ESPNU will be spending the night at Reitz Arena

Both the Loyola College men’s and women’s basketball teams will play home games on ESPNU tonight as the Evergreen Campus will be front and center on national TV. The ladies’ tip will be at 7pm and they will be taking Niagara, while the guys will square off with Iona, following the earlier game’s conclusion.

This will be the second time in six days the men’s team will play a team tied with them in the MAAC standings at Reitz Arena. Last Saturday Loyola was knocked off 72-65 against Manhattan, whom the Greyhounds had been tied with for 5th in the conference at 6-6. Now after also losing Monday night at Siena, the ‘Hounds will have to battle Iona. Both squads are now 6-8 in MAAC play, good enough for a tie for 6th place. Loyola will again be in action Monday night on the Evergreen Campus when Canisius makes the hike down to Baltimore from Buffalo.

Iona is dangerous because their play has been awfully inconsistent all season, usually playing to the level of their competition. On the other hand, Canisius has been just consistently awful. They were torched by Loyola by 26 on their home floor already this season and have a dreadful 2-13 MAAC mark. The ‘Hounds realistic expectation for the weekend should be to pick up a pair of W’s, which would move them back to .500 in the league.

Also, don’t forget that the Loyola men’s lacrosse team will get their season underway tomorrow in Atlanta Georgia as they will take on Notre Dame at 1:00pm.

Loyola is ranked second in the preseason ECAC Coaches’ Poll and #17 by the USILA Preaseaon Poll and the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. The Irish are tied for ninth with Princeton in the USILA rankings and with UMBC for 10th in the eyes of the media. The Greyhounds were defeated by ND 7-6 on Diane Geppi-Aikens Field in last year’s season opener.