BALTIMORE, Md. — Evan Wieck is the Naval Academy’s 'Mr. Perfect'.
“When you don’t miss a shot and you don’t miss a free throw that’s a pretty good night,” said Navy Head Coach Ed DeChellis.
“Whenever Evan has it going he’s probably one of the best big men in the Patriot League, no doubt,” said Navy guard Cam Davis.
“I’m supposed to make one-foot shots and that’s what I did,” said Wieck.
He did that flawlessly.
In Wednesday’s 81-66 win over Holy Cross, Wieck didn’t miss a shot all night. He was a perfect 10-10 from the field and 4-4 from the foul line for a career-best 24 points. The senior center is the third player in Navy history to make at least 10 field goal attempts without a miss in a single game. The last was David Robinson in 1985.
“It’s definitely an honor but I’ve never been the type of guy to get caught up with stats or anything like that,” said Wieck. “As long as we get the win, I’m happy.”
They have a few of those this season. Navy is 12-8 overall and 6-3 in the Patriot League. Their dozen victories equals their win total from all of last season. Saturday brings their first match-up with Loyola.
“They can score the basketball. They are very athletic. They are very fast. They have guys that can shoot,” said DeChellis.
The Mids have won four of their last five games and are a game back of Colgate for first place in the conference.
Things haven’t been going as well at Reitz Arena this season. The Greyhounds are 9-13 overall. An eight-game losing streak has them a last place 1-8 in the Patriot League.
“The injury bug hit us early January and we’ve been fighting back trying to recover from it,” said Loyola Head Coach Tavaras Hardy.
Inuries have devastated Loyola. They have suffered a total of 75 man games lost to injury. 45 of those have come since January 5. They have yet to put their preseason projected starting lineup on the floor.
“It’s not something that we harp on. It’s not something that we pout about. It’s part of college basketball. So, we’re going to continue to try to figure it out,” added Hardy.
Senior guard Andrew Kostecka leads the Hounds averaging 21.1 points per game. They’ll most likely need that and more from him against Navy.
“[It’s] a huge game for us,” said Kostecka. “We’re starting to hopefully get back in the swing of things. Start off, hopefully, this month with a ‘W’ and keep it rolling.”
Tip time Saturday at Reitz Arena is set for 5:00 p.m.
Follow Shawn Stepner on Twitter @StepnerWMAR and Facebook
