Feb. 8, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

The Loyola Marymount men's basketball team will have another chance to put together some momentum as the second half of West Coast Conference play begins. The Lions (5-18, 2-5) are in a tie for fifth in the WCC and will have a chance to earn consecutive wins for the first time this season when they head to Portland (7-16, 1-6) on Saturday, Feb. 9. However, it won't be easy as the Lions enter a tough stretch when they head to Pacific Northwest. They will be looking for just their third win at the Chiles Center since 1994 and will then face the top two teams in the WCC in their next two - at Gonzaga on Feb. 11 and then Saint Mary's on Parent's Weekend at Gersten Pavilion on Feb. 16. The game against the Pilots is set for 7 p.m. and can be heard on KXLU 88.9 FM and LMULions.com.

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, six different players have led the team in scoring in a game, and with Brad Sweezy earning his first career start Saturday, have now started 10 different players. The freshmen duo Orlando Johnson and Tim Diederichs have started all 23 games this season and are averaging 25.6 and 26.7 minutes per game, respectively. They are currently second in LMU history among freshman for games started. 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 12.5 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.

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 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. He then scored nine straight points in the final three minutes to clinch the win against San Francisco. 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 10.3 points in the five WCC games and 6.6 points overall. He has a team-best 73 assists while shooting 29-for-68 (42.6 percent) from the three-point line this season.

TURN AROUND
Sophomore Shawn Deadwiler is having one of the better turn around seasons in the West Coast Conference. 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 Saturdday's game against Portland second on the squad with 10.1 points per game, 8.6 points better than his freshman season. He is averaging a team-high 28.4 minutes per contest while starting every game this season. He is hitting 35 percent from the field (69-for-194) and 33.3 percent from long range (38-for-114). He has also added 62 assists, four blocks and 18 steals, all more than double than his freshman numbers. On Monday in the win over USF, he went for 18 points and seven rebounds, hitting four three-pointers.

IN THE WCC
As of games through Feb. 7, freshman Orlando Johnson leads the team in scoring and is ranked 12th in the West Coast Conference at 12.5 points per game. Shawn Deadwiler ranks 19th at 10.1 ppg. In rebounding Johnson is ranked 12th in the WCC at 5.1 per game while senior Jon Ziri is 13th at 4.8. Deadwiler is ranked second in the WCC in free throw percentage at 83.6 percent. As for the long ball, Corey Counts is ranked fourth at 42.6 percent while Johnson is 15th at 35.1 percent. Deadwiler is ranked 8th in the WCC with 1.65 three-pointers per game while Johnson in 12th at 1.48. As for assists, Counts is ranked 9th at 3.17 and Deadwiler is 10th at 2.70. Ziri is ranked third in steals with 1.87 per game.

TOP FROSH
Freshman Orlando Johnson is already making a name for himself just 21 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 287 points with 118 rebounds through 22 games. He heads into the Portland game ranked seventh all-time in freshman scoring, replacing Enoch Simmons, who had 269 points in 1985-86. Andy Osborn (2001-02) is sixth with 293 points. Johnson is also ranked tied for 5th in rebounds. He is tied with Luther Philyaw who had 118 in 1973. Johnson is averaging 12.5 points and 5.1 rebounds per game, which would rank 4th and 3rd, 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 136-85 (.615) and prior to Portland (7-16), the record was 110-41 (.728). The Lions are 2-8 so far at home this season, and those setbacks have come to Arkansas Little Rock who is 14-7, San Diego State who is 16-6, UC Santa Barbara who is 16-5, Mississippi State who is 15-7, Wagner, who is 15-6, Sam Houston State is 17-4, and Gonzaga 17-6. The Lions are now 193-165 all-time in Gersten.

SCOUTING PORTLAND
Portland enters Saturday's game at 7-16 overall and 1-6 in the WCC. They have lost six straight in WCC play after opening with an 82-78 win over Pepperdine. They defeated Cal State Bakersfield 73-63 in the middle of their conference stretch. In their last three WCC games, they have scored 41 to Gonzaga, 49 to Saint Mary's and 50 to Santa Clara. Nik Raivio leads the team in scoring at 12.8 points per game while as a team they average 64.5.

HISTORY VS. PORTLAND
This will be the 77th meeting between LMU and Portland in a series that dates back to 1954. The Lions won the very first meeting in Los Angeles 89-57 and hold a 41-35 edge in the series. The Lions have not played well in Portland, as the Pilots lead the series in the Chiles Center 15-22. The Lions are just 2-12 in the last 14 meeting since 1995 in Portland. The Lions won the first meeting of the 2007-08 season on Jan. 14, 73-68 (see box score on page 9).