Nov. 15, 2005
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Seven months after being hired as the 23rd head coach in the history of Loyola Marymount University men's basketball, Rodney Tention will make his debut as a NCAA Division-I head coach when the Lions open the 2005-06 season in Provo, Utah, against the Mountain West Conference's BYU Cougars. It will be the first ever meeting between BYU and LMU.
GAME FILE #1:
Date/Time: Friday, Nov. 18, 2005 • 6:00 p.m. (PST)
Site: Marriott Center (22,700) - Provo Utah
TV: None
Radio: KXLU 88.9 FM (Jeff Lampe and Ryan Magnino)
Online: Lions' All-Access - www.LMULions.com
Series History: First Meeting
Last Meeting: First Meeting
The time could be perfect for Tention as he takes over a Lions' program not short on experienced players who proved a year ago they could play with almost anyone. LMU will return 12 of the 13 players from last year's squad, losing only starting point guard Charles Brown to graduation. After having just three seniors the last two years on the squad, Tention and the 2005-06 Lions will feature four seniors in what will be one of the most experienced teams in the West Coast Conference.
THE COACHES' POLL
According to the coaches of the West Coast Conference, Loyola Marymount University men's basketball has been picked to finish in the top half of the WCC standings this season. The coaches have the Lions taking fourth in the 2005-06 season, and if the Lions under first year head coach Rodney Tention hold true to the coaches' thinking, it will be the best finish in 10 seasons. The Lions earned 40 points in the annual coaches poll and round out the top half of the eight-team conference. Both LMU and Gonzaga return the most experienced squads in the WCC. Both the Bulldogs and Lions return four starters, the most among any team in the WCC. LMU will return 12 letterwinners for coach Tention, who takes over the Lions' program after eight seasons as an assistant with Arizona.
SCOUTING BYU
Coming off a disappointing 9-21 season after five straight postseason appearances, BYU looks to return to the ranks of conference contenders and postseason invitees under the direction of new head coach Dave Rose. The 2005-06 Cougar roster features six juniors with starting experience and some talented newcomers with the ability to make an impact in their first seasons on the court. They were picked to finish ninth in the nine-team Mountain West Conference this season. This season Rose has seven returning lettermen, four of whom were at least part-time starters last year. Honorable mention All-MWC guard Austin Ainge was the team's second-leading scorer and top assist man last year, and junior forward Keena Young was BYU's leading rebounder. Other returning starters include junior swingman Jimmy Balderson, who is representing Canada at the World University Games this summer, and junior center Derek Dawes, who made 13 starts in the middle last year. In exhibition games, BYU defeated Victoria (Nov. 4) 81-54 and Seattle Pacific (Nov. 10) 86-72.
SEASON OPENERS
This will mark the first time in four years the Lions will open the season outside the friendly convines of Gersten Pavilion and the first time since Nov. 15, 1997 they will open with a true road game. The Lions are 33-17 in season openers since it joined the West Coast Conference in 1955-56. The last time the Lions opened away from home it was against Samford in a neutral game on Nov. 13, 2001 in the 2001 Gaurdian's Classic. The last road opener came against UNLV in 1997. The Lions will open play at home on Nov. 21, 2005 against Montana. LMU has not lost a home opener since Nov. 17, 1998, a 98-92 setback to Long Beach State.
AROUND THE CORNER
Following the trip to Provo, the Lions will return home for a quick turnaround as they will play their home opener against Montana at 7:05 p.m. The Lions will play the Grizzlies twice this season, marking it the second time in three years the teams will meet more than once in a single season.
LAST TIME OUT
After taking over the Loyola Marymount University men's basketball program in April of 2005, new Head Coach Rodney Tention said that the program would run an up-tempo offense. After the Lions' only exhibition, Tention is a man of his word as the Lions earned an 86-72 win over Cal State San Bernardino on Nov. 12 in Gersten Pavilion. The Lions were led by four players in double figures, including junior Brandon Worthy with 22 points and 10 assists, while junior Matthew Knight added 21 points and eight rebounds. Knight and senior Chris Ayer, who added 13 points with eight rebounds to the scoresheet, used their size down low to outscore the Coyotes 42-26 in the paint. LMU jumped out early, taking a lead as large as 20 with 1:47 left in the first half after a Wes Wardrop, who finished with 11 points, six rebounds and five assists, three-pointer. The Lions went into the locker room with a 46-30 lead. The Coyotes climbed back into thanks in large part to 24 turnovers by the Lions. Rummel Clark-Watts cut the Lions once double-digit lead to just seven, 79-72, with 4:24 remaining. With the lead at just seven, the Lions defense stiffened and did not allow a point the rest of the way. Knight picked up one of his three offensive rebounds and put in a lay-up with 3:29 remaining to make it a nine-point game, 81-72, and he then hit a pair of free throws with 1:54 to put the lead back to double figures.
FANTASTIC FOUR
Entering their fourth year for the Lions this season will be seniors Wes Wardrop (G, 6-3, 185, Anaheim, CA), John Haywood (F, 6-6, 200, Chino, CA), Chris Ayer (C, 6-10, 250, Tucson, AZ) and Dustin Brown (F, 6-7, 225, San Rafael, CA). The group has combined to play in 311 games together and will be a key piece to the coming season. Since being nominated as a defender of the year in the WCC his freshman season, Wardrop has been one of the league's better defenders. He collected 33 steals his first season and has 66 in his career. He showed signs of his outside shooting form last season, breaking out for five games in double figures, all in WCC play. He had a career-best 22 against Santa Clara in the final weeks of the season. Both Brown and Haywood played big minutes for the Lions last season. Brown showed his athleticism with 18 points and six rebounds against Washington, along with 15 points and five boards against Virginia. Haywood also had an impressive stretch, scoring in double figures in the first four games of conference play. Ayer had his best season as a sophomore in which he averaged 6.1 points, 5.5 points and was in the top-10 in the WCC with 28 blocks.
THE JUNIORS
Joining the seniors is a class of juniors that Tention believes will draw the most attention from opposing teams. Matthew Knight (F, 6-8, 240, Tasmania, Australia), Brandon Worthy (G, 6-2, 205, San Jose, CA) and Daryl Pegram (F, 6-8, 200, San Bernardino, CA) started a combined 63 games together last season. Knight and Worthy finished one-two in scoring last season for the Lions as Knight finished with 15.4 points per game while Worthy averaged 11.8. In his first season of play in over two seasons due to major knee surgery, Pegram averaged 6.5 points and 4.3 rebounds.
KNIGHT TIME
Junior Matthew Knight proved to be the go-to-guy for the Lions all last season and for his efforts he earned All-West Coast Conference honorable mention honors. A member of Australia's national team, Knight finished the 2005 regular season averaging a team best 15.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game while starting all 28 games. He led the team in minutes with 28.9 points per game and led the team in scoring in 18 of the 27 games. He was the only player to start every game and finished the season ranked 10th in the WCC in scoring and 11th in rebounds. After a freshman season struggling to overcome preseason injuries, Knight finished averaging 4.9 points and 3.5 rebounds per game in 2003-04. His 10.5-point turn around was the best in the WCC as he scored in double figures in all but four games. He ranked sixth in the league in shooting percentage (51.2) and was second in the league in offensive rebounds (2.82). In addition, Knight earned back-to-back double-double against No. 25 Virginia and NAU. He was the first player since Ime Oduok in 1994 to have back-to-back double-double games.
A WORTHY AFFECT
Junior guard Brandon Worthy's impact has been great in his return to the Lions after missing all of the 2003-04 season on a medical redshirt with a broken wrist in his shooting hand. With Worthy, who missed nine games after knee surgery on Dec. 29 during the 2004-05 campaing, in the line-up the Lions have averaged 72 points per game while allowing just 68. Worthy finished the season ranked 20th in scoring (11.8), including 22 points in the final game of the season, seventh in the WCC in field goal percentage (51.0), fifth in assists (3.74) and second in steals (2.00). Worthy was an All-WCC Honorable Mention Selection as a freshman in 2002-03.
THE WCC CONNECTION
The new coaching staff for the LMU men's basketball team is no stranger to the West Coast Conference. Head Coach Rodney Tention has the strongest ties, graduating from San Francisco in 1988 after a three-year playing career. Tention averaged 10.5 points and 4.3 rebounds during his time at USF, playing for Jim Brovelli, who recently served as an assistant with the Denver Nuggets. The ties do not stop there. Tention played his freshman season at the Air Force Academy, spending a season under Head Coach Hank Egan, who was a one-time WCC coach. The staff joining Tention this season as assistants, Brian Priebe, Calvin Byrd and Steve Wachs, also have ties to the WCC. Priebe's ties come as the only holdover from last year's staff. He enters his sixth season in the league. Byrd joins to the program after four seasons with Pacific. Before his time with the Tigers, Byrd spent two seasons (1999-2001) as an assistant at USF. Wachs is a 1996 graduate of Loyola Marymount, spending four seasons as a student manager and one seasons the director of basketball operations under John Olive.
MORE EXPERIENCE
Also returning to the Lions squad this season as juniors will be Adoyah Miller (G, 6-5, 205, Verona, Italy) and John Montgomery (G, 6-1, 175, Menlo Park, CA). Miller was granted a medical redshirt after a severe back strain kept him out after the sixth game of the season. Montgomery spent the summer rehabbing a torn ACL he suffered in the final week of the season and began drills in October. Tention also believes sophomores Jon Ziri (G, 6-2, 200, Tempe, AZ) and Vitor Boccardo (F, 6-9, 230, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) along with freshman recruit Marko Deric (F, 6-9, 230, Perth, Australia) will also be important pieces to the Lions' season.
MARTIN OUT
It has not been all fun for Tention in his first couple of months as Damian Martin (G, 6-2, 200, NSW, Australia), who combined with fellow juniors Worthy, Pegram and Knight in the starting rotation 18 times last season and was a key leader in playing more than 26 minutes a game a year ago, ruptured his Achilles Tendon while playing for the Australian national team this summer. Martin will be out 12 months and will redshirt the 2005-06 season.
- GO LIONS -
