Loyola Wolf Pack basketball teams thriving, heading back to national tournament

Athletics continue to thrive at Loyola University of New Orleans in the spring.

The Wolf Pack baseball team is 14-3 under Jeremy Kennedy after starting 10-0.

Then, there are the Loyola basketball teams.

The women of Kellie Kennedy are ranked 17th in the nation and are back in the national championship tournament.

Loyola (24-4) captured its seventh Southern States Athletic Conference tournament championship this past weekend, beating Mobile 71-63 in the title game at Montgomery, Alabama.

Sandra Cannady was terrific, scoring 30 points with eight rebounds and was named the Most Outstanding Player in the event and is the back-to-back SSAC Player of the Year. Taylor Thomas was also named to the All-Tournament team.

Cannady, the SSAC Player of the Year, leads the Wolf Pack at 16.7 points and 9.3 rebounds per contest. Thomas averages 14.6 points and 4.5 assists per game.

It was the second time Loyola won both the SSAC regular season and tournament titles, having accomplished that previously in the 2021-22 season.

It was the third conference title in four seasons for the Wolf Pack.

As a result, Loyola moves on to the NAIA national tournament once again.

Kennedy has done a tremendous job in 16 seasons at Loyola, leading the Wolf Pack to 13 postseason tournament appearances.

She will guide Loyola to the NAIA national tournament for a tenth straight season.

Speaking on All Access on The Ticket, 106.1 FM Monday night, Kennedy said winning conference titles never gets old.

“Absolutely not,” Kennedy said. “It’s as fun this time as it was the first time, especially when you like your team a lot. I have a great group that I’m incredibly proud of. Getting there and putting yourself in a position to win it is not easy. It is a lot harder playing from the front. We get everyone’s best shot. You have to be really good to handle that.”

More importantly, the Wolf Pack will host first and second round games in the tournament March 15-16 at The Den on campus. The three other teams heading to New Orleans in the 64-team national tournament will be announced Thursday. Loyola is 12-1 at home this season.

Canady and Taylor clearly drive the force that is the Wolf Pack.

“Sandra is close to averaging a double-double every night,” Kennedy said. “She is the conference player of the year and was the conference player of the week five times. She does everything for us. She scores, she rebounds, she defends. She’s tenacious. Taylor is our point guard and as gritty as confident as they come. Whatever we need, she does.”

The experience of having been to the national tournament so many times and of hosting first and second round games a year ago should benefit the Wolf Pack.

“I think it matters a lot,” Kennedy said. “We know what to expect. They are familiar with the environment. I think that plays a big part in it. I’m excited to be playing at home with two fifth-year seniors leading our pack. We’ve played some of the best teams in the nation in the past and know what they look like.”

The Wolf Pack women remain inspired by and motivated by the national championship men’s team of 2022.

“It does motivate us,” Kennedy said. “My best kids were around that team. They know those guys and are friends and saw what it took. We have relayed things to them from that team from time to time and what it took to get there. We’ll see what happens.”

The Loyola men made it clean sweep in Montgomery, downing Tennessee Southern 51-48 in the championship game, finishing off an improbable run to the tournament championship.

The underdog Wolf Pack won four games in four days, the first-ever team in Southern States Athletic Conference history to accomplish that difficult feat.

The tournament championship is the third straight for Loyola and the fourth in six seasons.

Milan Mejia led the way with 16 points.

Zachary Lee was named the tournament Most Valuable Player. Lee scored in double figures in all four tournament games and had a pair of double-doubles.

Braelee Albert was also named to the All-Tournament team.

Mejia is the leading scorer on the season, averaging 13.5 points per game while Hammond averages 13.5 points per contest.

Two years removed from winning a national championship, it was a very challenging season for the Wolf Pack (14-17), who struggled much of the way.

Consider that Loyola was once 7-17 and going nowhere.

Now, the Wolf Pack are going somewhere after seven straight wins, to be decided this Thursday when the NAIA National Tournament field is announced.

It is a team playing its best at the right time. A young team, with just three seniors, has come to age. The future is bright but is also here, having arrived with the tournament title.

Donald Reyes has done an excellent job since taking over following the national championship season in 2021-22 under Stacy Hollowell.

Reyes has followed in the footsteps of excellent coaches to run the Loyola program, including Jerry Hernandez, Mike Giorlando and Hollowell.

The former John Ehret Patriot and former Tulane assistant has put his stamp on the program, leading a remarkable in-season turn-around.

Speaking on The Ticket, 106.1 FM Monday night on All Access Sports Talk, Reyes talked about the way his team changed its fortunes this season.

“That lull in the season where we dropped six straight, if you look at it, the amount of points that we lost by in total was like 19,” Reyes said. “That last one at home really lit a fire under the guys. I think it kind of flipped the light switch on with some of these guys. We got hot at the end of the year. I think they feel like the sky’s the limit and they’re almost invincible.”

It has truly been a team effort for the Wolf Pack.

“We challenge our young men on and off the floor every day,” Reyes said. “At one point or another in all four games in the conference tournament, someone different stepped up. Lee is a redshirt freshman who took a major step up late in the season. Albert was excellent. Mejia is a veteran guy who had a tremendous tournament. Hammond was outstanding as well.”

Two years removed from winning a national championship, the Wolf Pack understand that it can happen at Loyola, even with a long-shot team without a winning record.

“We’ve got new life,” Reyes said. “These next six, that’s the goal. We’ve got a lot of young guys. The guys are hitting their stride when we need it the most. We know what the standard is at Loyola. You’re either the hunter or the hunted. We love being on this side of it. We’re young, we’re talented, we’re excited. We’re going to be fearless. There’s nothing to lose. We’re looking to shock the world.”

To see Loyola in such good shape in athletics is a pleasure and it is a welcome sight on a personal level to see the alma mater of my late father, my son and myself faring so well after being in the wilderness for two decades between the shutdown in 1972 and the resumption of intercollegiate athletics in 1991.

My father and son enjoyed athletics during their time at Loyola. I was not as fortunate.

Now, we are fortunate to witness the success at an excellent institution.

Listen to coaches Reyes and Kennedy from their interviews ahead of NAIA Tournament play on The Ticket 106.1 FM: