Jan. 22, 2004
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BRIEFLY
It is that time of year for the Loyola Marymount University men's basketball team. The Lions (10-7/1-3) travel to Malibu, Calif., and hope to spoil the Homecoming plans of longtime rival Pepperdine (7-12/2-2) in a key West Coast Conference battle on Saturday, Jan. 24 at 7:35 p.m. This will be the 136th meeting between the two teams and it can be seen live on Fox Sports West 2 and heard on the Lions' Audio Network at KXLU 88.9 FM or LMULions.com.
FAMILIAR FOES
The 135 previous meetings between LMU and Pepperdine is the longest running series in LMU history. The other series that have more than 100 meetings are also with longtime WCC rivals, including San Francisco with 122 meetings, Santa Clara with 119 and Saint Mary's with 114. The longest running series against a non-conference foe is with UC Santa Barbara with 81 meetings, the last coming in 2001 at Gersten Pavilion in which the Lions won 77-70.
COMING UP
Speaking of longtime rivals, the Lions well welcome two of them in WCC action next week. The Lions will open a two-game homestand with the University of San Francisco on Thursday, Jan. 29 and then take on Saint Mary's on Saturday, Jan. 31. Both games will be at Gersten Pavilion and start at 7:05 p.m. They can be heard on the Lions' Audio Network and tickets are available at the LMU ticket office at (310) 338-LION.
UNDER 60
With a 74-56 win over Northern Colorado, the LMU defense has held opponents under 60 points five times this season. That equals the number of times the Lions' did it in Head Coach Steve Aggers' first season in 2000-01. In the last 30 years the only other team to hold five opponents under 60 points was surprisingly the 1985-86 squad coached by Paul Westhead. The Lions started the 2003-04 season holding UC Riverside to 53 points, equaling the low under Aggers' in which they set with 53 against Loyola of Chicago on Dec. 21, 2000. Under Aggers, the Lions are 12-1 in games holding opponents under 60 points.
GETTING DEFENSIVE
The Lions have been getting it done on the defensive end of the floor this season, leading the league in steals with 7.76 per game (132), in blocks with 4.35 per game (74) and in forced turnovers with 17.4 (296) per game. In the WCC, LMU is the only team to have two players ranked in the top five in steals with junior Charles Brown second in the conference with 2.18 steals per game (37) and freshman Damian Martin third with 1.65 per game (28). The same can be said for blocks, as senior Sherman Gay is second with 1.59 per game (27) and sophomore Chris Ayer is third with 1.31 per contest (21). The Lions' defense is coming off another solid night in the win over Northern Colorado, holding the Bears to 37 percent from the field, 25 percent from the three-point line, and forcing 23 turnovers on 13 steals. On the season, the Lions have held opponents to 42 percent (3rd in WCC) from the field and just 29.8 percent from the three-point line (2nd). They have held five opponents under 40 percent shooting and 20 percent or below from the three-point, finished a game with more than 10 steals five times and have forced five teams into 20 or more turnovers in games this season.
SENIOR EFFORT
Sherman Gay, the first recruit under Head Coach Steve Aggers, is having the best season of his four-year career and one of the best senior campaigns in LMU history. Entering this season, Gay averaged five points and three rebounds per game, having his best statistical season a year ago with 9.0 point per game, 4.5 rebounds per game, a school record 60 blocks and 30 steals. This season he has become one of the WCC's premier players. His 17.5 points and 6.1 rebounds per game is the best point/rebound average combination for any senior since Hank Gathers had 29.0 points and 10.8 rebounds per game his senior campaign. Gay's point average is the best for a senior since Terrell Lowery led the WCC with 26.0 points per game, while Gay's rebound average currently equals Elton Mashack's total as a senior in 2000-01. Gay, who leads the team in scoring, is second in rebounding to sophomore Chris Ayer. The last player to lead the team in both scoring and rebounding was Wyking Jones in 1993-94 with 19.7 points and 8.0 rebounds his junior season.
SCORING MACHINE
Senior Sherman Gay has become one of the Lions' biggest scoring threats in at least five seasons. With his 20 points in the win over Northern Colorado, the Carson, Calif., native has tallied 20 or more points in seven games of his senior campaign. He currently sits third in the West Coast Conference with 17.4 points per game and has the highest average of any player for LMU since Wyking Jones averaged 19.7 in the 1993-94 season. Gay has more 20-point games by a single player since Haywood Eaddy had eight in the 1998-99 season. Jones had eight games with 20 or more points in that 1993-94 season and the last player to have more than 10 was Terrell Lowery in his senior season of 1991-92 with 19, which included 12 with more than 30 points. Lowery finished leading the league that season with 26 points per game. It was the last Lion to lead the WCC in scoring.
20 AS A TEAM
Seniors Sherman Gay and Keith Kincade each had back-to-back to 20-point games this season, the first time in five seasons a player has gone consecutive games with more than 20 points. Players have scored 20 or more points 12 times this season, with Gay leading the way with seven, Kincade with three and junior Charles Brown with two. It is the most in a single season for each of the players in their careers. In addition, it is the most 20-point scorers in five seasons as a team. The Lions used to do it with regularity, having a player over 20 in 31 of the 32 games in the Elite Eight season of 1989-90 and every game in the 1988-89 season, with every game but seven with a player over 30.
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 at the break. In six games this season the Lions have trailed by more than a three in the second half of a game only to mount a comeback to win or have a chance to win at the buzzer. Most recently the Lions erased a three-point deficit at the break to defeat San Diego and a 17-point first-half deficit against Portland thanks to a 25-8 run to take the lead against the Pilots in the second half.
EXPERIENCE COUNTS
In addition to the senior leadership by Sherman Gay, senior Keith Kincade and junior Charles Brown have become the leaders of the young Lions squad that features 11 freshman and sophomores on the 15-man roster. Kincade is having his best season of his collegiate career as he sits second on the team in scoring with 12.7 per game (14th in the WCC) and third in rebounds with 4.6. He has become the Lions' outside shooter, leading the team with 23 three-pointers, nearly double his career number heading into this season. He ranks 11th in the WCC with 1.35 3-pointers made per game and 13th in shooting 37.1 percent from long range. The Norwalk, Calif., native is also sixth in the WCC in free throw shooting at 78.9 percent. Brown has continued his success from a year ago, ranking third on the team with 11.2 points per game (19th in the WCC) while leading the squad in assists with 65 (6th in the WCC) and steals with 37 (2nd in WCC). Brown had possibly his 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 to earn WCC Player of the Week for the second time in his career.
WITH THE ASSIST
Junior Charles Brown, voted as the team's MVP in 2002-03 after leading the squad in points, assists and steals, is starting to make his mark on the LMU record books for dishing it out. Brown once again leads the team with 65 assists (3.8 per game), ranked sixth in the WCC. With this season's total, he brings his career mark to 264, ranking him in a tie for eighth all-time at LMU with Floyd Hooper. Corey Gaines is seventh with 271 and Terrell Lowery is the school's all-time assist leader with 689. Brown is the first of a group of talented assist artists under Head Coach Steve Aggers, as sophomore Wes Wardrop finished his freshman season with 78 assists, fourth all-time among freshman in LMU history. Brandon Worthy, another Aggers' recruit, added 71 in his freshman season last year to rank seventh on that list and Brown sits 10th with 62 in his first season. Another freshman is at their heals, as Damian Martin enters the game against Pepperdine with 57 assists, five shy of surpassing Brown for 10th. With Martin joining the top-10, Aggers will have more freshman in the top-10 of assists than any coach in LMU history.
WORK HORSE
Freshmen Damian Martin has been a work horse for the Lions in his first season of collegiate basketball. Martin started his career with 23 minutes against UC Riverside and earned his first start in the win over Cal Poly. He played 39 minutes, including the entire second half, against Portland. In 17 games he is second on the team with 29.2 minutes per gameand averages 5.4 points and 3.5 rebounds per game while earning 57 assists and 28 steals (including a career-best five against USD). He is ranked third in the WCC in steals and 11th in assists while setting a career-high with 13 points against UCLA.
MAKING THEIR DEBUT
In addition to Martin in making an impact on the Lions, freshman Matthew Knight and redshirt freshmen Antti Kasko and John Montgomery have helped the Lions to its best season in six years. Due to injuries Montgomery is averaging nearly 12 minutes a game in conference play and had the best game of his career against Northern Colorado with eight points, four rebounds and three assists in 20 minutes. Knight, who played his first game against UCLA, has started to shake off the rust from a preseason injury. He has played in nine games on the season averaging 7.4 minutes and he to had his best game against the Bears. He finished with 14 points, five rebounds and three blocks in the win. Kasko made his first appearance against Northridge and was solid in 15 minutes of play. He is averaging 6.5 minutes per game and had a career-best six points against Cal State Fullerton.
IN THE CLUTCH
Sherman Gay has been a clutch performer for the Lions this season. In addition to being among the conference leaders in scoring and rebounding, Gay leads the league in field goal percentage at 56.7 percent, going 9-for-11 against Northern Colorado on Tuesday. He is also 15th in free throw percentage at 69.5 percent and first in offensive rebounds with 2.88. With all the stats, Gay has also made a pair of clutch shots to help his team to its best non-conference record 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.
BLOCK PARTY
More from Gay... Gay set the single season record with 60 blocks as a junior in 2002-03 and with his three blocks against Virginia he broke the career blocks record held by Chris Knight with 97. He has 27 on the season to give him 114 in his career for the all-time record. He also needs just one more block this season to make him the first player in LMU history to have two seasons rank among the top-10 in LMU history. Michael Antoine had 28 in 1980 to rank 10th for single season blocks at LMU. Sophomore Chris Ayer had 30 in his first season in 2002-03 to rank 8th and set the all-time freshman record. He has 21 this season and has a chance at also joining Gay in holding to top-10 marks for blocks at LMU. Gay ranks second in the WCC while Ayer is third.
MAKING THEM COUNT
Thanks to the 74-56 win over Northern Colorado, the Lions improved to 9-4 on the season in non-conference play, the best start since the 1995-96 season when they went 10-4 in non-conference play. 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.
FROM THREE
Since the three-point field goal was introduced in the 1986-87 season, Loyola Marymount men's basketball has had just one game where they have not had a three-pointer. In the 508 games the Lions have played since the three-point line was instituted, the Lions have hit three-pointers in 507 of them. The only "miss" came on Dec. 19, 1995 when the Lions went 0-for-6 in an 82-80 win over Hawaii. That game snapped a 271 consecutive three-pointer streak for the Lions. They currently have made a three-pointer in 236 straight games heading into the Jan. 24 game against Pepperdine.
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 John Haywood suffered a broken bone in his left hand and will be out the remainder of the season due to surgery. Wes Wardrop has missed five games this season due to a strain in his left foot and is day-to-day for the Pepperdine game.
- GO LIONS -
