It has been 13 years since the Loyola men’s basketball team has gone dancing in March.

Now, the team is clinging to first place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference while having its best season since it went to the NCAA Tournament in 1994.

Head coach Jimmy Patsos, who was an assistant for the University of Maryland men’s basketball national championship team in 2002, is stressing the importance of the next few weeks.

“February is what matters,” Patsos said.

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The third-year head coach is so serious about expressing the month’s significance that he has a special message printed on top of Loyola’s practice itinerary sheet that reads: “February is a great month for college basketball. We have not accomplished anything.”

Saturday’s 71-66 loss at Marist should be enough to keep the Greyhounds (13-9 overall, 9-3 MAAC) humble.

“We have to get some guys healthy and this is the month and what we do now will determine our seed and where we play,” Patsos said about the MAAC tournament.

The Greyhounds continue their road trip at Fairfield (9-15, 7-5) tonight. Even though Loyola is beyond the midway point of the conference schedule, it will be the first time this year the two teams have met.

Like all MAAC games, a win will be tough, especially with Fairfield riding a six-game winning streak.

“I do not know much about Fairfield,” said Loyola junior forward Omari Isreal. “We play them real close together and I know they are a good team. They played Rider really close.”

Much of the Stags’ success centers around the back court. Senior guard Michael Van Schaick is leading the team in scoring with 14.5 points a game and sophomore Jonathan Han has 4.5 assists a game.

Loyola’s top scorer, Gerald Brown, knows that he and the Greyhounds have become a target in the MAAC this season.

“We are number one in the conference. We are going to get everybody’s best game. We have to expect that and prepare mentally for it,” Brown said.

Being on the road lends Loyola the advantage of focusing on the task at hand and they have accomplished that this year with a 5-1 record on the road in the MAAC.

“We love being on the road,” Isreal said. “There are less distractions and it is the atmosphere. You just want to get the win because nobody wants to ride back to Baltimore with a loss on your mind”