Dec. 18, 2007

Complete Release in PDF Format

The Loyola Marymount men's basketball team (3-8) wrapped up a three-game road trip last Saturday and will now return to Gersten Pavilion to start a three-game homestand over the holidays. The stretch begins with Mississippi State (5-5) on Wednesday, Dec. 15 at 7:05 p.m. The Bulldogs are just the 16th team from a bowl championship conference to play at LMU. The game can be seen through Lions' All-Access or heard on KXLU 88.9 FM or LMULions.com.

INSIDE THE LIONS
After erasing a 17-point deficit to earn a 76-74 win over Boise State on Corey Counts' game winning bank shot from 30-feet out on Dec. 8, they saw their own lead erased at UC Riverside to end the roadtrip. The Highlanders erased a 13-point deficit to defeat the Lions in overtime (86-74) to put the Lions at 3-8 on the season. Freshman Orlando Johnson earned West Coast Conference Player of the Week honors with his 25-point, 8-rebound performance at UCR. He leads the team in scoring with 12.7 points per game. In addition to his effort at UCR, he went for for his first career double-double on Dec. 8 against Boise State. He scored 16 points with 11 rebounds, six assists and no turnovers. The rebound total is ranked fourth by a freshman all-time at LMU. After going nearly a decade with no more than 10 three-pointers in one game as a team, the Lions have already done it twice this season. They went for 12 in the win over Mercer and then 11 Saturday at UC Riverside. The three-point total is the most since the Lions hit 12 on Jan. 29, 1999 against Saint Mary's.

IN THE WCC
Entering the week, freshman Orlando Johnson leads the team in scoring and is ranked 12th in the West Coast Conference at 12.7 points per game. Johnson is also ranked 12th in rebounds with 5.5 per game, fifth in offensive rebounds with 3.0 per game, 15th in field goal percentage at 45.5, 11th in three-pointer percentage at 40.8 percent and 7th in three-poiners made with 1.82 per game. Sophomore Shawn Deadwiler is ranked 21st in the league in scoring at 10.2 per game. He is also ranked ninth in three-pointers made with 1.73 per game, 9th in free throw percentage at 81.8 percent and 15th in assists at 2.36 per game. Senior Jon Ziri is also in the rankings as his team-high 5.7 rebounds, 2.82 assists and 2.09 steals ranked 9th, 10th and 3rd in the WCC. Junior Marko Deric finds himself in the rankings as well, sitting 9th with a field goal percentage of 48.7 and 10th in blocks with 0.64 per game. Corey Counts is ranked 13th in assists (2.64 apg) and fifth in three-point percentage (44.4 percent).

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Freshman Orlando Johnson is already making a name for himself just 11 games into his career and is on pace to become one of the all-time leading freshman in LMU history. Johnson scored 25 points with eight rebounds, an assist and a steal in the Lions' game against UC Riverside to earn West Coast Conference Player of the Week honors on Dec. 17. He went for a career-best 33 minutes, hitting 8-for-16 from the field, 4-for-8 from the three-point line and 5-for-8 from the charity stripe. Of his eight boards, four were offensive. The point total ranks tied for third all-time for points by a freshman, tying Chris Haney who did it twice in 1985 (Jan. 5 at Montana; Mar. 7 vs. San Diego). It is already Johnson's third game with 20 or more points as his 23 points against Presbyterian ranks 11th all-time and his 21 in the win over Mercer ranks 19th all-time. In addition, Johnson had 11 rebounds in the win over Boise State to rank fourth all-time by a freshman. Johnson has scored 140 points with 60 through 11 games. It is the best point total by a freshman since Brandon Worthy had 133 in his first 11 games as he went on to rank third all-time for freshman scoring with 342 points. Johnson is averaging 12.7 points and 5.5 rebounds per game and is on pace to set the all-time freshman record in scoring (Luther Philyaw - 1972-73 - 379 points) and rebounds (Andy Osborn - 2001-02 - 152 rebounds).

WELCOME TO LMU, BCS
Dating back to 1905, Mississippi State will be the first team from the SEC to play the Lions at home. The Bulldogs, however, aren't the first team from a "BCS" school to come to Los Angeles to face the Lions. Mississippi State is the 16th team from the conferences of the Big East, Big 12, SEC, ACC and Big 10 and Notre Dame to visit the Lions. USC is the only team to have faced the Lions more than once as the cross-town foes have played each other 14 times on the Lions' home floor. All together, the Lions have a record of 8-20 at home against "BCS" foes.

EVEN TOUGHER AT HOME
The Lions home schedule, which features a "BCS" school for just the 29th time since 1905, is one of the toughest in recent years. The combined record of the Lions opponents at home this season is 47-12 (.797). The Lions are 0-3 so far at home this season, and those setbacks have come to Arkansas Little Rock who is 8-1, San Diego State who is 9-2 and UC Santa Barbara who is 9-1. The Lions play Mississippi State on Wednesday and they have the worst record of the bunch at 5-5. LMU will close with home non-conference dates against Wagner, who is 7-3, on Saturday and then Sam Houston State, who is a perfect 9-0, on Dec. 30.

SCOUTING MISSISSIPPI STATE
Mississippi State enters Wednesday's game at 5-5 overall after falling to South Alabama in their first road game of the season, 71-67, on Saturday. Jamont Gordon leads the team with 17.2 points per game and is second in rebounds at 7.0. Charles Rhodes and Barry Stewart are also in double figures at 14.7 and 11.2 points per game, respectively. The Lions lost to Mississippi State a year ago on the road, 61-37. The teams combined to shot just 29-100 from the field on the game (LMU was just 12-of-58 while MSU was 17-for-42).

AGAINST THE SEC
This will be just the eighth game for the Lions against a team from the SEC. The only win came in the 1990 Sweet 16 as the Lions defeated Alabama 62-60. The Lions are 0-3 against Arkansas, 0-2 against LSU and 0-1 against Mississippi State. They have never played a team from the current SEC East Division.

BEHIND THE COME BACK
For the first time this season the Lions fought from behind to earn a win in the 76-74 victory at Boise State. The Lions trailed 27-10 with just over eight minutes to play in the first half. In the first 12 minutes of the game, the Lions started the game 4-for-14 from the field (28.6 percent) while turning the ball over six times leading to six Boise State points. The Broncos meanwhile went 12-for-23 from the field (52.1 percent) with just three turnovers leading to just one Lion field goal (two points). The final 28 minutes of the game, it was a different story. The Lions outscored the Broncos 67-49 in that stretch. LMU went 25-for-45 (55.6 percent) from the field and turned the ball over just seven times. The turnovers led to just seven BSU points. The Lions defense held Boise State to just 38.9 percent shooting (14-for-36) and forced 11 turnovers that led to 14 Lion points. The 67 points the Lions scored in the final 28 minutes was more than all seven of their setbacks this season.

LMU'S JZ
The Lions lone senior in 2007-08 is Jon Ziri, a fifth-year player from Tempe, Ariz. Ziri leads the team with 94 games played, 50 starts and in diplomas. He earned his Business Administration degree in May and will complete his double major this year in Sociology. Possibly the most athletic player on the squad, the 6-2 Ziri enters his final season with a 4.6 points per game average. Labeled as a high-energy performer, Ziri's defense has been solid in his career with 108 total steals, 23 this season and a career-best 47 as a sophomore in 2005-06. Ziri is currently fourth on the team in scoring this season at 7.5 and leads the team in rebounds (5.7 rpg), assists (2.82 apg) and steals (2.08 spg). He set career-highs with 19 points against New Mexico, 12 rebounds against UC Santa Barbara, and has equalled career highs with seven assists and four steals.

WHERE IT COUNTS
Corey Counts was named to the 2007 West Coast Conference Winter All-Academic team for his performance both in the classroom and on the hardwood for the LMU basketball team. Counts has gone from try-out walk-on to a valuable member to the Lions' squad. Counts has a 3.08 GPA and is an Economics major. He had the best game of his career as a Lion in the win over Presbyterian, scoring 10 points with six assists off the bench, hitting 3-for-4 from the field, including 2-for-3 from the three-point line and charity stripe. He earned his first start against Boise State and came through with nine points and five assists, hitting the game winner - a bank three-pointer from 30-feet with 17 seconds left on the game clock and just two seconds on the shot clock. He is averaging 4.5 points with 30 assists while shooting 12-for-27 (44 percent) from the three-point line this season.

STAT STUFFER AT BTI
Senior Jon Ziri did "all the little things" according to Head Coach Rodney Tention, during the Lions four-game road trip that started at the BTI Invitational. His line scorers from the four-game road swing were impressive as he proved to be a stat stuffer. In the four games, Ziri averaged 11.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 2.5 steals. In the win over Presbyterian, he added a block and hit a 10-foot jumper in the final minute that put the game away. In scanning the stats, Ziri had just one zero in his entire line, going 0-for-1 at the free throw line. In his career-high outburst on Sunday against undefeated New Mexico, his stat line had no zeros in it. In the win over Mercer, his only zero was in the blocks.

YOUNG GUNS
LMU opened its 2007-08 season featuring a roster with nine underclassmen and seven players without any NCAA Division I experience. The Lions starting line-up for the first two games featured three freshman (Terron Sutton, Orlando Johnson and Tim Diederichs), a junior college transfer (Quentin Turner) and a sophomore (Shawn Deadwiler). The second-year guard Deadwiler was the only one of the group that played a game in a Lions' uniform last year with 19 games. All told the Lions 14-man roster includes six freshmen. The roster entered the season with a combined 247 games with the Lions while averaging just 12.8 minutes per game. The lone senior on the squad is Jon Ziri, who entered the season with 83 games as a Lion. In Head Coach Rodney Tention's first two seasons he inherited teams top heavy with upper classmen as in 2005-06 when the Lions went to the WCC title game and a year ago, the roster had at least three players go over 100 games in their career during those seasons.

SUPER SOPHS
Before the Lions current class of five newcomers, the Lions welcomed five freshman in 2006-07. Two of the five served redshirt seasons - Terron Sutton and Brad Sweezy. The other three saw considerable playing time as a true freshman.
• #3 Shawn Deadwiler - In his first game as a starter, the second-year player from Arizona led the Lions with 15 points and was tied for the team-high with five rebounds. He added a 14-point game against San DIego State, hitting a career-best three three-pointers and then did one better with a 23-point effort against UCSB. He went for 16 against UCSB and averaged 17.7 points in those three games. He is averaging 10.2 ppg with 27 assists and 19 three-pointers.
• #4 Max Craig - He has played in nine of the Lions nine games and is averaging 8.6 minutes. He has scored 12 points with 18 rebounds. The native of Canada played in 26 of the Lions' 31 games in his first season of collegiate basketball.
• #50 Mason Maynard - The Glendale, Ariz., native earned seven starts in his first season, playing in 24 games overall. He averaged 9.9 minutes per game and 2.2 points. This season he has played in nine games and is averaging 8.8 minutes. He has scored 24 points with 14 rebounds.

WHO THE HECK ARE YOU
After graduating nine players the last two seasons, this year's team features a completely different look than the last two seasons. Here is a quick introduction to the seven players making their debut this season.
• #2 Quentin Turner - He opened the season as the team's starting point guard for two games. He is averaging 15.5 minutes while playing in every game this season. He has 4.0 points per game and 13 assists. He had his best game as a Lion with 15 points against Mercer.
• #10 Brad Sweezy - A medical redshirt due to a knee injury actually played three minutes last season against Mississippi State. This season he is averaging 8.3 minutes per contest while playing in 10 games.
• #20 Terron Sutton - The local product from Price High School finally started in his first game as a Lion, playing 19 minutes with eight points, a team-tying five rebounds, a block and a steal against UC Irvine. He has started two games this season and is averaging 8.5 minutes per game.
• #21 Isaiah Jenkins - A guard from right down the street at Westchester High School... First player from near-by high school power to play for Lions in more than 25 years... Undecided as a major and is slated to redshirt the 2007-08 season.
• #22 Brandon Walker - He has played in all 11 games and is averaging 14.1 minutes per game. He went for a career-best 10 points against Long Beach State and is averaging 3.9 points per contest.
• #32 Tim Diederichs - One of the Lions starting freshman, leads team with 28.1 minutes per game and is fifth on the team in scoring with 7.5 points per game. He had a career-best 14 points with six rebounds against St. Bonaventure and then added 14 against BSU. He is averaging 4.2 rebounds per game.
• #33 Orlando Johnson - The second starting freshman, Johnson is averaging 25.1 minutes per game on the season and has become the Lions leading scorer at 12.7 points per game.

LIONS AT HOME
The Lions finished the 2006-07 season 8-5 at home, with four setbacks coming on a halfcourt buzzer beater to Long Beach State, two missed shots at the buzzer to San Francisco (which went to overtime) and Pepperdine, and a five-point setback to San Diego. Overall, LMU is 15-13 at Gersten under Head Coach Rodney Tention. The Lions averaged 2,393 fans per game in 2006-07, the most since the Elite Eight run of 1989-90 when they averaged 4,037 in the 4,156-seat Gersten Pavilion. The Lions drew 31,114 fans in one home season for the first time since 1992-93 and for just the sixth time since the building opened in the 1981-82 season. The Lions are now 191-160 all-time in Gersten.

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 624 games the Lions have played since the three-point line was instituted, the Lions have hit three-pointers in 623 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 352 straight games heading into the game against Mississippi State.