Jan. 29, 2010

Game Notes in Printable PDF Format

Interactive Game Notes with Audio:

LMU men's basketball will host Saint Mary's College on Saturday, Jan. 30 for Homecoming 2010: A 20th Anniversary Celebration. Game time is set for 7 p.m., and can be seen live on FSN West. A halftime ceremony honoring the team will also be aired live and fans can gather with the team prior to the game at the Pregame Taligate Party on Hannon Field starting at 5 p.m. The game can also be heard live on KXLU 88.9 FM

HOMECOMING 2010

The 2009-10 basketball season LMU is honoring the 20th Anniversary of the 1989-90 team that advanced to the NCAA tournament Elite Eight and captured the nation's attention with its record-setting system and overcoming tragedy in the process. The celebration will be highlighted by Homecoming 2010: A 20th Anniversary Celebration, which will be the weekend of Jan. 28-31. The Schedule of Events:
Friday, Jan. 29, 2010
• 1989-90 Team Reception - 9 p.m.
Courtyard by Marriott Los Angeles Westside (open to all fans)
6333 Bristol Parkway
Culver City , CA 90230
Saturday, Jan. 30, 2010
• LMU Pregame Tailgate Party - 5 p.m. - Hannon Field
LMU Athletics Homecoming Tent with 1989-90 Team
• LMU Men's Basketball vs. Saint Mary's - 7 p.m.
Gersten Pavilion - Live on FSN West
• 20th Anniversary Celebration - Halftime - Gersten Pavilion

INSIDE THE LIONS
The Lions, who do not feature a senior on the roster and are starting three sophomores, a freshman and a junior, already have surpassed their win total of the last two seasons combined and are 11-11 overall and 2-4 in the WCC. 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 San Diego averaging 76.5 points per game, which is ranked 44th nationally (as of Jan. 24) 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).

INJURIES
The busiest man on the LMU roster has been head trainer Keith Ellison. The injury bug is hitting the Lions once again as conference play heats up. The Lions featured their ninth different starting line-up against the Zags. Here is why: Ashley Hamilton suffered a MCL tear in his right knee at the start of the second half of the Portland game and will be out two to six weeks. Jarred DuBois, who had played every game of his young career, did not play against Portland and Gonzaga due to dehydration. He spent Wednesday in a Portland hospital taking fluids and has yet to regain his strength. He is doubtful for this weekend's games. Sophomore Drew Viney, the team's leading scorer and rebounder missed the games against USF and Santa Clara due to pain in his right tibia but returned against Portland. Junior Larry Davis missed five games after having surgery on his Achilles Tendon in the off season. He returned to action against Notre Dame but then did not play against CSUB and Pepperdine due to soreness in that tendon but returned in the game against USF. He continues to deal with pain in that foot from a stress reaction and is out two weeks. Freshman Given Kalipinde missed six games with an ankle sprain and returned against USF. It all started with freshmen Edgar Garibay and Quincy Lawson, who 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 7.4 points and a team-best 6.1 rebounds per contest. Lawson will have surgery to his left hip after injuring it during the opening weekend. Both will apply for medical redshirts following the conclusion of this season.

SO CLOSE
The 2009-10 season is not one for the faint of heart. The Lions have had 14 of their 22 games decided by less than 10 points and they are 6-8 in those games, 1-2 in WCC play, after defeating San Diego by three, 68-65, on Thursday. 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
Thanks to Kevin Young's 21 points against USD, the Lions now have five players averaging double figures, led by sophomore Drew Viney, who leads the team in scoring at 16.3 points per contest and rebounds at 7.1 per contest. The first-year player who transferred from Oregon in 2008, has three double-doubles this season. He is ranked fifth in the WCC in both scoring and rebounds. He missed the games against USF and Santa Clara due to pain in his right tibia and returned with 18 points against Portland and 20 points, nine rebounds against Gonzaga. Vernon Teel is second on the team at 14.7 points per game, going for a career-best 27 against Gonzaga. 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 Saint Mary's ranked seventh in the nation (as of Jan. 24) and first in the WCC (as of Jan. 24) in assists at 6.3 per game. He has been flirting with a triple-doubles this season and also averages 5.6 rebounds and 1.7 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. As mentioned, DuBlois missed the Portland and Gonzaga games due to dehydration. He enters the Saint Mary's game ranked 17th in the WCC in scoring and 5th in three-pointers made with 2.2. 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 10.4 points per contest. Young reached double-digits again on Saturday, and is now averaging 10.1 per game.

2009-10 QUICK HITTERS
• The injury bug has once again been a thorn to the Lions this season, featuring 10 different starting line-ups 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. They then made an eighth change with the injury to DuBois and then the ninth with the injury to Hamilton. LMU then had their 10th different line-up against San Diego. 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 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 20.8 more points than a year ago, putting in 76.5 points per game this season, after averaging just 55.7 a year ago. The Lions are third in the WCC in scoring and 44th out of 334 schools nationally (Jan. 24). The Lions had just one game of 70 or more points a year ago, after 22 games this season they have 15.