Jan. 13, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

Loyola Marymount men's basketball team (3-14, 0-1) will continue their West Coast Conference opening weeknd at home with the Portland Pilots (6-10, 1-0) in Gersten Pavilion on Monday at 8 p.m. It will be the second straight game of conference play on television for the Lions, this one thanks to the WCC's package with ESPN. It will be on ESPNU along with the radio on KXLU 88.9 FM and LMULions.com.

INSIDE THE LIONS
LMU enters the third conference season under Head Coach Rodney Tention. The Lions have been getting balance from their young roster as no player averages more than 30 minutes and nine different players have scored 10 or more points in a game this season. Freshmen duo Orlando Johnson and Tim Diederichs have started all 17 games this season and are averaging 24.7 and 27.7 minutes per game, respectively. In addition, the third true freshman on the squad, Brandon Walker, has also played in 16 game of the 17 games and is averaging 14.5 minutes per contest. He missed the Gonzaga game due to a sprained ankle. No freshman in LMU history is listed to have started every game in their first year of action (however, Forrest McKenzie averaged 29.8 minutes per game as a freshman in 1981 to set the all-time freshman scoring record and games started was not recorded for that season). Johnson earned West Coast Conference Player of the Week honors on Dec. 17 with his 25-point, 8-rebound performance at UCR and then did one better with a 26-point performance against Wagner. He leads the team in scoring with 13.1 points per game. 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 at UC Riverside. The three-point total is the most since the Lions hit 12 on Jan. 29, 1999 against Saint Mary's. The Lions are second in the WCC in three-pointers with 94.

WHERE IT COUNTS
In 2005-06, junior Corey Counts attended a try-out to join the Loyola Marymount men's basketball program as a walk-on. He made the team and as he looked to game more playing time, broke his jaw. He then played 25 games at an average of 12 minutes per game a year ago for the injury-riddled Lions. As a junior, he has become the Lions floor leader and it reached a high-point on Saturday. He went for 21 points, seven assists and just two turnovers against the defending champs. He hit 7-for-8 from the field and 5-for-6 from the three-point line. In addition, he does it in the classroom. He 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 a 3.08 GPA and is an Economics major. A sign of things to come came 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 5.9 points with a team-best 53 assists while shooting 22-for-48 (46 percent) from the three-point line this season. He leads the teams in assists and averages 22.5 minutes per contest.

IN THE WCC
As of games through Jan. 13, freshman Orlando Johnson leads the team in scoring and is ranked 11th in the West Coast Conference at 13.1 points per game. Shawn Deadwiler ranks 20th at 9.8 ppg. In rebounding Johnson is ranked 13th in the WCC at 4.9 per game while senior Jon Ziri is 4th with one less rebound. Johnson also ranks 11th in the WCC in field goal percentage at 45.3 percent while Deadwiler is ranked third in the WCC in free throw percentage at 83.3 percent. As for the long ball, Corey Counts, thanks to his 5-for-6 effort Saturday, is ranked third at 45.8 percent while Johnson is 12th at 38.9 percent. Johnson is 9th in three-pointers made with 1.65 and Deadwhiler is 11th at 1.53. As for assists, Counts is ranked seventh at 3.12 and Deadwhiler is 10th at 2.82. Ziri is ranked third in steals with 2.06 per game and junior Marko Deric is 15th in blocked shot at 0.53 per game. Johnson is ranked 8th in offensive rebounds at 2.29.

TOP FROSH
Freshman Orlando Johnson is already making a name for himself just 17 games into his career and is on pace to become one of the all-time leading freshman in LMU history. Johnson scored 26 points with six rebounds and three assists in the overtime setback to Wagner. The point total ranked third all-time in LMU history for a freshman and came on the heals of his 25-point, eight-rebound performance against UC Riverside to earn West Coast Conference Player of the Week honors on Dec. 17. Johnson has four games with 20 or more points as his 23 points against Presbyterian ranks 12th all-time and his 21 in the win over Mercer ranks 20th 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 223 points with 84 rebounds through 16 games. Johnson is averaging 13.1 points and 4.9 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).

EVEN TOUGHER AT HOME
The Lions home schedule, which featured a "BCS" school for just the 29th time since 1905 when Mississippi State came to Gersten Pavilion on Dec. 19, is one of the toughest in recent years. The combined record of the Lions opponents at home this season is 76-23 (.768). The Lions are 0-7 so far at home this season, and those setbacks have come to Arkansas Little Rock who is 10-4, San Diego State who is 11-3, UC Santa Barbara who is 12-3, Mississippi State who is the worst record of the bunch at 9-5, Wagner, who is 10-4, Sam Houston State is 12-1, and Gonzaga 12-4. The Lions are now 191-164 all-time in Gersten.

SCOUTING PORTLAND
Portland earned an 82-78 win over Pepperdine to open WCC play on Saturday. Sherrard Watson scored 22 points, Nik Raivio added 17 on 6-for-18 shooting and Ethan Niedermeyer added 16 as the Pilots out-rebounded the Waves 43-32. On the season, the Pilots are 6-10 overall and 1-0 in the WCC and are led by Raivio's 13.5 points per game. Freshman Luke Sikma is fourth in the league in rebounds at 8.4 per game.

LMU'S JZ
The Lions lone senior in 2007-08 is Jon Ziri, a fifth-year player from Tempe, Ariz. Ziri hit the century mark against Gonzaga, playing in his 100th game. He leads the team in games played, 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 120 total steals, 35 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 7.1 and steals (2.20 spg). He set career-highs with 19 points against New Mexico, 12 rebounds against UC Santa Barbara, and five steals against Mississippi State.