Feb. 26, 2011

LMU men's basketball will conclude the 2010-11 regular season when they travel to San Francisco on Saturday, Feb. 26 for a 7 p.m., tipoff. It will be the final game of the WCC campaign before the 2011 Zappos.com WCC Championships, held in Las Vegas at the Orleans Arena, March 4-7. The game can be heard on KXLU 88.9 FM and LMULions.com.

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INSIDE THE LIONS
LMU enters the game at Santa Clara coming off yet another heartbreaker, falling to Santa Clara 94-88 in double overtime on Thursday. They now have a record of 10-19 overall and 2-11in the WCC. The Lions started third different line-up in as many games, bringing their total to 15 on the season and nine in WCC play thanks to three more out due to illness/injury (see page 22 for complete list of line-ups). Ashley Hamilton had bad case of the flu all week, while Larry Davis had a pulled groin and Edgar Garibay a severe sprained right ankle. Hamilton returned Saturday at Portland State to go for his third double-double of the season, scoring 18 points with 13 assists. Garibay and Davis missed their second straight game at Portland State. Garibay is out of the reminder of the year and Davis' status will be evaluated prior to the game Thursday. In WCC play, the Lions have dropped half of their setbacks by an average of just three points, a pair of double overtime setback (Portland and SCU), a one-point setback to USF and three points on the road to Pepperdine. Drew Viney, who missed three games due to Migraines, came back in a big way, going for 74 points, 22 rebounds, seven assists, four blocks and five steals in the last three games, including his ninth career double-double against Santa Clara, scoring a season-high 30 points with 11 rebounds. He leads the team in scoring at 16.6ppg and rebounds at 6.6 rpg, ranking third and sixth, respectively, in the WCC. He is averaging 24.7 points the last three games. Vernon Teel averages 12.5 points and 5.6 rebounds per game this season. Freshman Anthony Ireland is turning heads in his first season of college basketball, averaging 10.1 ppg, 3.7 rpg and 3.1 apg. He equaled a career-high against Santa Clara, scoring 21 points. He also had his first double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds in the first meeting against Gonzaga. Hamilton continues to work off the rust from the broken hand, raising his averages to 9.3 ppg and 5.9 rpg while shooting 51.4 percent from the field, including 8-for-11 against Portland State Saturday.

SO CLOSE
The 2011 WCC season is proving to be one of a heartbreaking nature. Twenty of the Lions' 29 games heading into San Francisco have been decided by 10 points or less. The Lions fell to 6-14 in those games with the double overtime setback to Santa Clara. Ten have come in WCC play, with the Lions going just 2-8. Half of the WCC games (seven) have been decided by a combined 24 points (4.0 per game). Overall on the season, LMU has had six setbacks by a combined 12 points. Those include Morgan State by two, Bradley by two, Portland by one, Pepperdine by three, USF by one and San Diego by three. The 2009-10 season was not one for the faint of heart either. The Lions had 22 of their 33 games decided by 10 points or less and they were 12-10 in those games, 5-4 in WCC play. In the last two years the Lions have played in 41 games decided by 10 points or less, going 18-23 overall and 7-11 against WCC opponents.

MORE RECORDS
Despite missing two games with a calf injury prior to WCC play and then the last three games due to migraines, Drew Viney returned in a big way last weekend and continues to work his way up the record books. In two games last week, he scored 23 points with four rebounds, two assists and a steal against Portland State and had 21 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal in the win over Pepperdine. In LMU history, he currently ranks 15th in career scoring average (16.4 ppg), 16th in made three-pointers (92), 17th in three-pointers attempted (231), sixth in three-point field goal percentage (.398), 24th in rebound average (6.8 rpg), t-12th in blocks (60), and 4th in block average (1.1). This season in the WCC, he enters the week ranked 3rd in scoring (16.0 ppg), 6th in rebounds (6.4 rpg), 14th in field goal percentage (45.5), 7th in blocked shots (1.0 bpg), 15th in three-point field goals per game (1.3), 4th in defensive rebounds (5.0) and 6th in minutes played (32.8 mpg). He has found his long-distance form in WCC play, ranking second in the league by hitting 46.2 percent of his three-pointers (12-for-26).