Second Men’s Basketball Team Linked to Investigation for Unusual Wagering Activity
A second mid-Atlantic men’s basketball program is in the crosshairs of a gambling investigation. The Maryland Lottery & Gaming Control Agency confirms to Sports Illustrated on Friday that the Loyola (Md.) Greyhounds are subjects of an inquiry into unusual wagering activity.
“We are aware of the investigation, and based on the scope of this investigation the Agency’s role is limited to providing licensee contact information,” agency spokesman Seth Elkin writes in an email to SI.
Loyola’s season ended Tuesday with a loss to the Navy Midshipmen in the Patriot League tournament. The Greyhounds finished the season 7–25, recording their worst winning percentage since going 1–27 in 2004. On Friday, the school announced that sixth-year head coach Tavaras Hardy is stepping down.
“Loyola was made aware of an individual’s gambling violation that was promptly reported to the NCAA. The individual was immediately removed from the program, and the NCAA accepted the self-report and took no further action. The conference office investigated to ensure the integrity of League contests by reaching out to U.S. Integrity, the conference’s monitoring partner. U.S. Integrity analyzed contests and no anomalies were discovered. The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency provided contact information on operators licensed in the state, and those operators confirmed all previously known information,” the school says in a statement to SI.
On Thursday night, SI reported that gambling watchdog company U.S. Integrity sent out an alert to casinos regarding unusual wagering activity on the UAB Blazers–Temple Owls men’s basketball game.
“We are aware [U.S. Integrity] flagged it,” AAC men’s basketball director of communications Tom Fenstermaker told SI.
Per customary protocol, U.S. Integrity will receive reports detailing wagering activity on the game in question within 48 hours from casino partners, then construct an overarching report with its findings. The report is unlikely to be done before next week.
When reached for comment, U.S. Integrity CEO Matt Holt said he cannot comment on ongoing investigations.
The point spread for the UAB-Temple game increased steadily during the day, from UAB being a 1.5-point favorite to the Blazers being favored by eight and ultimately settling at seven before tip-off. That created a ripple in the gambling community, and some casinos removed the game from their wagering menus. UAB routed the Owls 100–72 in Temple’s home gym, the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia.
That was the second straight loss for Temple and the second straight game in which the Owls did not come close to covering the spread. They were favored by 5.5 points Saturday at home against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane and lost by five. Sources tell SI that there has been some scrutiny of the first-half line from the Tulsa–Temple game.
Two men’s college basketball programs have had unusual betting line shifts this season, triggering an investigation.
Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports
Temple opened as a 3.5-point first-half favorite for that game against Tulsa shortly after midnight on March 2, the day of the game. Then Temple moved up to a five-point favorite in minutes before dropping to three before 9 a.m. ET. The line remained at three for the 1 p.m. ET tip-off.
Tulsa opened the game by jumping to a 16–2 lead and had a 32–23 advantage at halftime, covering the first-half spread with ease. The Golden Hurricane won by five.
A source in the gambling space says U.S. Integrity has been monitoring Temple games for a while. The AAC is one of many NCAA conferences that employ U.S. Integrity to monitor gambling activity surrounding its member schools and to serve as an educational arm for teaching athletes and staff about how wagering is tracked. With the proliferation of legalized sports wagering, concerns about impermissible activity around college competitions has increased accordingly.
U.S. Integrity was involved in detecting the Alabama Crimson Tide baseball betting scandal last spring that led to the firing of Crimson Tide baseball coach Brad Bohannon.
