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.

OFFENSIVE GLASS
The Lions have had at least 11 offensive rebounds in every game but five this season, and set a season-high with 21 against Portland. The Lions had a nine-game stretch with at least 10 snapped in the win over USF. They 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).

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 earning his sixth 20-point game of the season with 20 points and six rebounds against Santa Clara. 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 17 of the Lions' 19 games. He currently averages 15.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per game and he enters the week ranked seventh in the West Coast Conference in scoring and 10th in rebounding. His average is 10.8 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 third in the conference in field goal percentage as he is now shooting 54.5 percent. He has been getting it done on the offensive end of the boards and is leading the WCC with 3.05 offensive rebounds per game.

ONE HUNDRED APPROACHING 1,000
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 and he needs just 11 points to score 1,000 in his career. 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 106 career games to give him 989 points, 380 assists and 170 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 11 games the Lions' bench has provided a big lift for the injury depleted Lions and they came through again in the weekend series against Santa Clara and Saint Mary's. After scoring 12 points against Santa Clara, the Lions' bench outscored Saint Mary's 36-8. It has been a collective effort as juniors Dustin Brown, Chris Ayer, Wes Wardrop and freshman Jon Ziri have been big off the bench. Wardrop had his best game of the season with 14 points off the bench against Saint Mary's, hitting 5-of-8 from the field, including 3-for-5 from long range. He led the bench with 12 against Gonzaga and nine against Portland. 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 and earned his first career starts against Saint Mary's and Santa Clara. In his third season with the program, Brown is having a career campaign, averaging 6.9 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. In the win over USF he set a career-high with 11 rebounds and his 12 blocks is a career high. On the season, 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.

A LOOK AT GAME #20
The rivalry between Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine is one of the oldest in the West Coast Conference and is the longest running series for the Lions. Both teams will be looking for a much needed win on the season and the Lions will hope to snap an overall skid to the Waves. Pepperdine leads the series 80-58, winning the last 13 meetings, including a buzzer-beater at Gersten Pavilion a year ago, 67-65. The Lions trailed by seven with less than 18 seconds to play but managed to tie the game with seven seconds left. Glen McGowan would score with two seconds left to clinch the win. McGowan leads the Waves in scoring with 20.1 points per game and rebounding at 8.2 per game. Alex Acker and Yakhouba Diawara form a dangerous trio with McGown, as Acker averages 15.2 points and Diawara 13.9. No other player for the Waves scores better than six points per game. The Lions have seven players over six points per game. The Waves enter the game at 12-9 overall and 2-4 in conference, losing their last four games.

MORE THREES
For the fourth time this season the Lions shot better from the three-point line than they did from the field. The finished the game against Saint Mary's hitting 6-for-12 from long distance compared to 45.3 percent from the field (24-for-53). Against South Alabama on Dec. 7, the Lions finished the game hitting 6-for-13 from long distance (46.2 percent). For the game they finished hitting 38.9 percent, hitting 21-of-54 from the field. They also did it in the win over Northern Colorado (11/24/04) and in the setback to UC Riverside (11/27/04). Against UNC, the Lions finished 7-for-13 from behind the arc (53.8 percent) while hitting 50.9 percent from the field (30-for-59). In Riverside, the Lions hit 44.4 percent from the three-point line (8-for-18) while hitting just 37.9 percent from the field (25-for-66). On the season the Lions have had a pair of games shooting better than 50 percent from the field, going 50.8 in the win over UNC and 55.1 percent in the win over Denver.

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 second in the WCC with 8.58 steals per game. Entering the week, a pair of Lions were ranked in the WCC's top-10, as Damian Martin and Charles Brown are fifth and ninth, respectively.

GETTING O FROM THE D
Through non-conference the Lions have scored 371 points thanks to 327 forced turnovers. LMU has forced opponents to an average of 17.2 turnovers per game, leading to an average of 19.52 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.

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).

- GO LIONS -