Army West Point Athletics
Postseason Begins Tuesday for Black Knights
February 26, 2018 | Men's Basketball
WEST POINT, N.Y.:Â The Army West Point men's basketball team will look to keep its season alive Tuesday when it travels to Loyola for the Patriot League tournament first round.
The contest is slated for 7 p.m. and will be broadcast by Stadium on a variety of Over-The-Air channels, in addition to being streamed on Twitter by following @WatchStadium.
The Black Knights are coming off a devastating regular-season finale loss to Boston University on Saturday. The Terriers registered an old fashioned three-point play with 11 seconds left to stun the Cadets 61-59. With that outcome, Army dropped its sixth-straight game, including a span of 10 of its last 12 contests.Â
In the game with BU, three Black Knights notched double-digit scoring with senior Luke Morrison leading all players with 14 points. Alex King and Tommy Funk added 11 and 10 points, respectively. Jacob Kessler pulled down a game-high eight rebounds, including an impressive seven on the offensive glass. Jordan Fox compiled a game-best five assists, while Funk tallied two. His second and final helper of the night was a big one as it made him the Academy's single-season assists leader with 163.Â
Fox sits tops on the team averaging 13.5 points per game. Wilson and Funk are also chipping in 12.2 and 10.4 points per outing, respectively. Wilson is 10th in the Patriot League and first on the team with 5.8 rebounds per contest. Fox's 3-point field goal percentage of 39.5 and his 2.5 treys per game has him third in the conference in both categories. Lastly, Funk is dishing out a league-best 5.6 assists per outing, which places him 38th in the nation.Â
Loyola is also riding a losing skid with its streak totaling the last five games. The Greyhounds have not won since a 72-69 victory over American on Feb. 7. Loyola is 7-6 on its home court of Reitz Arena. In their most recent outing at Navy on Saturday, the Greyhounds dropped a 62-56 decision to close out their Patriot League regular season record at 6-12.Â
Rookie Brent Holcombe led all scorers in that game with 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting. KaVaughn Scott and Cam Gregory pulled down a game-high seven rebounds, while Isaiah Hart handed out a game-best four assists. Five are averaging double-figure scoring in Andre Walker (15.6 ppg), Chuck Champion (11.5 ppg), Gregory (11.2 ppg), Andrew Kostecka (10.6 ppg) and Hart (10.3).
These two teams split their regular season meetings with each squad winning on their home court. During their last outing on Jan. 27 in Baltimore, the Greyhounds shot over 50 percent from the floor and behind-the-arc to register the 79-68 victory.
HOW TO FOLLOW
ONLINE • Patriot League Network
RADIO • Army West Point Sports Network
        WBNR (1260 AM, Beacon, N.Y.)
               WLNA (1420 AM, Peekskill, N.Y.)
AUDIO • Knight Vision
LIVE STATISTICS • www.LoyolaGreyhounds.com
TICKETS • www.LoyolaGreyhounds.com
TWITTER • @ArmyWP_MBB
GAME NOTES • Army | Loyola
ARMY IN THE POSTSEASON
The Black Knights are in unchartered waters, earning the No. 9 seed in the Patriot League tournament for the first time in program history. Additionally, Army has never faced Loyola in the postseason.Â
Some other notable notes are:
- All-Time PLT Record: 9-27
- All-Time PLT Road Record: 3-18
- Last win at No. 4 Bucknell, 72-71 (2013-14 as No. 5)
- All-Time PLT Record as Underdog: 5-27
- All-Time Record vs. Loyola: 6-5 (1-1 this season)
- All-Time Record at Loyola: 3-3, last win Jan. 9, 2016 (73-59)
- Last First Round Appearance: 2016-17 (current format; 2x before)
- Last Quarterfinal Appearance: 2016-17 (26 total)
- Last Semifinal Appearance: 2015-16 (8 total)
- Last Championship Appearance: N/A
STARTING FIVE
The Black Knights started the same five players for the first 25 games before rookie Babacar Thiombane filled in for Matt Wilson against Holy Cross on Feb. 14. Of that group, four are sporting a field goal percentage of at least .420 with the quintet accounting for 67.1 percent of the team's offensive production. Three are averaging double-digit points, led by Jordan Fox at 13.5 points per game. Matt Wilson has added 12.2 per contest, along with Tommy Funk's 10.4 points per game.Â
    Wilson's .597 field goal percentage ranks fourth in the Patriot League. Three have averaged 4.0 or more rebounds per contest as well. Jordan Fox is shooting 73-of-185 from long range, with an average of 2.5 per game and a percentage of .395 that puts him third in both categories. Luke Morrison has added 63-of-151 treys, and Funk has contributed 31-of-82 makes from behind-the-arc.Â
SWEEPING THE NATION
The Black Knights are among the nation's best in several statistical categories, both as a team and individually. Army currently sits tied for 32nd in total 3-point field goals per game with 9.7, while its 282 makes from behind-the-arc are tied for the 33rd-most. Additionally, the team's 38.3 percent success rate from deep is the 45th-best in the country.
    That success from long range comes from sharing the ball, evident by the Black Knights being tied for 27th in the nation with 16.6 assists per game and 35th nationally in total helpers with 481. Sophomore Tommy Funk has paced the team in that category. The Warrington, Pa., native has dished out 163 helpers on the year at an average of 5.6 per contest, ranking tied for 36th and 37th, respectively.Â
    Funk's classmate, Matt Wilson, is among the most efficient scorers in the nation, converting on 59.7 percent of the shots he takes as the Alexandria, Ky., native sports the 22nd-best field goal percentage nationwide.Â
ABOUT THE GREYHOUNDS
Of Loyola's eight wins on the season, seven have come at home with five of those being against conference opponents. The Greyhounds sputtered down the stretch, dropping their final five matchups of the regular season.Â
    Five players are averaging double-digit points for Loyola throughout the year: Andrew Walker (15.6 ppg), Chuck Champion (11.5 ppg), Cam Gregory (11.2 ppg), Andrew Kostecka (10.6 ppg) and Isaiah Hart (10.3 ppg). Gregory has pulled down a team-best 8.3 rebounds per game, while Hart (88 assists) and Walker (73 assists) are the team's primary ball distributors.Â
A WIN OVER LOYOLA WOULD…
Keep Army's season alive and advance it to the quarterfinals on Thursday at Bucknell. The win would be the program's first, both as a No. 9 seed and first against Loyola in the postseason. Additionally, a win would be the Black Knights' first road win in the postseason since knocking off No. 4 Bucknell, 72-71, on March 5, 2014 as the No. 5 seed.
BRINGIN' DA FUNK
Sophomore guard Tommy Funk has led the Black Knights in helpers since joining the team last season. He recently broke the program's single-season assist record, previously held by Ron Wilson's 162 helpers in the 1988-89 season, with two in the regular season finale against Boston U. on Saturday. The Warrington, Pa., native has 163 helpers on the year and is the only Cadet in program history with multiple 150-assist seasons. He has 318 assists to his career tally, the eighth most in program history.Â
    Funk is averaging 5.2 assists per game, while adding 9.7 points per contest. Lastly, he contributed a career-best 24 points at Colgate on Feb. 21 and has reached double-digit points in each of the last three games.Â
A SHOOTER'S TOUCH
The Black Knights are one of the most dangerous teams in the Patriot League from behind-the-arc, ranking second in the league in 3-pointer field goals made (282), treys per game (9.7) and field goal percentage from behind-the-arc (38.3 percent). Army has hit at least 10 triples in 14 of its games, sporting a record of 9-5 during that time. The Cadets are 4-8 when the opposition makes 10 or more shots from downtown and are 4-3 when both teams hit double-digit treys.Â
    Additionally, Army is 8-6 when making more 3-pointers than the opponent, 4-6 when allowing more 3's and 1-4 when both teams make the same number of shots from deep.Â
WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY?
Junior guard Jordan Fox has been Army's top offensive threat this season, averaging a team-high 13.5 points-per-game. The Jackson County, Ky., native has reached double digits in 21 of the team's 29 games this season and 43 over the last 61 games since the start of his sophomore year. Of those 43 games, he has eclipsed the 20-point plateau 10 times and set a career-high with 33 at Marist earlier this year on 11-of-16 shooting from the floor. He tied the program's single-game record against the Red Foxes with nine makes from behind-the-arc.Â
THE 6TH MANÂ
The Black Knights' bench has contributed heavily throughout the 2017-18 season. Army's reserves average 25.1 points per game, a rate that exceeds its opposition by 4.7 points per contest. That scoring effort has been led by rookies Alex King and Tucker Blackwell. King's 9.2 points per game ranks fourth among all Cadets, while Blackwell is sixth with 6.2 points per matchup. Both are effective shooters for Army, as King is shooting at a clip of 44.5 percent (94-of-211) from the floor and a team-best 44.8 percent (39-of-87) from behind-the-arc. Blackwell scores on 40.1 percent (59-of-147) of his attempts overall and from long range (33-of-81).Â
NEXT UP
With a win, the Black Knights season will continue their season with a quarterfinal matchup at the Patriot League regular season champion, Bucknell. The game is slated for Thursday at 7 p.m.Â
