help of two steals to put the game away ... Fanning and Alston combined for 40 points in the win.
- In the first meeting of the year, 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 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.
