Tough task: The Lions will be the first conference opponent in Gonzaga's new arena, the McCarthey Athletic Center. In addition, the Zags enter the game coming off an 89-81 setback to Saint Mary's. Gonzaga has not lost back-to-back games since falling to Indiana and Kentucky in the third and fourth game of the 2002-03 season during the Maui Invitational. They have not lost back-to-back conference games since Feb. 12 and Feb. 17 of 2000, Head Coach Mark Few's first season. They fell to Pepperdine and then to San Diego at home.
TAKING ON THE RANKED
This is the first time since the 1990-91 season the Lions will take on three different ranked teams in the same season. The Lions faced a ranked Gonzaga team three times in the 2001-02 season. The game against 25th-ranked Virginia was the first non-conference road game against a ranked opponent since the Lions played No. 20 USC on Nov. 25, 2000. Three weeks earlier the Lions took on then 16th-ranked Washington at Gersten Pavilion. It was the first since the 1993-94 campaign the Lions have faced two ranked non-conference opponents in the same season. The game on Thursday will be the 59th time the Lions have played a ranked opponent on the road as they played No. 8 Gonzaga on the road in conference competition on Feb. 7, 2004. In addition, the Lions welcomed a non-conference ranked opponent to Gersten Pavilion for the first time since 16th-ranked Utah came on Nov. 25, 1997. Overall, Washington was just the eighth ranked team to play in Gersten Pavilion and 23rd to play on the campus of LMU. The Lions have won 11 games against ranked opponents, the last coming in the NCAA Tournament when LMU defeated Alabama, 62-60, in the NCAA West Regional Semifinals on March 23, 1990.
GO TO GUY
Sophomore Matthew Knight continues to be the go-to-guy for the Lions, earning his second straight double-double with 19 points and a career-best 12 rebounds against Northern Arizona and leading the Lions with 12 points in the win over USF in the WCC opener. The Australian native is the first player since Ime Oduok in 1994 to have back-to-back double-double games. On the season he has scored in double figures in 13 of the Lions' 15 games. He currently averages 15.3 points and 5.9 rebounds per game and he enters the week ranked ninth in the West Coast Conference in scoring and 12th in rebounding. His average is 10.3 points per game better than last season, the best turnaround among returning players from the 2003-04 season in the WCC. He also entered the week seventh in the conference in field goal percentage as he is now shooting 52.7 percent. He has been getting it done on the offensive end of the boards and is leading the WCC with 3.27 offensive rebounds per game.
ONE HUNDRED
Senior Charles Brown became the 17th player in LMU history to play in 100 games during his LMU career when he played in his 100th game against Northern Arizona. In the 92 years of LMU basketball, Brown joins an elite list of 100-game players and is the second in as many seasons to accomplish the 100-game mark. Sherman Gay reached the level last season. Brown has played in 104 career games to give him 963 points, 364 assists and 164 steals. He is on pace to become just the fourth player in LMU history to have at least 1,000 points and 400 assists in his career. He would join an elite list of Terrell Lowery (1988-92), Keith Smith (1982-86), Enoch Simmons (1985-89) and Jim Williamson. There have been 26 players in LMU history to score at least 1,000 career points. Brown is currently seventh all-time in career assists.
BENCH SCORING
In the last nine games the Lions' bench has provided a big lift for the injury depleted Lions. LMU had another 26 points from their bench in the win over San Francisco on Friday and 19 in the heartbreaker to San Diego. It has been a collective effort as juniors Dustin Brown, Chris Ayer, Wes Wardrop and freshman Jon Ziri have been big off the bench. Brown led the bench with eight against both USF and USD. In the win over Northern Arizona, LMU had 29 points from their bench, including a season-best 10 from Ayer. The Lions' bench out scored Washington 35-7 thanks to Brown's season-high 18 points. Ziri then powered the bench scoring in the 72-68 win over San Diego State with his career-high 11 points. Brown was at it again in the win over Colgate with 14 points and then 15 in the heartbreaker to #25 Virginia. In the final two games of non-conference, the Lions had 19 bench points against Utah State, earning another eight from Brown, and 21 against Minnesota, another 10 coming from the junior Ayer.
QUITE THE ROLE
Junior Dustin Brown has become the Lions go-to-player off the bench. In his third season with the program, Brown is having a career campaign, averaging 7.5 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. In the win over USF he set a career-high with 11 rebounds and his 11 blocks (0.73 per game) is ninth in the WCC. On the season, Brown is shooting 51.0 percent from the field, good for 10th entering the week in the West Coast Conference. Brown has been impressive from the field, shooting better than 50 percent in nine games this season. Included in those games is a 7-for-10 effort against Washington, a 7-for-11 game at Colgate and another 7-for-10, this one against Virginia.
GREAT CONFERENCE START
Junior John Haywood, who earned the first start of his career against Washington, started conference play with a bang. He set his career-high in back-to-back games, scoring 11 against San Francisco and then going for 13 on 6-for-7 shooting from the field against San Diego. In 23 minutes he had three assists, three rebounds, a block and a steal.
LONG RANGE
Senior Charles Brown has had the hot hand, hitting 43.3 percent from the three-point line, knocking down 26-of-60. Brown now has 107 made three-pointers in his career, ranking him seventh all-time in LMU history. He replaced Craig Holt (1991-92), Jim Williamson (1994-97) and Willie Allen (1995-99) for seventh all-time in LMU history with 106. He enters the week ranked sixth in the WCC in three-point field goal percentage and seventh in three-pointers made with 1.73 per game.
CHARITY
The Lions lead the West Coast Conference in free throw shooting with a 77.0 shooting percentage as of Jan. 10. The Lions have shot better than 80 percent from the charity stripe in eight of their 14 games, including an 88.9 percent effort (16-for-18) against USF. Senior Charles Brown leads the team at 93.0 percent (40-of-43), ranking first in the West Coast Conference and an impressive third in the nation as of stats released on Jan. 10 by the NCAA. Sophomore Matthew Knight has the most attempts at 66 and is hitting 77.3 percent (51-of-66).
STEALS
For the first time since the 1989-90 season the Lions started a season with four straight games with 10 or more steals. The Lions started the year with 11 against Monmouth, 12 against Northern Colorado, 12 against UC Riverside and 10 against Denver. They had the streak snapped by just one with nine against Long Beach State (12/4/04) but rebounded with 11 in the road win over South Alabama. It is the most steals to start a year since the 1989-90 team had 11 at UNLV (Nov. 15, 1989), 15 against Nevada (Nov. 25, 1989), 13 against Stetson (Dec. 1) and 19 at Jacksonville (Dec. 2). In that 1989-90 season, the Lions had 10 or more steals in the first nine games. The Lions have led the WCC in steals the last two seasons and early in the 2004-05 campaign they are back to first thanks to a season-high 13 steals against USD last Sunday. Entering the week, three Lions were ranked in the WCC's top-10, as Brandon Worthy is still third with 2.2 per game, followed by Damian Martin in fifth with 1.93 per game and Charles Brown in eighth with 1.67. Martin leads the team with 29 steals in 15 games.
GETTING O FROM THE D
Through non-conference the Lions have scored 306 points thanks to 269 forced turnovers. LMU has forced opponents to an average of 17.9 turnovers per game, leading to an average of 20 points per game. The Lions equalled a season-high as they forced San Diego into 24 turnovers. The turnovers led to a season-best 13 steals and 29 points for the Lions. It was the seventh game on the season the Lions have scored at least 20 points off turnovers. The Lions had their eighth game with at least 10 steals against San Diego.
A LOOK AT GAME #16
The Lions will head to Spokane, WA., to take on Gonzaga in the first conference game at their new arena. The Zags lead the all-time series 42-19, winning 18 of the last 19 meetings. LMU last won in Spokane on Feb. 7, 1991, 91-79. LMU last defeated Gonzaga just in 2003, winning in Gersten Pavilion 80-74. The Zags enter the game with a record of 11-3 overall and 1-1 in the conference, losing to Saint Mary's last Saturday. Sophomore Adam Morrison leads the team with 19.1 points per game. Ronny Turiaf is the team leader with 8.7 rebounds per game while sitting second in points with 16.4.
TOUGH BREAK
After missing all of last season with a hand injury, sophomore Brandon Worthy returned in a big way for the Lions before tearing a ligament in his right knee. Worthy had surgery on Dec. 29 to repair the knee and is said to be out four to six weeks. The San Jose, Calif., native left third on the team in scoring (11.5 ppg). In the Lions' game against UC Riverside, Worthy broke-out with 26 points, eight assists and five steals while hitting 3-of-4 from the three-point line and going a perfect 9-for-9 from the charity stripe. Worthy, who ranked 10th all-time in free throws made for a season with 149 his freshman season, scored all 10 of his points against Long Beach State from the charity stripe. For the season he is shooting 51.5 percent from the field (35-for-68) to rank second in the West Coast Conference. He is also ranked 14th in scoring, second in steals and fifth in assists. He finished the game against Washington with 10 of 18 points in the final five minutes to put the Lions within striking distance.
OFFENSIVE GLASS
The Lions started conference play with a plus-four edge on the boards against USF. On the season, the Lions have been impressive on the offensive end of the boards, sitting second the WCC with 13.07 per game. They have had at least 11 offensive rebounds in every game but three this season, and had a nine-game stretch with at least 10 snapped in the win over USF. They have had 20 offensive rebounds against San Diego State and Colgate in back-to-back games. It is the first time since Head Coach Steve Aggers' first season (2000-01) the Lions have had two games in one season with 20 or more offensive boards. In total, the Lions had just three games with 20 or more heading into this season in the tenure of Coach Aggers. The Lions had 25 at UNLV (Jan. 3, 2001), 21 vs. Pepperdine (Feb. 21, 2003) and 20 vs. PEP (Jan. 17, 2001).
MORE CAREER MARKS
Junior Charles Brown led the West Coast Conference in steals for the second straight season as he added to his career total with a league-leading 58 in the 2003-04 campaign. He became the first player in eight years to lead the WCC in steals back-to-back seasons. He was the first Lion to lead the conference in steals since Haywood Eaddy did it in 1997-98. His two steals against Colgate (12-21-04) replaced Tom Peabody (155) for fifth all-time in LMU history and with four steals against San Diego he has 164 career steals. Brown has 25 steals this season. Brown's 61 in 2003 ranked sixth best in a single season in LMU history and his 55 in 2004 was 11th best all-time. He had 20 in his first season.
KEEP WINNING
The game against San Diego was the 44th consecutive game the Lions have played with a winning record (.500 or better). LMU never fell under .500 in the 2003-04 campaign in which they posted a 15-14 overall record. This season the Lions are 8-5. The 42-game streak is the second best in program history, trailing a 52-game stretch from Dec. 30, 1960 through Dec. 26, 1962. The streak started in the 1960-61 season, the first WCC Championship campaign in LMU history. The Lions started the streak when they were 4-4 on the season and finished 20-7 overall. In 1961-62 the Lions went 18-9 and were above .500 the entire campaign. The 1962-63 saw the Lions begin 3-1 before dropping three straight to fall below .500 for the first time in three seasons.
THE NATION'S FINEST
For the fourth consecutive week the WCC ranks as one of the best conferences in the country, coming in at No. 8 in the latest College Basketball News RPI ratings, ahead of Conference USA, the Mountain West Conference, the Western Athletic Conference, and the Atlantic-10 Conference. The No. 8 ranking, which the WCC obtained on Dec. 20, is the conference's highest ever ranking in the RPI. The previous high was a No. 10 ranking at the conclusion of the 2001-02 season. The WCC also maintained its No. 9 ranking in the Sagarin rankings for the second consecutive week. With a 75-37 (.670) combined non-conference record, WCC teams set a new record for most non-conference wins in a season, eclipsing the previous mark of 73 set during the 1984-85 season. The WCC is also guaranteed to shatter the conference's previous non-conference winning percentage of .649 set during the 1978-79 season.
HALL OF FAME
With many of the jerseys already hanging in the rafters of Gersten Pavilion with their numbers retired, the 2005 Inductees to the Loyola Marymount University Hall of Fame are some of the most recognized and accomplished former student-athletes in the history of LMU athletics. The LMU Hall of Fame Class of 2005 includes Terry Buckley ('57), Hank Gathers ('91), Tracy Holman ('98), Bo Kimble ('91), Anthony Napolitano ('94), Mardell Wrensch ('96) and the 1989-90 Men's Basketball Team. The 2005 class will be inducted into the hall during the LMU Hall of Fame Dinner on Friday, Jan. 28 on the campus of LMU. The formal induction ceremony will be held during the dinner while the new inductees will be recognized during halftime of the LMU vs. Pepperdine men's basketball game on Saturday, Jan. 29. The 2004-05 basketball campaign marks the 15th anniversary of the Lions' famed 1990 squad that went to the NCAA Elite Eight. As a group, the 2005 Hall of Fame class won 10 conference championships, 18 all-conference honors, nine academic all-conference honors, three All-American honors, a trip to the Sweet 16 in volleyball and the Elite Eight in men's basketball. With those honors, it is no surprise that four of them have their numbers retired. Gathers and Kimble both had their numbers retired in 2000. The 1990 men's basketball team went on to accomplish what many thought was not possible as they reached the Elite Eight despite the tragic death of Gathers in the WCC tournament. The 1989-90 team finished the season ranked 19th in the nation and still holds the national record for 28 games over 100 points and the points per game average with 122.4 points per game. The 1989-90 team was Jeff Fryer, Gathers, Kimble, Chris Knight, Marcellus Lee, Terrell Lowery, John O'Connell, Tom Peabody, Jeff Roscoe, Christian Scott, Marcus Slater, Per Stumer, Greg Walker and Tony Walker. For more information contact (310) 338-3047.
