Dec. 28, 2006
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The Loyola Marymount men's basketball team will head to the road for the final two games of non-conference and continue a four-game road swing with the start of West Coast Conference play. The trip will begin at Akron on Friday, Dec. 29 and then head to Monmouth in West Long Branch, NJ, on Dec. 31. The Lions will be facing Akron from the first time in school history. This will also be the first trip to Monmouth as the teams will play for just the second time, the first meeting coming at Gersten Pavilion on Nov. 20, 2004 (an 83-70 win for the Lions). Both games will begin at 5 p.m. (PST) and can be heard on Lions' All-Access through KXLU 88.9 FM and LMULions.com.
UP NEXT
At 8-6, the Lions have two shots to enter conference play with the most non-conference wins since 1990. In 2003-04 the Lions entered WCC play with eight wins while the 1995-96 and 1989-90 teams entered conference with nine wins. The 1987-88 team, who finished the year 28-4, started the WCC season with 10 non-conference wins. Following the trip back east, the Lions will open conference play at Gonzaga on Saturday, Jan. 13 for a 1 p.m. tipoff. They will close the four-game road trip with Portland on Monday, Jan. 8 at 8 p.m. on ESPNU.
Miller's Time
After playing just 10 games in his first two years at Loyola Marymount, fifth-year senior Adoyah Miller entered 2006-07 with one last shot. He is making the most of it, scoring 43 points in two games last week to earn the West Coast Conference Player of the Week on Dec. 26. The transfer from Miami Dade College played 10 games and scored just 53 points in his first two injury plagued seasons. However, he has caught fire of late, earning his first two 20-point games of his career last week. In a win over Boise State in double overtime and a heartbreaking buzzer beater defeat to Long Beach State, Miller averaged 21.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists with two blocks and two steals. In the win over Boise State, he hit 6-of-9 three-pointers to score 23 points, including a long ball with less than 40 seconds to play to send the game to the first overtime. He added six rebounds and eight assists in that win. Against Long Beach State he went for 20 points, hitting 3-for-7 from long range, adding another six boards. Miller has gone for double digits in nine of the Lions last 10 games, averaging 12.6 points per contest in that span.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
The Lions, like the rest of the West Coast Conference, haven't been afraid to take on the nation's best. The WCC as a whole as the second toughest strength of schedule, behind only the ACC according to RealTimeRPI.com (as of Dec. 27). The high strength of schedule has helped push the WCC to an RPI of No. 9. In that mix, the Lions have a strength of schedule of 44 and an RPI of 92. Four teams in the WCC have S.O.S. in the top-50. Gonzaga has the fourth toughest schedule, followed by Saint Mary's at No. 42, LMU at No. 44 and Santa Clara at No. 46. The Lions' non-conference opponents are a combined 103-72 (58.9 percent) and the six teams who have defeated the Lions have a record of 51-21 (70.8 percent).
UNWORTHY ENDING
Loyola Marymount University men's basketball fifth-year senior Brandon Worthy will miss the remainder of the 2006-07 season after results from an MRI released Friday, Dec. 22, showed a torn ACL in his left knee. Worthy injured the knee in the final moments of the Lions' double overtime win against Boise State on Tuesday. He finished the game with 14 points, four rebounds, six assists and two steals. Entering the Lions first game without the San Jose native, Worthy ranked second in the West Coast Conference in scoring at 18.8 points per game. The preseason CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major All-American also ranked 17th in the WCC in rebounds (4.5 rpg), seventh in free throw percentage (77.2%), ninth in assists (3.69 apg), seventh in steals (1.77 spg), ninth in three-point percentage (38.8%), 10th in three-pointers made per game (1.46), and 11th in defensive rebounds (3.54). Worthy's playing career at LMU concludes with 1,255 points, ranking 16th all-time in LMU history. Worthy is also ranked fourth all-time in free thorws made with 437, eighth in assists with 320 and seventh in steals with 157.
MORE INJURY WOES
With Worthy already out of the season, the Lions lost another All-WCC performer in the next game against Long Beach State as Matthew Knight went down with a strained knee cap. He will not make the final non-conference trip to Akron and Monmouth. He will be evaluated prior to conference and is expected to see action when conference play begins. Worthy and Knight have combined for 50 percent of the Lions offense so far this season. Junior Jon Ziri, who missed the Boise State and Long Beach State games due to a concussion suffered in practice, is expected to play this weekend.
RECORD SETTERS
Damian Martin nearly pulled off the rarest of double-doubles against Boise State. He set a career-high with 10 rebounds and set the LMU single-season record with nine steals. He broke the record of eight set by Corey Gaines against Westmont on Dec. 2, 1987. Martin has 27 steals on the season to lead the Lions, giving him 120 in his career and is 13 shy of cracking the top-10. He is currently ranked fourth in the WCC in steals. Earlier this season, Martin had 11 assists against New Mexico State, the most since Haywood Eaddy had 12 on Feb. 19, 1999 against Portland. Martin had his best scoring night in over two years with 10 points, eight rebounds, two assists and three steals against Long Beach State.
Also setting career marks in the win over Boise State was Adoyah Miller with a career-best 23 points on 6-for-9 shooting from the three-point line. It was the most three-pointers since Willie Allen had six against Saint Mary's on Jan. 29, 1999. Miller also had a career-high eight assists in 40 minutes. He added six rebounds, two blocks and a steal in a complete effort. He went on to add 20 points against Long Beach State, the first time in his collegiate career he has put together back-to-back 20-points games.
Senior Matthew Knight added 32 points to his resume against Boise State, equalling a career-high he had against Long Beach State a year ago.
LIONS' WCC RANKINGS (as of Dec. 27)
At 8-6 this season, the Lions were led by one of just three 1,000-point tandems in the country in seniors Brandon Worthy and Matthew Knight. Worthy finishes his career with 1,255 and currently ranked 16th, while Knight is 19th with 1,246 points. With the injury to the fifth-year senior, the Lions roster has begun to pick-up the pace. Knight, a two-time All-WCC performer, is fourth in scoring at 17.2 ppg, first in rebounds (8.7 rpg), 14th in steals (1.29), 13th in field goal percentage (47.6), 14th in free throw percentage (67.7), tied for first in offensive rebounds (3.0) and first in defensive rebounds (5.71). The scoring slack has been picked up by senior Adoyah Miller. He has cracked the scoring rankings at 24th with 9.6 points per game. He is also ranked fourth in three-point shooting at 42.6 percent and fifth in three-pointers per game at 2.07. Junior Damian Martin is fifth in assists with 3.93 per game and fourth in steals with 1.93 per game, raising seven spots after his nine steals against Boise State. He is also second in assist to turnover ration at 1.67.
SETTING STANDARDS
The Lions went 5-1 at home this non-conference season, going 5-0 to start the season, the best since the 1987-88 season when they went a perfect 14-0 at Gersten Pavilion. It is not the longest stretch under second-year Head Coach Rodney Tention. LMU won six straight in one stretch at Gersten Pavilion in 2005-06 to finish with a 7-5 record at home. The Lions are 12-6 at home under Tention, winning 11 of their last 14. In addition, the win in double overtime by a pair over Boise State improves the Lions to 5-0 in games decided by three points or less. In the program's history, the Lions improved to 9-1 all-time in double overtime games, winning their sixth straight.
CARDIAC KIDS
The Lions are 8-6 thanks in large part to their ability to come from behind. LMU has erased five second-half deficits this season and are 5-1 this season in games decided by three points or less. The reason for the comebacks - their defense. In their three wins after trailing by more than 10 in the second half, the Lions have held their opponent without a field goal for 11 minutes or more. The trend started with a "simple" seven-point rally as they went on an 8-0 run over a four-minute span to earn the win over Oral Roberts in the opener. Since then they haave erased second half deficits of 16, 14 and 11. They held New Mexico State without a field goal from the 11:17 mark until just 14 seconds left to set-up Brandon Worthy's game winner with 0.9 remaining. They then held Pacific without a field goal from the 16:16 mark until 4:08 remained in the second half as LMU tied the game and sent it to overtime. The most recently they held UCSB without a field goal with 14:26 remaining until just 3:53 showed on the clock. The Lions are 4-0 in games decided by three points or less this season. Although the lead was not as big, the Lions came back from six down against UC Irvine, using a full court press to force 16 turnovers for an eight-point win. Against Boise State the Lions erased a 13-point deficit, this one coming in the first half. The Lions trailed 23-10 with seven minutes to go in the half before going on a 21-6 run to take a two-point lead at the break. LMU then trailed by 11 with 9:27 left in the second half against Long Beach State. The Lions erased the deficit and took their only lead of the second half on Derick Grubb jumper with two seconds left. However, Long Beach State hit a shot just inside half court to take away the win.
DEFENSE
The key in the Lions eight wins this season has be on the defensive end. LMU held Oral Roberts, one the nation's leading scoring teams a year ago to just 65 and then held Mississippi State, who had over 90 in their first game, to just 61. They then held New Mexico State to just 38 percent shooting, 28 in the second half. LMU forced the Aggies into 26 turnovers. Against Cal State Bakersfield, they held them to 41 percent for the game, just 35 percent in the first half. The Lions held Alaska to just 42 percent shooting, 38 percent in the second half as the Lions took a two-point halftime lead and turned it into a double-digit win. The perimeter scorers of Alaska in Allen McFarland, Eric Draper and Buddy Bailey entered the game averaging a combined 45 points per game, hitting 30 three-pointers in four games. The Lions held the trio to 11 points, hitting 2-of-5 three pointers. In the win over Pacific, the Lions held the Tigers to just 36.8 percent in the second half and forced them into a season-high 28 turnovers to lead the comeback. Against UCSB, the Lions held them to 34.8 percent shooting for the game and just 55 points. They entered the game hitting over 50 percent and scoring more than 75 points per game through their first five games. In the latest win, the Lions forced UC Irvine into 16 turnovers on eight steals. The Lions finished the game scoring 23 points off turnovers. Against Boise State the Lions held the Broncos to just 24 percent shooting from the three-point line and forced 23 turnovers on 14 steals, nine coming from Damian Martin.
A KNIGHT'S TALE
Senior Matthew Knight finished with 17 double-doubles in 2005-06, bringing his total to 19 in his career. He added his 20th in the win over Cal State Bakersfield on Nov. 19, 21st in the setback to USC on Dec. 2 and 22nd against UC Irvine on Dec. 9. He went for 26 points and 16 boards against the Roadrunners, 13 points-13 rebounds against USC and the 15 points, 10 rebounds against UCI. He replaces Ime Oduok for fifth all-time in LMU history with the 22 double-doubles. His 17 last year was the most since Hank Gathers had 26 in the 1988-89 season and ranks him seventh all-time for single season double-doubles. He didn't get the double-double against Boise State with nine rebounds but equaled a career-best with 32 points. In addition to ranking 20th all-time in scoring, Knight has 650 career rebounds, replacing Elton Mashack (1997-01) for 12th all-time. Ime Oduok is 11th with 678. Knight concluded 2006 seventh overall in the WCC in scoring with 16.2 points and the league leader in rebounds with 10.0 per game.
TAKING THE FIFTH
The Lions have a top and bottom heavyroster this 2006-07 season. LMU has four fifth-year seniors in Brandon Worthy, Derick Grubb, Adoyah Miller and John Montgomery. They have a fourth senior in four-year player Matthew Knight. As a group they have combined to play 372 games heading into the game against San Diego State. The other half of the Lions' roster includes five scholarship freshmen in Max Craig, Mason Maynard, Brad Sweezy, Terron Sutton and Shawn Deadwiler. Seniors and freshmen combine for 10 of the Lions 16 roster spots.
THE SHOT
The Lions entered the Great Alaska Shootout coming off an emotional two-game homestand, including a come-from-behind win over New Mexico State on Friday night as they erased a 17-point deficit to defeated the Aggies 71-69. Worthy was a man on fire as he did everything, including hitting the game winning three-pointer with .9 seconds remaining. The off-balance shot, which was ESPN SportsCenter's top play of the day, was part of a 28-point day for Worthy. He did it all, as he led the team with eight rebounds two assists and two steals. He also blocked New Mexico State's shot at the buzzer to secure the win. Knight had 13 points against the Aggies while senior Derick Grubb added 14, his best as a Lion. Lost in the midst of "The Shot" was junior Damian Martin's 11 assists, the most since Haywood Eaddy had 12 on Feb. 19, 1999 against Portland. The junior had three steals, three points and four rebounds. The Lions were down 17 with 15 minutes to play in the second half and then went on a 15-0 run to take the lead in the final 11 minutes after Head Coach Rodney Tention was ejected after his second technical. To close the three games in six-day stretch, Knight went for his 20th career double-double with 26 points and 16 rebounds in the wire-to-wire win over Cal State Bakersfield, 83-75, on Sunday. Worthy added 19 and junior Jon Ziri added his best effort of the season with 12 points and nine rebounds.
RECENT NOTES
The Lions finished the game against UC Irvine with just six turnovers. According to LMU records it equals the lowest in program history since it joined the WCC in 1955. The six turnovers is the lowest since the Lions had six against Santa Clara in January of 2003. The Lions also committed just six on Jan. 16, 1993 against Gonzaga.
The Lions became just the third West Coast Conference school to reach the finals of the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout (Portland and Gonzaga). They defeated host Alaska-Anchorage 69-58 in the quarterfinals and then took care of Pacific in a thrilling double overtime come-from-behind win, 88-85. LMU fell to Cal in the finals, 78-70. Seniors Bradon Worthy and Matthew Knight were both named to the All-Tournament team.
It is no secret that senior Brandon Worthy was the go-to guy in the clutch for the Lions. His three-pointer with two seconds remaining forced the second overtime where the Lions would claim the win over Pacific. Worthy's steal and lay-in with 20 seconds left in regulation forced the first overtime and it wasn't the first time this season he came through in the clutch. Worthy's off-balance three-pointer with 0.9 seconds left against New Mexico State gave them the 71-69 lead and his block at the buzzer sealed the win. All that came in the same week for Worthy.
The Lions' freshmen are starting to play big minutes this season. Mason Maynard came off the bench to score seven points in 12 minutes to follow up a two-point, five-rebound, two-assist performance against New Mexico State. He then broke through in his first career start against Sam Houston State with 10 points, four rebounds and an assist in 22 minutes. Fellow freshman Shawn Deadwiler made his first appearance as a Lion against USC, scoring four points with three rebounds in 11 minutes. Lions' big-man Max Craig has seen the most minutes of the three, playing an average of nine minutes a game while appearing in nine of the Lions' 10 games this season.His breakout game was an eight-point, three-rebound performance against New Mexico State.
LMU played their first overtime game of the season in the win over Pacific. They played their second against Boise State. Both went to double overtime. The Lions went 2-1 in Head Coach Rodney Tention's first season, including an 84-75 win in double overtime against San Francisco. LMU is 27-38 in overtime games with the first overtime game coming in the 1926-27 season against California Christian College, a 16-14 win for the Lions. As for double overtime, the Lions improved to 9-1 with the win over Boise State. The longest game in LMU history was a five-overtime affair against Fresno State in 1957. The Lions lost 92-90.
Brad Sweezy and Terron Sutton continue to nurse injuries. Both Sweezy and Sutton are possilbe redshirts this season.
FINALLY BACK
Damian Martin (6-2, 200, Jr., NSW, Australia) the fourth-year player from Australia was forced to serve a medical redshirt season in 2005-06 due to a torn Achilles tendon suffered while playing the Australian National Team. He was never able to practice for the Lions in Tention's first season. He is finally back and brings the Lions a true point guard. In his first two seasons, Martin played in 57 games, starting in 36 of them. He averaged 27 minutes with 4.3 points per game. He added 173 assists and 93 steals to rank among the leaders during both seasons. He is beginning to knock off the rust as he went for 11 assists, three steals, three points and four rebounds against New Mexico State. He followed that with an impressive 10 rebounds, a school-record nine steals, and six assists in the win over Boise State. This season he is averaging 4.1 assists and 1.85 steals in 28 minutes this season. He also adds 4.2 rebounds per game.
COACHES' POLL
When first-year Head Coach Rodney Tention led the Loyola Marymount University men's basketball team to the West Coast Conference Championship and within seconds of its first NCAA trip in March, he made strides in the LMU program that had not been made in 17 years. More history is being written as Tention in his second year has his Lions picked to challenge for the WCC title and tabbed second by the WCC Preseason Coaches' Poll. It is the team's highest preseason ranking in 17 years. The Lions earned 51 points to edge out the University of San Francisco (50 points) for second place in the annual poll. Gonzaga finds themselves still as the team to beat, earning six first place votes and 62 total points. LMU has turned many heads with their performance in the WCC tournament a year ago and have the pieces in place that have them as a top contender in 2006-07. The Lions might have two of the better players in the WCC in seniors Brandon Worthy (6-2, 205, Sr., San Jose, CA) and Matthew Knight (6-8, 240, Sr., Tasmania, Australia), a pair of WCC first-team selections who both scored their 1,000th career point in the WCC tournament. Both have been tabbed by the coaches as two of the top-six returning players for the upcoming 2006-07 season and are possibly the league's best inside-outside tandem.
WHAT WAS DONE IN 2006
The Lions finished the 2005-06 season 12-18 overall but 8-6 in WCC, good for a tie for second in the standings with Saint Mary's. The second place finish was driven by the Lions 8-2 mark after the first 10 games of conference play under first-year Head Coach Rodney Tention. With sweeps over San Francisco and San Diego on the season, the Lions earned the tie breaker for the No. 2 seed in the WCC tournament. Tention has marked an impressive turn around for the Lion program in just one season, helping the program to the No. 2 seed for just the second time since the tournament began in 1987. It was the Lions highest seed since earning No. 2 in 1991, as the program also earned the No. 1 seed in 1990 and 1988. Since then the Lions have earned the number three seed twice, the last coming in 1996. The Loyola Marymount University men's basketball team continued to add to its impressive turn around under first-year Head Coach Rodney Tention as the West Coast Conference announced that three Lions were selected first-team All-WCC. Wes Wardrop, Brandon Worthy and Matthew Knight all earned first-team All-WCC honors for leading the Lions to the WCC Basketball Championship game.
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 594 games the Lions have played since the three-point line was instituted, the Lions have hit three-pointers in 593 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 322 straight games heading into the game against Akron.
AT HOME
Last year the attendance for the game against Gonzaga was 4,482. It is the second highest in Gersten Pavilion and program history, 43 shy of the all-time record (4,525) set against Pepperdine on Feb. 20, 1988. Opening on Jan. 15, 1981, the men's basketball team has set many records, including several national NCAA records. 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 187-150 all-time in Gersten.
Rodney Tention
When Rodney Tention arrived on the campus of Loyola Marymount University as the 23rd head coach of the men's basketball program in 2005, many things had not changed in the conference he once played in. As a familiar face to those in the West Coast Conference, Tention was well-known as one of the many reasons the WCC is among the top in Division I basketball. All Tention did in his first season as an NCAA Division I head coach is lead the Lions to levels of success that have not been seen in 17 years. Tention took over the Lions and led them to a second place finish in the WCC and an appearance in the WCC Tournament Championship. Tention helped LMU to an 8-6 WCC mark in his first season, the most WCC wins since 1991-92 and 1995-96. He is now 20-24 in one-plus season at LMU. The success in his first season at LMU came as no surprise to those who have followed the San Francisco alum. Tention played three seasons with San Francisco and joins the Lions after eight seasons as an assistant at the University of Arizona. Tention has been no stranger to success. In 10 seasons at the NCAA Division I level, Tention has helped coach teams to 10 straight postseason appearances, including nine trips to the NCAA tournament. He received a bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of San Francisco in 1988 and earned a master's in public administration from the College of Notre Dame in 1995. He has a son Nathan, while he and his wife, Rebecca, have two sons, Justice and Miles.
NEW LIONS
Loyola Marymount men's basketball announced that high school seniors Orlando Johnson (F/G, 6-5, 205, Palma High School), Brandon Walker (G, 6-3, 190, Bishop O'Dowd), and Tim Diederichs (F, 6-9, 225, Snohomish HS) have signed National Letters of Intent to attend and play basketball for LMU starting the 2007 fall semester. Johnson attended North Salinas High School for his for his first two years before transferring to Palma High School last year. In his first season he led Palma to a second place finish in the league at 8-3, going 21-6 overall. He averaged 19 points and 12 rebounds as a junior, earning first team all-league honors. As for Walker, a native of Hayward, Calif., he helped Bishop O'Dowd reach the Division-III playoffs at 19-9 overall and 11-5 in league play. Scored 25 points in the quarterfinal win over Miramonte. He went on to earn all-conference and All-CIF honors while averaging 19 points and eight rebounds per game. Diederichs versatile 6-foot-9 forward/post who averaged about 16 points and nine rebounds per game for Snohomish last season. He used his size and versatility to score from all over the court for Snohomish, helping the Panthers advance to the Class 4A state tournament and compile a 21-5 record.
- GO LIONS -
