Last season, Tyler Hubbard was a role player who averaged 6.2 points for Loyola Maryland.
This winter, the Greyhounds (7-10 overall and 3-3 in the Patriot League) have benefited as Hubbard has evolved into the program's top scorer. The 6-foot-2, 179-pound junior shooting guard leads the team in points per game (12.3) and 3-pointers made (43) and ranks second in 3-point field-goal percentage (40.6) and free-throw percentage (82.1).
Those numbers are remarkable considering that Hubbard shot 36.4 percent from 3-point range and 69.4 percent from the foul line last year. But Loyola coach G.G. Smith said Hubbard's emergence shouldn't be surprising.
"I anticipated that from him because he's been around," he said Monday. "People forget that he was on that team when we won the [Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference] championship [in 2012] as a redshirt freshman. He was a big part of our success. He was the best guard on the scout team and really helped us that year. So he's been around, and he has great fire.
"He's a tough, tough kid. … He can really shoot the lights out. Everybody knows him in our league, everybody knows that he's a great shooter, and teams try to take that away. But we've been fortunate enough to really get him open."
Smith also believes that Hubbard's improvement can be traced to the development of his teammates.
"The other guys are better," Smith said. "I think we've got some guys around him that are better overall from last year. You really can't hone in on him. [Freshman forward] Cam Gregory has been pretty good. [Junior shooting guard] Eric Laster is starting to figure it out. When [freshman guard] Andre Walker is in the game, he's impossible to stop from going to the rim.
"So if you help a little bit on those guys, Tyler is going to be open. So having a better supporting cast around him has been really good for Tyler where teams can't really focus on him. If you focus on him, other guys can beat you."
Hubbard has been especially good against Patriot League competition. In six conference games, he has averaged 13.5 points (double figures five times) and 2.8 rebounds. Smith said Hubbard, 22, is using his experience.
"He's older," Smith said. "He's just smarter. He's one of those veteran guys starting to get the open looks. There are a lot of young kids in our league. So he's just using his age to gain an advantage in some of these games."