Men's Basketball 1/19/2010 12:00:00 AM

Monster Road Trip Starts with Portland

Jan. 19, 2010

Game Notes in Printable PDF Format
Interactive Game Notes with Audio:

LMU men's basketball will leave the state of the California for the final time in the regular season when they head to the Pacific Northwest for a two-game road stint against the two teams picked to go 1-2 in the preseason poll. The trip will start with Portland on Thursday, Jan. 21 at 7 p.m. Like the Lions, who have wins over USC and Notre Dame, the Pilots turned heads early in the season with non-conference wins over UCLA and Minnesota and were ranked nationally. Both teams will enter at 1-2 in conference play and the game can be heard live on KXLU 88.9 FM and on LMULions.com.

ON THE AIR
With the 20th Anniversary of the 1989-90 LMU men's basketball team, who advanced to the Elite Eight that season, taking place throughout the season, the LMU radio broadcasts will take part in that celebration. For the trip to the Pacific Northwest, LMU junior Jesse Kass will be doing the broadcast as normal play-by-play announcer Jeff Lampe has commitments that will keep him home. Joining Kass on the broadcast for the Portland game will be Keith Forman, who was part of the broadcasting team in 1989-90. Forman and Brian Berger combined to bring the action of that magical season on the air through KXLU 88.9 FM. Both Berger and Forman will join Lampe for the homecoming game on Jan. 30 against Saint Mary's. The entire team will be present and honored at halftime of that game as part of Homecoming 2010: A 20th Anniversary Celebration. KXLU 88.9 FM, the student radio station at LMU, has been the home of LMU basketball for more than 48 years. For more information on the 20th Anniversary, see page 36.

INSIDE THE LIONS
The Lions, who do not feature a senior on the roster and who are starting three sophomores, a freshman and a junior, already have surpassed their win total of the last two seasons combined and are 10-9 overall and 1-2 in the WCC after an 81-70 win over Santa Clara on Saturday. The Lions' roster is ranked 300 out of 343 NCAA Division-I teams in terms of experience but still managed to have their longest win streak since the 1995-96 season (6 games), the most non-conference wins since that season (9) and won three straight road games for the first time since they won their last road game of 1994-95 and first two road games of the 95-96 campaign. They hadn't won three straight road games in one season since 1991-92. The Lions enter the game against Portland averaging 79.3 points per game, which ranks 31st in the nation (as of Jan. 14) and is the most by a Lions' squad since they averaged 91.1 on the 91-92 team 18 years ago. Two of the Lions' wins this season have come on the road against teams from the "Power 6" conferences (Nov. 21 at USC, 67-59; Dec. 12 at Notre Dame, 87-85).

SO CLOSE
As mentioned, the 2009-10 season is not one for the faint of heart. The Lions have had 13 of their 18 games decided by less than 10 points and they are 5-8 in those games, 0-2 in WCC play, heading into Thursday's game against Portland. Seven of the Lions' nine setbacks have come by six points or less, and combined are at an average of four points per game. In all seven of those games, the Lions were tied or held a lead with under three minutes to play.

SEEING DOUBLES
The Lions have four players averaging double figures, led by sophomore Drew Viney, who leads the team in scoring at 16.5 points per contest and rebounds at 7.2 per contest. The first-year player who transferred from Oregon in 2008, has three double-doubles this season. He is ranked fourth in the WCC in scoring and fifth in rebounds. He missed the games against USF and Santa Clara due to pain in his right tibia and is likely out for the weekend trip to Portland and Gonzaga. Vernon Teel is second on the team at 14.4. Teel has been the spark plug for the Lions, earning a pair of WCC Player of the Week honors and December Player of the Month honors. He enters the game against Portland ranked fourth in the nation (as of Jan. 14) and first in the WCC (as of Jan. 15) in assists at 6.3 per game. He has been flirting with a triple-doubles this season and also averages 5.8 rebounds and 1.79 steals. Sophomore Jarred DuBois has risen his average to 12.7 on the season and leads the Lions with 41 three-pointers while hitting at a 41.8 percent clip. He enters the Portland game ranked 14th in the WCC in scoring and fifth in three-pointers made with 2.1. Junior Larry Davis returned to the Lions' line-up against USF after missing a pair of games and led the Lions with 16 points. He had also missed six games leading up to the Notre Dame game, and returned with an instant impact. He made the assist on the game winner against Notre Dame and the three-pointer with 15 seconds left to send the LBSU game to overtime. He is fourth on the team with 11.1 points per contest.

2009-10 QUICK HITTERS
The injury bug has once again been a thorn to the Lions this season. LMU has struggled to find a consistent line-up because of it. They were forced to change their starting line-up for the sixth time on the season with the injury to Viney against San Francisco. They started their seventh different line-up against Santa Clara. This came after the Lions had finally found a consistent line-up after losing Edgar Garibay for the season and Larry Davis for eight games throughout the start of the year. The most consistent line-up was with Viney, Vernon Teel, Jarred DuBois, Kevin Young and Ashley Hamilton. They had a record of 5-1.
The Lions set the tone for their scoring right out of the gates in the first two games of the season, going for more than 80 points in consecutive games since the 2005-06 season. In the final game of the decade, they scored 104 against Seattle, cracking the century mark for the first time since Jan. 29, 1998. The Lions have now had a 100-point game in every decade since the 1940s, a decade in which they missed three seasons due to World War II. The Lions have 11 80-plus games on the season, six more than the total of the previous three seasons combined. The Lions are averaging 23.6 more points than a year ago, putting in 79.3 points per game this season, after averaging just 55.7 a year ago. The Lions are second in the WCC in scoring (as of Jan. 17) and 31st out of 334 schools nationally (Jan. 14). The Lions had just one game of 70 or more points a year ago, after 19 games this season they have 15.
The Lions finished the game against Seattle attempting just seven three-pointers, hitting four of them (57.1 percent). But they dominated in the paint and finished the game shooting 59.3 percent (32-for-54) from the field. Since 1998, it matches the third highest shooting percentage since going 32-for-54 against Vanguard on Nov. 17, 2000. They shot 62.3 percent in a win over Texas A&M on Dec. 2, 2001 and 60.9 percent in a 74-71 win over Santa Clara on Jan. 27, 2007. On the season they are shooting 46.9 percent from the field, which is third in the WCC and 51st (out of 334) nationally, and 40.2 percent from long distance, which is second in the WCC and 26th nationally.
The Lions entered the season without a road win since 2007. They sleighed that dragon in a big way, breaking that streak with a 65-57 win at USC and then an even bigger statement with an 87-85 win at Notre Dame. With the win at Cal State Bakersfield, the Lions have posted three consecutive road wins in a single season for the first time since 1990-91. It was the Lions' first win on the USC campus since the first game of the 1976-77 season, a span of 33 years. It is also the first overall road win since Dec. 8, 2007 against Boise State, snapping a streak of 24 games. It was the first win against a Pac-10 team since the Lions beat the Trojans on Dec. 4, 1995, 86-83, at Gersten Pavilion. The win against Notre Dame was the first over a current member of the Big East since 1988 when the Lions beat Marquette, 102-98 on Jan. 6, 1988. It also snapped Notre Dame's home non-conference winning streak at 42 games, giving them their first setback since Dec. 3, 2005.
The Lions finished the game against Notre Dame with a 40-33 edge in rebounding. On the season, the Lions have out rebounded 12 of their 19 opponents. It was just the second time all season Notre Dame had been out rebounded and in Wyoming, the Lions finished with 53 rebounds, the most since grabbing 54 at UNLV, Jan. 3, 2001. The Lions had 27 offensive rebounds and out rebounded the Cowboys by 23. That is the largest margin since a plus-25 in a 74-65 win over Mississippi Valley State on Nov. 14, 2001 at the Guardian's Classic held at the University of Alabama. LMU leads the WCC in offensive rebounds with 13.5 per game.
LMU enters the Portland game second in the WCC in turnover margin. On the season, LMU has scored 294 points off turnovers through 19 games and are 7-1 when having more points off TOs than their opponents. They had 196 through 19 games last year.
The Lions had 16 steals in the win over North Dakota. They did one better against AAU, collecting 17. That total equals the most steals in a single game since they had 17 in an 83-79 overtime loss to Portland on Feb. 16, 2002. They have 143 through 19 games this season, an average of 7.5 per game, which is tops in the WCC. At the same point last year, they had 97 steals. The Lions are also second in the WCC in blocks with 4.7 per game (89 total). They had 55 all of last year.