Loyola downs JMU; will face Curry, #24 Davidson tonight

Last night the Greyhounds defeated James Madison 64-54 in the consolation bracket of the Preseason NIT held in Davidson, NC. Loyola’s record now stands at 2-3 overall and they will take on Davidson and All-American guard Stephen Curry tonight, tip-off set for 8pm.

Sophomore guard Jamal Barney’s career and game high 23 points were huge, but more impressive was the stretch in the second half when the Baltimore native put his teammates on his back and scored 13 straight points after JMU had taken a brief lead. Coming out of a timeout the ‘Hounds trailed 44-43 with a little over 8 minutes remaining when Barney got in the groove and put Loyola ahead 56-44 by the time his scoring spree had ended.

Barney led just 6 Greyhounds who made a mark in the scoring column. Brett Harvey had 18 points, and Marquis Sullivan returned to help his team by chipping in with 11 points off the bench. Fr. F Anthony Winbush, So. F Isaac Reid, and So. G Brian Rudolph each scored 4 points a piece. Eleven Loyola players saw action.

The Greyhounds and Dukes were even on the boards, claiming 34 rebounds each. Loyola shot 46.7% from the field and 38.5% from long range while continuing their strong effort from the charity stripe going 17-20 from the line.

Tonight’s opponent, the Davidson Wildcats, come in ranked #24 in the latest AP Poll and #25 in the Coaches’ Poll. Last year’s March Madness hero, then-sophomore guard, Stephen Curry is back and off to a hot start averaging an eye popping 34.0 ppg and 8.8 assts/game. Their record is 4-1 entering the game, including a 25-point victory over JMU last weekend. In case you missed it, Davidson played in a big time nationally televised game against Oklahoma earlier in the week and Curry’s squad lost a thriller 82-78, but Curry showed how good he was on a national stage when he torched the Sooners for 44 big points.