Jan. 11, 2004
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BRIEFLY
After an eight-day rest heading into the West Coast Conference opener against No. 16 Gonzaga, the Lions will now continue a stretch of four WCC games in eight days when they take on Portland at Gersten Pavilion on Monday, Jan.12. The Lions (8-5/0-1) are coming off a 74-60 set-back to the Zags while the Pilots (6-8/0-1) fell 97-88 to Pepperdine Saturday.
SCHEDULE CHANGE
The Lions game against Portland at Gersten Pavilion was originially scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 8 but had to be rescheduled for Monday, Jan. 12 at 7:05 p.m. The change was due to a major winter storm that shutdown Portland for most of the week. Tickets for Jan. 8 are good for the game on the 12th. The result of the change is a marathon for the Lions, as they will play four conference games in eight days - Saturday against No. 16 Gonzaga; Monday against Portland; Thursday at San Diego and Saturday (Jan. 17) at Santa Clara. The Lions have already played a four-game in eight days stretch in non-conference play, going 3-1 in that stretch. They defeated SUNY-Binghamton on Nov. 29, CCSU on Nov. 30, Cal Poly on Dec. 3 and then fell to UNLV on Dec. 6 at the end of the stretch.
LMU vs. PORTLAND
With the start of conference play comes some of the more storied match-ups in LMU's history. The all-time series against Portland is one of the younger ones compared to other WCC opponents as the two teams will meet for the 66th time on Jan. 8. LMU holds a 37-28 edge in the series, going 21-8 when played at LMU. In the three previous seasons under Head Coach Steve Aggers, the Lions are 5-2 against the Pilots, last winning in the WCC Tournament on March 7, 2003, 65-63. Sherman Gay and Charles Brown each had 13 points to lead LMU to the win. The first ever meeting in the series came in 1954 as the Lions won 89-57 at home. The two teams have gone to overtime five times.
MAKING THEM COUNT
Thanks to a 78-54 win over Colgate on Jan. 2, the Lions improved to 8-4 on the season in non-conference play, the best start since the 1995-96 season when they entered conference play 9-3. The eight non-conference wins against NCAA Division I opponents is the most heading into conference play since the 1989-90 season when the Lions went to the Elite Eight. LMU will play one more non-conference tilt four games into conference when they face Northern Colorado on Tuesday, Jan. 20 at home.
UNDER 60
In Aggers' first season in 2000-01 the Lions held Loyola of Chicago to 53 points in a 10-point win on Dec. 21, 2000. They equaled that low in the first win of the 2003-04 season against UC Riverside. That first season saw the Lions hold opponents under 60 points five times, equaling the most by an LMU team in the last 30 years. Surprisingly, the other team to do it was coached by Paul Westhead, which came in his first season in 1985-86. With the win over Colgate, the Lions have now held opponents to under 60 points four times 2003-04 (53 - UCR, 54-Colgate, 56 - SUNY, 57 - CCSU). Under Aggers, the Lions are 11-1 in games holding opponents under 60 points.
HEATING UP
Junior Charles Brown and senior Keith Kincade have started the 2003-04 season on a scoring note. As the team MVP in 2002-03, Brown has been showing flashes of that season as of late. He had possibly the best game of his career against Cal State Fullerton, scoring a career-best 25 points with eight assists, no turnovers and five steals to push the Lions to the win. He followed that game with 14 points, six assists and just two turnovers in the win over Colgate. The effort earned the junior his second WCC Player of the Week honor of his career. Brown is second on the team in scoring (11.6 ppg) while also leading the team in assists (52) and steals (24). He went for 11 points, five assists and two steals against Gonzaga. He entered the week 17th in the WCC in scoring, 6th in assists and second in steals. In his final season, Kincade has shown the result of hard work over the summer on his shooting touch. He is third on the team with 11.4 points per game (21st in WCC) and leads the team with 16 three-pointers. He is also 28-for-37 from the free throw line (4th in WCC). In addition, Kincade has added a pair of 20-point games this season (21 vs. CSUN; 22 vs. SUNY). He has also picked up his rebounding in the last month, leading the team in three of the last five games (including 11 against Denver). He is averaging 4.3 per game, leading the team with seven against the Bulldogs and adding 17 points on three three-pointers.
GETTING DEFENSIVE
The Lions have posted their best non-conference record in eight seasons thanks in large part to its defense. LMU (entering the week) is among the conference leaders in most every defensive category this season, showing why in the win over Colgate holding them to a season low 31 percent shooting and 54 points. The Lions have held opponents to 39.8 percent (3rd in WCC) from the field and just 26.4 percent from the three-point line (1st). They are allowing just 66.7 points per game (4th), forcing 16.8 turnovers (1st), while earning 6.9 steals (3rd) and 4.17 blocks per game (t-1st). They have held nine of their 13 opponents under 42 percent shooting for the game and four under 40 percent (SUNY - 39.2; CCSU - 32.8; UCLA - 31.7; Colgate - 31.0). They have kept four teams 20 percent or below from the three-point (UCR - 15.4; CP - 15.4; UCLA - 15.0; Colgate - 20.0). They had 11 blocks in the win over SUNY-Binghamton and had more than 10 steals three times (CSUN - 14; CCSU - 13; Denver - 11). Finally, they have forced three teams into 20 or more turnovers in games this season (CSUN - 22; UCLA - 21; SUNY - 20). Charles Brown ranks second in the WCC in steals with 22 (1.83 per game) and Damian Martin eighth with 17 (1.42 per game).
CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Senior Sherman Gay has been making them count in his fourth and final season at LMU. The native of Carson, Calif., enters the opening week of conference play fourth in the WCC in scoring with 15.9 per game, scoring 18 against the Zags on Saturday. Gay is also among the conference leaders from the field, shooting 53.2 percent, ranking him second in the WCC. Showing the improvement in his all-around game, Gay, a 42 percent career free throw shooter entering this season, is ranked 15th in the WCC with a free throw percentage of 69.6. He is 12th in rebounds with 5.8 per game, second in the conference this year with 1.61 blocks per game and third in offensive rebounds with 2.4.
IN THE CLUTCH
The first recruit under Head Coach Steve Aggers, Sherman Gay has become the senior leader on the floor for the Lions. This season Gay has made a pair of clutch shots to help his team to its best start in eight seasons. Gay hit the game winner as time expired in the Lions' 58-57 win over Central Connecticut State and he then hit an identical shot as the buzzer sounded to send the game into overtime in the eventual win over Denver. Both shots came on offensive putbacks to lead LMU from behind in both games, including a seven-point deficit with less than three minutes against CCSU and a 12-point margin with eight minutes left against DU. He has scored more than 20 points four times this season, including his career-best 26 against DU and then 21 against Virginia. The week of Dec. 15, Gay averaged 23.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game to earn WCC Player of the Week honors. He averaged 36.5 minutes per game in the two games on the week, shooting 61.3 percent (19-for-31) from the field, hitting 75 percent (9-for-12) from the free throw line, five blocks and two assists. In the win over Denver, Gay went 11-for-14 from the field. He added nine rebounds, an assist and two blocks. He was at it again against Virginia, going 8-for-17 from the field and 5-for-6 from the free throw line to score 21 points. He added seven rebounds and three blocks.
BLOCK PARTY
More from Gay... He had the best season of his career in 2002-03, setting the all-time single season record for blocks with 60. He snapped the record of 55 held by Richard Patruska and Silvester Kainga. With his record-setting season last year, he was able to shatter the all-time career record for blocks. He had three blocks against Virginia to break the blocks record held by Chris Knight with 97. He has 20 on the season to give him 107 in his career. After leading the WCC in blocks a year ago, Gay is second with 1.61 per game while teammate Chris Ayer is third with 1.27 per game.
MORE CAREER STATS
Junior Charles Brown is also making his way up the career stats as his 52 assists this season gives him 251 in his career. He now ranks ninth all-time in LMU history, replacing Tom Peabody (239) and Haywood Eaddy (234). He now trails Floyd Hooper (264) by 13 for eighth all-time. The all-time assist leader is Terrell Lowery with 689.
NO LEAD SAFE
This season the Lions have been a tough team for opponents to put away as LMU has held a lead in the second half or overtime in all but one game this season with the other being tied. In four games this season the Lions have trailed by more than two possessions (at least seven points) in the final nine minutes of a game only to mount a comeback to win or have a chance to win at the buzzer. Against Long Beach State they trailed by as many as 12 and were down 65-56 with 2:35 remaining. LMU would go on a 12-4 run in the next 2:14 to cut the lead to one with a chance at the win. In the double overtime win over Denver, the Lions trailed by 12, 58-46 with 8:58 remaining. They would mount a 15-1 lead over the next five-plus minutes to take a lead and send the game into overtime. At Pauley Pavilion, the Lions trailed UCLA by 12, 55-43 with 3:13 remaining. This time it was a 17-5 run in the final three minutes that saw the Lions tie the game at 60-60 and send it to overtime. The run would continue to 21-5 as they would take a 64-60 lead in overtime. In the win over CCSU the Lions trailed by nine with 6:23 remaining and by seven with 3:01 remaining before going on a 9-1 run over the next 2:31 to claim a 58-57 win.
GIVE ME 20
For the first time in the four years under Head Coach Steve Aggers, the Lions had two players score 20 or more points in a single game in the win over Denver. Senior Sherman Gay set a career-high with 26 points and junior Charles Brown had a then season-high with 21. Players have scored 20 or more points eight times in the Lions' 12 games this season, the most in any one season since the 1998-99 campaign. In addition, the Lions have had two players post back-to-back 20-point games for the first time in five seasons. Gay, the native of Carson, Calif., has done it twice, scoring 24 points in the win over Cal Poly and then followed that with 21 points against UNLV. He then had 26 against DU and then 21 against Virginia. Fellow senior Keith Kincade also posted back-to-back 20-point games with 21 against Cal State Northridge and 22 against SUNY-Binghamton.
DEBUT
Freshmen Damian Martin and Matthew Knight and redshirt freshmen Antti Kasko and John Montgomery made their collegiate debuts in 2003-04 season and all have played an important role in the Lions' best start in eight seasons. Martin started his career with 23 minutes against UC Riverside and earned his first start in the win over Cal Poly. In 13 games he has averaged 5.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.39 steals. He is ranked eighth in the WCC in steals and 13th in assists while setting a career-high with 13 points against UCLA. Kasko made his first appearance against Northridge and was solid in 15 minutes of play. He is averaging 7.0 minutes per game and had a career-best six points against Cal State Fullerton. Montgomery gave the Lions a huge lift off the bench in the wins over Binghamton and CCSU, earning an assist and a defensive rebound against the Bearcats and hitting a crucial three-pointer with an assist, a steal and a rebound over CCSU. Knight waited seven games to get his career started as he was finally cleared to play after bone spur surgery over the summer. Knight made his debut against UCLA, gathering three rebounds in six minutes of play. He scored his first points against Long Beach State, finishing with four.
INJURY UPDATE
The Lions have been without sophomore Brandon Worthy for the entire first half of the season due to a broken right hand suffered in the final exhibition game. He will apply for a medical redshirt and sit out the remainder of the season. Sophomore Wes Wardrop has a strained left foot missed the game against Fullerton and Colgate. His status is day-to-day. Sophomore John Haywood suffered a broken bone in his left hand and will be out at least six to eight weeks.
- GO LIONS -
