Feb. 19, 2010

Game Notes in Printable PDF Format

Interactive Game Notes with Audio

LMU will play the final home game of the 2009-10 season when they host Portland on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. The game is part of Parents' Weekend on the LMU campus with the tailgate party on Hannon Field starting at 5. The game will feature two of the hotter teams in the WCC, with the Lions winning four of their last six and Portland winning seven of eight. The game can be heard on KXLU 88.9 FM and on LMULions.com.

SOLES4SOULS The West Coast Conference and Zappos.com have partnered with Soles for Soles to donate gently worn or new shoes to the Haiti relief. Through February 26, donation bins will be located in Gersten Pavilion for LMU to make donations for those in need. Fans interested in donating to the cause can bring their shoes to LMU basketball games through February 26.

RECORD WIN The Lions 74-66 win over Gonzaga, who entered the week ranked 13th in the Associated Press Poll and 9th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll, is the first-ever in Gersten Pavilion. The opportunities to beat a ranked team at home have been few. The building opened on Jan. 15, 1981 when the Lions faced Saint Mary's and since then, LMU has hosted just 15 games against a ranked opponent. Overall, in more than 75 years located on the bluff in Westchester, the Lions have hosted just 29 ranked opponents. During the Paul Westhead era, in which the Lions won three West Coast Conference titles, the Lions hosted just one ranked opponent - No. 7 Oklahoma on Dec. 23, 1989. Westhead teams own half of LMU's wins over ranked opponents in school history, the last coming on March 23, 1990 when the Lions defeated Alabama in the NCAA West Regional Semifinal, 62-60. The win over Gonzaga was the first since that victory over the Crimson Tide, snapping a 35-game skid against ranked opponents. In addition, it is the second highest ranked opponent LMU has defeated in school history. The Lions defeated USC in the third place game of the 1961 NCAA West Sub-Regional, 69-67, on March 18, 1961. During that time, the final poll was done before the NCAA tournament and the Trojans were ranked seventh by the Associated Press and fifth by the coaches' poll. In addition, it is the first win at home over a ranked opponent since that 1960-61 squad that won the school's first conference championship. They defeated 18th-ranked Utah that season, 85-64 on Dec. 1, 1960.

INSIDE THE LIONS The Lions, who do not feature a senior on the roster and are starting a freshman, three sophomores and a junior, already have surpassed their win total of the last two seasons combined, have matched 2007 for the most wins since 2003, and have doubled their conference win total from a year ago. The Lions enter the Portland game at 14-13 overall and 5-6 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), defeated their first ranked opponent (#9 Gonzaga) since 1990, defeated a top-10 team for the second time in school history (the last being in 1960), posted a three-game road winning streak for the first time since they won their last road game of 1994-95 and first two road games of the 95-96 campaign, snapped a 24-game road skid with a win at USC, and snapped a 20-game WCC road skid with a win at Santa Clara. They hadn't won three straight road games in one season since 1991-92. The Lions enter the game against Portland averaging 75.6 points per game, which is the most by a Lions' squad since they averaged 75.9 in 1998-99. In addition, 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).

SEEING DOUBLES The Lions enter the final stretch of conference play with five players averaging double figures, led by sophomore Drew Viney, who leads the team in scoring at 16.8 points per contest and rebounds at 7.0 per contest. The first-year player who transferred from Oregon in 2008, has four double-doubles this season, including his 16 points and 10 rebounds in the Gonzaga win. He is ranked fourth in the WCC in scoring and fifth in rebounds. Vernon Teel is second on the team at 14.6 points per game, and moved into 8th within the WCC in scoring after a career-best 28 at USF last Saturday. 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 Gonzaga ranked 7th in the nation (as of Feb. 14) and first in the WCC in assists at 6.11 per game and first in the WCC in steals at 1.81 per game. Sophomore Jarred DuBois returned to the Lions' line-up against Pepperdine and put in 15 points to raise his average to 12.8 on the season and is second for the Lions with 48 three-pointers, hitting at a 41.4 percent clip. He enters the Gonzaga game ranked 16th in the WCC in scoring and 5th in three-pointers made with 2.1. Sophomore Kevin Young has vaulted his average over two points the past month and he is now averaging 11.0 points (21st in WCC) and 5.4 rebounds (t-13th) per game. Junior Larry Davis made his return to the line-up on Thursday, and is fifth on the team with 10.5 points per contest.

INJURY UPDATE The busiest man on the LMU roster has been head trainer Keith Ellison and they finally had a full compliment of players in the win over Gonzaga. On the season, injuries have forced the Lions to feature 10 different starting line-ups. They were finally able to go back to their most successful line-up of Drew Viney, Vernon Teel, Jarred DuBois, Kevin Young and Ashley Hamilton in the win over Gonzaga. They improve to 6-1 when they start. Here is why all the changes: Ashley Hamilton suffered a MCL tear in his right knee at the start of the second half of the Portland game and missed three games. He returned in the second game against Pepperdine and played 18 minutes. Jarred DuBois, who had played every game of his young career, missed four games due to dehydration. He spent Wednesday, Jan. 20, in a Portland hospital taking fluids and did not return until earning the start against Pepperdine Feb. 6, scoring 15 points in 33 minutes. He suffered a sprained ankle against Santa Clara on Feb. 11 but went on to play 39 minutes against USF on Feb. 13. Junior Larry Davis has played just 14 games on the year after having surgery on his Achilles Tendon in the off season. He had not played since Jan. 21 (Portland) until scoring 12 points off the bench against Gonzaga. Freshman Given Kalipinde missed six games with an ankle sprain and returned against USF on Jan. 14. He sprained the same right ankle against Pepperdine on Feb. 6 and played just nine minutes. He did not play against Santa Clara and played just four minutes against USF on Feb. 13. 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.