Feb. 19, 2010

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Throughout the 2009-10 men's basketball season, LMU has been celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the 1989-90 Lions' squad that capture the heart of the nation with its memorable run in the NCAA tournament. This year's squad has been wearing throw-back uniforms in honor of that team. And this year's team added to the lore of those uniforms by doing something that team and others before and after didn't - beat a ranked team at Gersten Pavilion.

And on top of that, most of 3,770 in attendance Thursday night weren't even alive the last time the Lions defeated a ranked team at a home venue.

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.

Fans can come and see the final home game of the 2009-10 season when the Lions host Portland, who is in second place in the WCC, on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 7:05 p.m. The game can be heard on KXLU 88.9 FM and on LMULions.com.