Box Score The Loyola Wolf Pack men's basketball team capped off an incredible season with a school's first NAIA National Championship since 1945
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Seventy-seven years ago, inside the same building, the Loyola University New Orleans won its first-ever NAIA National Championship. On Tuesday night inside Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, the Loyola Wolf Pack ended that drought with the school's second-ever NAIA National Championship since the 1944-45 season.
In the end, top-seeded Loyola beat No. 2-seed Talladega, 71-56. It was the fourth meeting between the Southern States Athletic Conference rivals, too, and Loyola won all four matchups.
The Wolf Pack turned in a 37-1 overall record this season, they won the Southern States Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament titles, and they ran through the NAIA tournament with six wins to cap off a dominant season.
Despite the impressive overall record, the team didn't have an easy go of it during the season. It all started when Hurricane Ida ripped off a section of the University Sports Complex's roof and damaged the team's home court. The team spent the preseason practicing in Dallas before playing all of its early-season home games at Tulane's Devlin Fieldhouse until a temporary floor was put in place to accommodate the rest of the regular season. On top of that, the program dealt with COVID-19 postponements, a tornado scare while on the road at Stillman College and food poisoning-like symptoms while in Kansas City.
None of that could stop the Pack.
After both teams shook off some early nerves, Terry Smith Jr. scored the team's first five points with a free throw and two made shots. One minute later, Brandon Davis hit a 3-pointer to put the Pack up 8-4. Andrew Fava grabbed his own miss and hit a 3 a couple of possessions later, and that helped bring the score to 11-9 by the first media timeout at the 13:54 mark.
After Talladega tied the game, 13-13, Myles Burns banked in a 3-pointer to give Loyola three early 3s in the game, 16-13. Jalen Galloway and Cameron Dumas came off the bench and made buckets after that, as Dumas' hit a 3-pointer that was reviewed and confirmed by the officials. That made the score 23-16, Wolf Pack, near the nine-and-a-half-minute part of the first half, then after Dega made it 23-7, Loyola forced the Tornadoes into a six-minute scoring drought. Offensively, Loyola scored the next 11 points to make it a 34-17 game with three-plus minutes to play in the first half. During that span, Talladega shot 0-for-12 from the floor while Wrightsil scored three times, including a dunk, and Davis made another 3.
It wasn't the best finish of the first half for Loyola, but it still went into the locker room with a 36-21 lead.
Burns made his presence known on defense immediately to start the second half, blocking a shot and grabbing his 10th rebound of the game, then Smith finished nicely at the rim to make it a 38-21 Loyola lead. Smith tipped in a Loyola miss moments later, and another score by Smith prompted a Talladega timeout less than four minutes into the half, 44-25.
The Tornadoes wouldn't go down easy, though. They used an 11-0 run in three-plus minutes to cut the Loyola lead down to 44-36 with 13 minutes to play. Wrightsil ended that scoring drought with two scorers, and the latter came after a Davis steal to push the lead back out to 12, 48-36. Dega kept hitting its 3s, however, using two sandwiched around a Loyola score and another a couple of minutes later to make it a five-point Pack lead, 50-45, with 8:13 to play.
A quick 7-0 run that took less than two minutes helped stall Talladega's momentum, as Burns tipped in a missed Loyola shot, Davis hit a 3-pointer from the corner and Wrightsil grabbed a steal and finished with a dunk on the other end of the floor. That made the Wolf Pack's lead 57-45 with six-plus minutes left in the game, and a 3-pointer by Burns on the next Loyola possession extended the score to 60-47 at the six-minute mark.
From there, Talladega never could cut the deficit to less than 11, and by the 2:00-mark with Loyola leading by 17, everyone in the gym knew which team would be crowned champion.
Pack Facts
Loyola outscored its opponents by an average of 20 points in the tournament.
The All-Tournament Team featured three different Wolf Pack players: Myles Burns, Zach Wrightsil, and Jalen Galloway.
Burns received the Chuck Taylor MVP Award after recording four double-doubles in the tournament. Burns finished the season as the NAIA's leader in offensive rebounds (151) and steals (152).
The Houston native adds the national tournament MVP award to a list of accolades this season that includes SSAC Championship Tournament MVP, SSAC Player of the Week, First-Team All-SSAC, and SSAC Defensive Player of the Year.
Zach Wrightsil was named the NAIA National Player of the Year after averaging 18.7 points on 62 percent shooting, 8.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 2.1 steals per game. He was named SSAC Player of the Week six times this season, also earning SSAC Player of the Year and First-Team All-Conference honors.
Stacy Hollowell was named the NAIA National Coach of the Year after leading his team to a 37-1 overall record and just the second national championship in school history.
In addition to their awards, Wrightsil and Burns set records on Tuesday. Wrightsil now owns the program record for most points (709) and rebounds (334) in a single season in program history. Burns was right behind Wrightsil on the rebounding record, finishing the season with 329 boards for second-place all time.
After this season, Wrightsil will be Loyola's all-time leader in points, rebounds, and assists while being second in steals and fifth in blocks.
Burns is Loyola's all-time steals leader with 358 career takeaways, a record that will be tough to beat. He'll also be second all-time in points and rebounds, seventh in assists, and fourth in blocks. The top three single-season Loyola steals records also belong to Burns. His 152 steals this season are the third-most in a season in NAIA history.
Four different Wolf Pack players scored in double figures on Tuesday, including Terry Smith Jr., who went 5-of-7 for 11 points
Smith will finish his Wolf Pack career with the sixth-most points and third-most rebounds in program history.
Three players on this year's team (Smith, Burns, and Wrightsil) have totaled at least 1,600 points and 1,000 rebounds in their careers at Loyola.
Andrew Fava will finish his career as ninth in career three-pointers with 181. This season, he made 91 triples, which is the third-most in a season in program history.
NAIA National Championship
Round of 16:
Thursday, March 17
#1 Loyola 85, #4 Faulkner 67
#3 College of Idaho 71, #7 Grace 66
#1 Arizona Christian 82, #5 Bethel 66
#3 William Jessup 88, #2 Indiana Wesleyan 84
Friday, March 18
#1 Oklahoma Wesleyan 85, #5 LSU Shreveport 71
#2 Thomas More 74, #6 SAGU 44
#2 Talladega 67, #6 Jamestown 56
#5 Concordia 75, #8 IU Kokomo 65
Quarterfinals:
Saturday, March 19
#1 Loyola 60, #3 College of Idaho 53
#1 Arizona Christian 90, #3 William Jessup 79
#2 Thomas More 59, #1 Oklahoma Wesleyan 56
#2 Talladega 77, #5 Concordia 69
Semifinals:
Monday, March 21
#1 Loyola 82, #1 Arizona Christian 70
#2 Talladega 78, #2 Thomas More 77
Finals:
Tuesday, March 22
#1 Loyola 71, #2 Talladega 56
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