Loyola Marymount University men's basketball begins a five-game stretch to close non-conference play away from home as they travel to Hawaii for the 42nd Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic running from Dec. 20 - Dec. 23. The Lions will open with host Hawaii on Tuesday, Dec. 20 with tip-off slated for 9:30 p.m. (PT). This is the second time the Lions will make an appearance in the annual Rainbow Classic, making their first trip since 1980. The Lions will join Colorado State, Iowa State, Oregon State, Northwestern State, South Florida and Western Michigan in Hawaii.
Rodney Tention earned his first win as a NCAA Division-I head coach against BYU. He became the first Lion coach to win his first game at the helm of the Lions against a Division-I opponent in 32 years. The last to do it was Dave Benaderet against UC Irvine on Nov. 30, 1973.
THE CLASSIC
Celebrating its 42nd year, the Rainbow Classic is the longest-running eight-team preseason tournament in the country. Its 41 previous seasons have seen the likes of Michael Jordan, Byron Scott, Dennis Scott, Bill Cartwright and 12 teams who would go on to play in that season's Final Four. This will be the Lions second trip to the Classic, making the first in 1980 when they fell to host Hawaii in the first game, 102-79, Marquette in game two, 91-90 and then Rutgers in the final game, 91-54. Hawaii has won the tournament the last four years and six of the last eight, including last year's 72-68 win over USC in the final.
OPENING ROUNDS
The Lions open the 2005 Rainbow Classic in the same bracket as Hawaii, Colorado State and Western Michigan. The Lions will open with Hawaii (4-2) in the late game on the opening day Tuesday. Colorado State (7-1) and Western Michigan (2-4) will be the other game. Hawaii enters their tournament at 4-2, earning a win to open WAC play over Utah State, 69-59, on Saturday. They have also earned wins over Michigan State and UNLV at home this season. Over the past six seasons, UH has held a dominant homecourt advantage at the Stan Sheriff Center. The 'Bows have posted an 89-18 record (.832), including a 41-10 mark (.804) during WAC games. Last season, UH finished 13-4 (6-3 in the WAC) at the SSC. UH owns a 149-51 (.745) all-time record in the facility. LMU leads the series 12-3 and are 6-1 in Hawaii. The `Bows are led by Julian Sensley with 17.0 points per game. Closely behind is Ahmet Gueye and Matt Lojeski with 14.7 points per game.
KNIGHT ROLLING
Junior Matthew Knight suffered a concussion during the first minutes of the second half against USC last Saturday and finished the game playing 16 minutes. He still managed nine points and six rebounds before leaving the game. He played Saturday against Northern Colorado, but did not start. By playing just 16 minutes against USC, Knight had his four-game double-double stretch come to an end. Knight put together double-doubles against South Alabama, Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara, and Montana, as he averaged 21.8 points and 13.3 rebounds in those four games. He became the first player in 11 seasons to claim four consecutive double-doubles. Wyking Jones last did it from Jan. 10, 1994 through Jan. 20, 1994. He is just the sixth player in LMU history to have a consecutive game stretch of four or more, joining a list that includes Jim Haderlein, Steve Smith, Hank Gathers, Brad Dean, and Jones. All five finished in the top-25 all-time in LMU scoring. Knight is currently fifth in the WCC in scoring with 18.0 points per game and leads the league in rebounding with 10.5 per game. He is also seventh in field goal percentage (52.4), seventh in blocked shots (1.12 per game), first in offensive rebounds (3.75) and first in defensive rebounds (6.75).
DOUBLE-DOUBLES
The double-doubles by both Matthew Knight (22 points & 10 rebounds) and Chris Ayer (15 & 10) in the win over BYU was the first time the Lions had teammates do it in the same game since Ime Odouk and Wyking Jones in 1994-95. With Knight's seventh career double-double against Montana, he has jumped to 19th all-time in LMU history for double-doubles. His seven also equals the number of double-doubles the Lions had the previous three seasons combined.
RECORD BOOK
Also getting close to cracking the top-10 in several other career record marks at LMU is senior Wes Wardrop. The fourth-year player from Anaheim is second on the team this season with 39 assists, coming one shy of his career-high with eight against Long Beach State. He now has 214 in his career and needs 15 to crack the top-10. He also leads the team with 17 three-pointers on the year, giving him 97 in his career at LMU. He needs 9 long balls to reach the top-10 in three-pointers made at LMU.
30 AND 15
In that stretch of four games, Matthew Knight scored 32 points with 18 rebounds against Long Beach State. The performance ranks as one of LMU's all-time best performances. He becomes just the seventh player in LMU history to score 30 or more points with 15 or more rebounds. After going just 4-for-13 from the field with nine points and six rebounds in the first half, he exploded in the second, going 9-for-12 with 23 points and 12 rebounds. Last season he was the first player since Ime Oduok in 1994 to have back-to-back double-double games. And he joins the Oduok as the last player to do back-to-back double-doubles in consecutive seasons. Jim Haderlein (Feb. 21, 1969 to Jan. 28, 1970) and Steve Smith (Jan. 4, 1972 to Dec. 4, 1972) hold the record with 20 consecutive games with a double-double.
GREAT START
Senior Wes Wardrop is off to a great start in his final season at LMU. He is third on the team in scoring with 12.8 points per game, setting a career high with 25 points against South Alabama. He went 8-for-18 from the field and 3-for-8 from the three-point line. He is hitting 34.0 percent from long range, hitting 17-for-50. He has had four games in double figures already this season, one shy of the number he had last season. He is second on the team with 39 assists and 14 steals. He was the first WCC Player of the Week of the 2005-06 season for his performance in guiding the Lions to an 83-71 win at BYU in their season opener. He finished with 19 points, four rebounds, four assists, and three steals. He is ranked 15th in the WCC in scoring, fourth in assists (4.5 apg), fourth in steals (1.62 spg) and fifth in three-pointers made (2.0 per game).
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 336 games together and coach Rodney Tention said they would be a key piece to the coming season. Ayer and Wardrop had big starts to their final season. Haywood had his best game of the season with 11 points and nine rebounds against USC on Dec. 10, playing 29 minutes off the bench. He earned the start against Northern Colorado on Saturday.
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.
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 campaign, in the line-up the Lions averaged 70.7 points per game while allowing just 68.3. Without him in the line-up, they averaged 61.8 points on offense while allowing 75. This season Worthy is second on the team this season with 14.1 points per game. He had 20 points, eight assists, four steals, five rebounds and no turnovers on Saturday. Worthy is ranked 14th in the WCC in scoring, fifth in assists (4.0 apg), sixth in free throw percentage (88.9 percent), and fourth in steals (1.62 spg).
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.
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
The Lions' roster for 2005-06 is one of international flavor, featuring six players with international roots. Making up bulk of them are the three Australians, Damian Martin, Matthew Knight and Marko Deric. All three come from Australia's Institute for Sport (AIS), earning valuable experience and getting plug into the country's national program. Both Knight and Martin played with the Under-18 team that won the World Cup and played this past year with the Under-21 team. Deric's roots go beyond Perth, Australia, where he grew. His family migrated from Serbia when he was a child. Also joining the Lions' roster is Adoyah Miller, who grew-up in Verona, Italy, and Vitor Boccardo, a native of Brazil. Both Miller and Boccardo are fluent in multiple languages, with primary languages other than English (Italian and Portugese, respectively). Miller was born in New York but spent more than 15 years of his childhood before moving back to the United States in 1998 to begin high school in Boston. As for Boccardo, his father was a member of the 1960 Brazilian Olympic basketball team that won a bronze medal in Rome games and his Godfather, Evaristo Soares played basketball at Pepperdine for Jim Harrick.
HISTORICAL 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 560 games the Lions have played since the three-point line was instituted, the Lions have hit three-pointers in 559 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 288 straight games heading into the game against Hawaii.
GERSTEN PAVILION
LMU started 2004-05 5-1 in Gersten Pavilion, the best since 1995-96 when they started 6-1 at home. They finish 6-6 on the year. The Lions finished the 2003-04 season with a record of 8-6, which was the best record at home since the 1998-99 season when they went 9-5. Opening on Jan. 15, 1981, the men's basketball team has set many records, including several national NCAA records. More memorable moments in Gersten's history include the Lions' 16-game winning streak from Feb. 28, 1987 through Nov. 28, 1988. Gersten is also the home of the all-time NCAA Division I highest scoring game, a 186-140 win by the Lions over US International on Jan. 5, 1991. The Lions are now 177-147 all-time in Gersten.
NEWEST ADDITIONS
Loyola Marymount University men's basketball added a pair of California high school All-CIF performers during the early signing period in November. Terron Sutton (6-9, 230, F, Price High School) and Brad Sweezy (6-6, 195, F, Ocean View High School) signed National Letters of Intent to attend LMU starting in the fall of 2006, LMU Head Coach Rodney Tention announced on Wednesday. Sutton will come to LMU after playing four seasons at Price High School, helping the team to three straight CIF Championships heading into his senior season. In his junior season he exploded into a role of team leader, earning first-team All-CIF and first-team all-league. Like Sutton, Sweezy earned All-CIF honors and first-team all-league honors while playing at Ocean View High School in Huntington Beach, Calif. Sutton became a full time starter as a junior and averaged eight points and nine rebounds per contest. His career-best just happen to be in the title game, as he earned a double-double with 12 points and 11 boards. Price enters the 2005-06 season with Sutton as a senior captain. In 2004-05, Ocean View High School finished the season 15-8 overall and 9-3 in the Golden West league as Sweezy earned All-CIF Division III-AA and All-Golden West League honors. He averaged 15 points and eight rebounds per game. Sweezy finished his junior season with 16 games in double figures, including a career-high 26 in the final game of the season against Artesia High School. His previous high was 19 points as he was the leading scorer in a 57-43 win over Costa Mesa. As a sophomore Sweezy helped the team to a perfect 11-0 record in league play and a 21-6 overall in 2003-04.
- GO LIONS -
