Jan. 25, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

The Loyola Marymount men's basketball team (4-16, 1-3) will end a three-game road trip in West Coast Conference play, the longest of the season, when they travel to rival Pepperdine (6-14, 0-4) to take on the Waves Saturday, Jan. 26 at 7:30 p.m. The game is part of a doubleheader at Firestone Fieldhouse as the women's team will take on the Waves at 4:30 p.m. It is the longest running series in school history as the programs will meet for the 145th time.

INSIDE THE LIONS
The Lions have been getting balance from their young roster as no player averages more than 30 minutes, nine different players have scored 10 or more points in a game this season and with Quentin Turner's 14 points against Saint Mary's Monday, six different players have led the team in scoring in a game. Freshmen duo Orlando Johnson and Tim Diederichs have started all 20 games this season and are averaging 25.4 and 27.3 minutes per game, respectively. 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 leads the team in scoring with 12.8 points per game while sophomore Shawn Deadwiler is second with 9.8 points. On Saturday, the Lions defense was impressive, holding Santa Clara to just 58 points, the lowest point total for the Lions' opponent this season. 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 third in the WCC in three-pointers with 127.

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 gain more playing time, he 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 in the first weekend of WCC play. He went for 21 points, seven assists and just two turnovers against the defending champs and then added 16 points and five assists in the win over Portland. He hit 7-for-8 from the field and 5-for-6 from the three-point line against Gonzaga while hitting 6-for-6 free throws in the final 1:30 to clinch the victory over Portland. 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 12.3 points in the three WCC games and 6.4 points overall. He has a team-best 61 assists while shooting 27-for-62 (43.5 percent) from the three-point line this season.

TURN AROUND
Sophomore Shawn Deadwiler is having one of the better turn around season in the West Coast Conference this season. As a true freshman, the Arizona native struggled to get his shooting on track after working through a meniscus injury to start the year that kept him out of the first eight games. In 19 games, he averaged 9.7 minutes and scored 30 points, going 10-for-49 from the field and just 2-for-21 from the three-point line. Finally healthy, Deadwiler has become one of the Lions leaders. He enters Saturday's game against Pepperdine second on the squad with 9.8 points per game, 8.2 points better than his freshman season. He is averaging a team-high 27.9 minutes per contest while starting every game this season. He is hitting 36 percent from the field (60-for-167) and 33 percent from long range (32-for-97). He has also added 56 assists, four blocks and 14 steals, all more than double than his freshman numbers.

IN THE WCC
As of games through Jan. 23, freshman Orlando Johnson leads the team in scoring and is ranked 11th in the West Coast Conference at 12.8 points per game. Shawn Deadwiler ranks 21st at 9.8 ppg. In rebounding Johnson is ranked 12th in the WCC at 5.3 per game while senior Jon Ziri is 14th at 4.6. Deadwiler is ranked third in the WCC in free throw percentage at 83.0 percent. As for the long ball, Corey Counts is ranked fourth at 43.5 percent while Johnson is 13th at 36.8 percent. Johnson and Deadwiler are tied at 10th with 1.60 three pointers made per game. As for assists, Counts is ranked seventh at 3.17 and Deadwiler is 9th at 3.05. Ziri is ranked third in steals with 2.05 per game.

TOP FROSH
Freshman Orlando Johnson is already making a name for himself just 20 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.

ALL-TIME FRESHMAN RANKINGS
Johnson has scored 255 points with 104 rebounds through 20 games. He heads into the Pepperdine game ranked ninth all-time in freshman scoring, replacing Stanley Thorne, who had 222 points in 1999-00. Charles Dorsey is 8th with 257. He is ranked 8th in rebounds, replacing Damian Martin who had 98 in 2004. J.J. Sola is 7th with 107 in 2000. Johnson is averaging 12.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, which would rank 4th and 2nd, respectively. He 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 92-39 (.702) and prior to Portland (6-11), the record was 86-28 (.754). The Lions are 1-7 so far at home this season, and those setbacks have come to Arkansas Little Rock who is 11-5, San Diego State who is 12-4, UC Santa Barbara who is 13-4, Mississippi State who is 12-5, Wagner, who is 12-4, Sam Houston State is 13-2, and Gonzaga 13-4. The Lions are now 192-164 all-time in Gersten.

SCOUTING PEPPERDINE
Pepperdine is in the middle of transition as they are being led by interim Head Coach Eric Bridgeland, who took over for Vance Walberg two weeks ago. The Waves are 6-14 on the season and 0-4 in the WCC. They have lost eight of nine with their lone win coming against Hope International at home. This will be just the Waves' sixth home game of the season as they are 2-3 entering Saturday. Tyrone Shelley leads the team with 15.4 points per game and Malcolm Thomas leads the team with 9.0 rebounds per game.

HISTORY VS. PEPPERDINE
As mentioned this is the 145th meeting between LMU and Pepperdine. The Waves hold an 85-59 edge in the series, winning the last nine at Firestone Fieldhouse. The Lions last won in Malibu in 1998, 81-79 in overtime. The Waves are 43-16 against the Lions in Malibu. Head Coach Rodney Tention is 1-3 against Pepperdine.

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 126 total steals, 41 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 6.5 and leads the team in steals (2.05 spg). He set career-highs with 19 points against New Mexico, 12 rebounds against UC Santa Barbara, and five steals against Mississippi State.

FAREWELL
Although athletically listed as a redshirt junior, guard Chris Kanne is a senior academically and will graduate this May with a degree in Business Law. This will be his final season in a Lions' uniform. The Fullerton, Calif., native was a student manager for the Lions in 2004-05 and then when Head Coach Rodney Tention was hired in 2005-06, Kanne went through the walk-on try-outs and earned a spot on the Lions roster. He has been a key member of the Lions since. Appearing in 23 games, Kanne has averaged just 2.1 minutes per contest but has been valuable in practice and scout teams. Kanne will join fellow senior Jon Ziri as the only two players wrapping up their career this May.