Dec. 1, 2009

Complete Release in Printable PDF Format

Interactive Release with Audio:

The LMU men's basketball team will conclude a mini two-game homestand on Wednesday, Dec. 2 when they host Academy of Art University at 7:05 p.m. It will be the second game of the season where The Loft will be open for pregame starting, as well as tailgating will be permitted on Hannon Field. Both open at 5 p.m. The game can be heard on KXLU 88.9 FM.

INSIDE THE LIONS
The Lions, who do not feature a senior on the roster and have started a freshman, three sophomores and a junior the last three games, are 2-5 on the season after falling to UCSB at home, 89-84, Saturday night. Sophomore Drew Viney, who sat last year after transferring from Oregon, has scored 109 points in the last five games and is leading four players with double figures with 18.4 per game. Junior Larry Davis did not play the last two games due to swelling in his Achilles Heal and is not expected to play Wednesday. He is second on the team with 13.2 points through the first four games. Davis served his redshirt season after transferring from Seton Hall last year. Vernon Teel, who led the team last year in scoring, is averaging 12.0 points per game this season. Teel has been the spark plug for the Lions, going for 5.6 rebounds (second on the team), 6.2 assists (2nd in WCC) and 1.43 steals per game. Sophomore Jarred DuBois is fourth on the team in scoring with 10.0 per game, scoring his season-high of 17 against USC.

TOUGH STRETCH
The LMU men's non-conference schedule is quite loaded. Four of the five setbacks for the Lions this season have come by six points or less and the record of the five teams they have lost to is 20-8 (.714). LMU will play five of nine games from Nov. 15 through Dec. 12 against teams picked by Sports Illustrated in their annual college basketball preview edition to advance to this year's NCAA tournament. Montana (Nov. 15, Dec. 10) has been picked to win the Big Sky, Tulsa (Nov. 24) has been picked to represent Conference USA, UC Santa Barbara (Nov. 28) has been selected to win the Big West, and Notre Dame (Dec. 12) has been selected to represent the Big East. Also mixed in that stretch is a trip to Wyoming (Dec. 5) of the Mountain West Conference and USC (Nov. 21) of the Pac-10.

INJURIES
The injury bug is hitting the Lions once again as freshmen Edgar Garibay and Quincy Lawson will miss the rest of the 2009-10 season due to injuries. Garibay will miss the season after tearing his left ACL in the game against UC Santa Barbara. He had started four games and was averaging 23.9 minutes in seven games overall. He was averaging 7.4 points and a team-best 6.1 rebounds per contest. Lawson will have surgery to his right hip after injuring it during the opening weekend. Both will apply for medical redshirts following the conclusion of this season. Junior Larry Davis is still out after having surgery on his Achillies Tendon in the off season. He is expected to miss a couple of weeks.