AND THE DONS: Against San Francisco, the Lions held the Dons to 49 points on 31.5 percent shooting, including a 29.2 percent clip in the second half. LMU forced the Dons into 22 turnovers and converted those into 18 points. The Lions held USF to just one field goal in the final eight minutes of the game to erase an 11-point deficit to earn the win on a Matthew Knight three-point play with 19 seconds remaining.
GERSTEN FINALE
This weekend will be the final homestand for senior guard Charles Brown, the lone senior player on this year's squad. Joining Brown will be senior Tim Collins, a four-year student assistant for the Lions. 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 became the 27th player in school history to score 1,000 career points with his 11 against Pepperdine on Jan. 29. 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 109 career games to give him 1002 points, 387 assists and 171 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. As for Collins, he has become a work horse for the Lions, joining the Lions as a true freshman in 2001-02. Collins is a Political Science major.
SELL OUT
Less than a week after Loyola Marymount University had its fifth largest men's basketball crowd in program history and first capacity crowd in 15 years, the Lions announced Thursday, Feb. 3, that the game against Gonzaga on Saturday, Feb. 12 is sold out. The student section will be open to those with a valid LMU OneCard. Last Saturday the Lions defeated Pepperdine 63-46 in front of a standing-room only crowd of 4,302. This will be the first season since 1989-90 that the Lions have had multiple sellouts in a single season. With the sellout the Lions are pace to have its largest season average since the 1992-93 season. The Lions will take on Portland on Thursday, Feb. 10 and then take on Gonzaga in the final homestand of the season. The weekend is part of a full slate of activities during Parent's Weekend on the LMU campus. Tickets to the Portland game are still available by calling (310) 338-LION.
RECORD CROWD
The Lions win over Pepperdine on Saturday came in front of the fifth-largest crowd in LMU history, 4,302. The standing-room only crowd was the first sellout since Feb. 24, 1990 when the Lions defeated Santa Clara, 117-81. Here is the list of top crowds at Gersten Pavilion:
Feb. 20, 1988 vs. Pepperdine 4,525 W,142-127
Feb. 15, 1986 vs. Pepperdine 4,465 L, 79-64
Feb. 3, 1989 vs. Saint Mary's 4,366 L, 116-104
Jan. 29, 1989 vs. Pepperdine 4,350 W, 99-86
Jan. 29, 2004 vs. Pepperdine 4,302 W, 63-46
A WORTHY AFFECT
After playing without three starters last weekend against Santa Clara and Saint Mary's, the Lions earned a big boost with the return of two of them to the line-up against Pepperdine. Sophomores Daryl Pegram and Brandon Worthy provided a big spark for the Lions in their return against Pepperdine, coming off the bench in the win. Pegram, who missed two games with a left knee injury, played 17 minutes to score nine points with eight rebounds. In the win over USF, Pegram had six points and six rebounds, grabbing an offensive board and dishing the ball off to Matthew Knight for the game winner. Worthy returned for the first time after missing nine games due to knee surgery on Dec. 29. With Worthy in the line-up the Lions improved to 9-4 on the season. Worthy's impact has been great in his return to the Lions this season after missing all of last year on a medical redshirt with a broke wrist in his shooting hand. With Worthy in the line-up, the Lions are 5-1 at home and average 72.2 points per game while allowing just 66.2. Worthy is currently 20th in the league in scoring (11.2), fourth in field goal percentage (54.1), fourth in assists (3.92) and second in steals (2.38).
GO TO GUY
Sophomore Matthew Knight continues to be the go-to-guy for the Lions, scoring 25 points with eight rebounds on 10-for-16 shooting against San Diego and then hitting the game winner against San Francisco. Against USD it was his seventh 20-point game of the season and his shot against USF with 19 seconds remaining was his second game winning shot. He hit the other on an offensive putback against Northern Arizona. Knight also earned his second straight double-double with 19 points and a career-best 12 rebounds against NAU. 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 20 of the Lions' 22 games. He currently averages 16.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game and he enters the week ranked eighth in the West Coast Conference in scoring and 10th in rebounding. His average is 11.0 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 fourth in the conference in field goal percentage as he is now shooting 54.0 percent. He has been getting it done on the offensive end of the boards and is leading the WCC with 2.86 offensive rebounds per game.
STEALS
The LMU defense finds themselves in a familiar position this 2004-05 season - among the league leaders in steals. The Lions enter the week leading the West Coast Conference in steals with 8.59 per game, getting eight against San Diego and 10 in the win over San Francisco. In the previous two seasons the Lions finished the year leading the league in steals. The 2004-05 season started with a bang for the Lions, as they had 10 or more steals in four straight games to start the year. 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. Entering the week, a pair of Lions were ranked in the WCC's top-10, as Brandon Worthy and Damian Martin are second (2.38) and seventh (1.68), respectively. Worthy had five against San Diego and Martin had four against USF.
A LOOK AT GAME #23
For the 73rd time Loyola Marymount and Portland will meet in a West Coast Conference battle on Thursday. The Lions lead the series 38-33 but fell in the first meeting of the season on Jan. 16 in Portland, 74-57. LMU continued to struggle in shooting from the field on the road as they shot just 34 percent in the first half to dig themselves into a whole they could not get out of. The Lions shot 11-for-32 in the first half while Portland started the game 8-for-10, posting a lead as large as 13. They finished the half shooting 53.6 percent and 56.0 for the game. LMU finished the game hitting just 36.4 percent and in the two road games in the Pacific Northwest, the Lions finished shooting a combined 33.3 percent (23-for-69) in the first half. Leading the Lions was sophomore Matthew Knight with 17 points. Junior John Haywood added 10 while sophomore Daryl Pegram had nine points and eight rebounds. The Lions finished the game out rebounding Portland 37-29. Pooh Jeter led Portland with 15 points, followed by Donald Wilson with 14 and Marcus Lewis with 13. LMU entered the locker room down 10 after Pegram hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to make it 36-26. Portland would get the lead back to 13, 43-30, early in the second half. However, the Lions went on a 9-0 run to cut the lead to 43-39 on another lay-up by Knight with 14:43 remaining. The Pilots would get the lead back to 10 before LMU would cut it to 51-45 on a three-pointer by junior Wes Wardrop with 8:16 remaining.
GETTING O FROM THE D
Through non-conference the Lions have scored nearly 30 percent of its points off turnovers. This season they have scored 427 points thanks to 388 forced turnovers. LMU has forced opponents to an average of 17.6 turnovers per game (second in the WCC), leading to an average of 19.4 points per game. The Lions equalled a season-high as they forced San Diego into 24 turnovers in the first meeting and then another 21 on Thursday. The turnovers led to a season-best 13 steals and 29 points for the Lions in game one and 20 points on eight steals in game two. They are a pair of the nine games on the season the Lions have scored at least 20 points off turnovers.
UNDER 60
Defense has become the Lions' trademark under Head Coach Steve Aggers and it was at its finest last weekend. For the sixth time this season the Lions held an opponent to under 60 points thanks to limiting the Waves to just 46 on Saturday. During the 2003-04 season, the Lions set an impressive mark by holding six opponents under 60 points. It was the most in any one season during the modern era of basketball, dating back more than 40 years. The last team to have more than six games holding an opponent under 60 points was the 1962-63 squad coached by John Arndt. They held teams under 60 points in seven games that season. For the last two seasons the Lions have now held at least one conference opponent under 50 points, holding Santa Clara on Feb. 12, 2004, to just 48. The Lions improve to 19-1 in games holding opponents under 60 points during Coach Aggers tenure.
THE NATION'S FINEST
For the fourth consecutive week, the West Coast Conference is ranked among the nation's elite, coming in at No. 7 in the latest men's College Basketball News RPI rankings. The WCC is again listed ahead of some highly regarded basketball conferences such as Conference USA, the Mountain West Conference, the Missouri Valley Conference, and the Atlantic 10 Conference. The only conferences listed ahead of the WCC are the six BCS conferences, with the ACC leading the way, followed by the Pac-10, the Big East, the Big 12, the SEC and the Big Ten.
Balancing Act
The WCC is proving to be one of the most balanced and competitive conferences in the country. Heading into this week's action, the WCC and the ACC are the only conferences in the country that can boast that all of its member institutions own winning records. In addition, the WCC and the ACC are the only conferences in the country in which all of its member institutions have reached double digit wins. In the latest Sagarin Conference rankings, all eight WCC schools are ranked in the top 135. The ACC and the Pac-10 are the only other conferences that can make that claim.
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 he now has 171 career steals. Brown has 32 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.
- GO LIONS -