Davidsonville Native Trades In Lacrosse Stick For Basketball

DAVIDSONVILLE, MD — Former Loyola University lacrosse standout Pat Spencer of Davidsonville will be playing Division 1 basketball at Northwestern as a graduate student. The 6'3 Tewaaraton Award winner is considered to be "one of the best college lacrosse players of all time" but will be be playing basketball for the first time since high school.

The latest stats Spencer has for basketball dates back to his senior year of high school, which was shared by Northwestern in a student-athlete profile. Spencer averaged 14.3 points per game, 8.1 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 2.3 steals.

According to the Northwestern University article, some are concerned about Spencer not having played competitive basketball since high school, while others see him as bring a "fresh hustle and passion to the program."

"Spencer is perhaps the biggest unknown on this Northwestern squad; in fact, Chris Collins described adding him to the team as a 'leap of faith.' Collins could slot him in at the point guard role, where his mobility and natural tendency to pass first could jumpstart an offense in need of scorers," the article stated. "It seems more likely, given the scrimmage and the coaches’ preseason comments, that he will actually play more of an off-guard role, providing hustle and solid on-ball defense on one side of the court while adding court vision, unselfishness and maybe even a bit of shooting on the other. However, the unknowns in how Spencer will adjust to D-1, and especially Power Five, basketball will linger throughout the season."