Jan. 8, 2014
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SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- Like it did to start the season, the beginning of West Coast Conference play will be dominated by road games. LMU will continue its four-game road swing in WCC play when they visit San Diego on Thursday, Jan. 9 at 7 pm. It will be the second time in less than two weeks the Lions (10-6, 2-2) will take on the Toreros (9-7, 0-3).
LMULIONS.COM GAMEDAY:
THE MATCH-UP
The Lions will complete the regular season series with both San Diego and BYU just three weeks into the young conference campaign, finishing a four-game road swing when they visit San Diego on Thursday and then fly to Provo to face BYU on Saturday. The Lions earned a 65-62 win over San Diego. Freshman Evan Payne had 16 points while senior Anthony Ireland had 10 points and eight assists. The point total was his lowest since scoring nine points at BYU on Jan. 3, 2013 (34 games). Junior Johnny Dee 28 points in the first meeting. This will be the 13th meeting for LMU under Head Coach Max Good, who is 6-6 against the Toreros.
INSIDE THE LIONS
LMU opened the 2013-14 season playing nine of its first 10 games away from home, and they start WCC play in a similar fashion. After running their home winning streak to five games with a home sweep of BYU and San Diego to start conference, the Lions are in a stretch of four straight away from Gersten Pavilion, playing seven of nine on the road. They began the four-game road swing with a pair of setbacks, including an 86-81 overtime heartbreaker at Santa Clara last Saturday. LMU is 10-6 on the season and 2-2 in WCC play. The 5-0 start at home equals the best start at Gersten Pavilion since winning the first five in 2006-07.
The Lions hit 84.6 percent from the free throw line (22-26) at San Francisco on Thursday, hitting better than 71 percent in a game 12 times season. They are tops in the WCC overall hitting 76.7 percent on the season, and as of Jan. 5 the Lions ranked 9th in the nation. Free throws played a key role in the overtime setback at Santa Clara as the Lions shot below 78 percent for the first time in five games, going 13-for-19 (68.4 percent), while Santa Clara went 24-for-27 (88.9 percent), hitting 22 of 23 in the second half and overtime.
The Lions have had double-digit offensive rebounds in 14 of the 16 games on the season and lead the West Coast Conference with 13.7 per game. They went for 13 offensive boards in outrebounding Santa Clara 41-36 Saturday. The Lions had a season-high 20 offensive rebounds good for 23 second chance points in the win over UC Riverside. They equalled that total with 20 against La Sierra, going for a season-high 25 second chance points. The Lions grabbed 17 offensive rebounds to cut a 23-point deficit to five against NIU, and against Long Beach State the Lions had 19 offensive boards and held a 45-30 edge on the glass. They used five of their 19 offensive rebounds in the final minute to get the win at LBSU. Freshman Gabe Levin is third overall in rebounding at 8.4 rpg, and is third in the WCC with 3.1 offensive rebounds per game.
The Lions have had more turnovers than their opponents just twice in 16 games this season, giving it away just seven times to open WCC against the Cougars. They are averaging just 12.19 turnovers per game this season and rank second in the WCC in turnover margin at +1.62. The Lions have averaged under 13 turnovers a game just twice in program history. They averaged just 12.97 in 2009-10 and set the record in 1983-84 at 11.98 per game.
Senior Anthony Ireland continues to pace the Lions in all areas of the floor, setting a career-high with 34 points against Santa Clara. He scored 27 points after halftime and finished 12-for-22 from the field, 10-for-12 from the free throw line while adding seven assists, three rebounds and a steal. It is his third career game with 30 or more points and his 38th 20-point game. Against the Broncos, he equalled Mark Armstrong with his 109th career start, the most in program history. He is just the fourth player in LMU history to reach the century mark (joining Mark Armstrong - 109, Mike Yoest - 103, and Jim Williamson - 101). With 306 points (which is ranked 14th nationally as of Jan. 5), 89 assists (13th nationally as of Jan. 5) and 27 steals to start the season, Ireland moved ahead of Jim Haderlein for seventh all-time in LMU history with 1,882 career points. He also moved to fourth with 473 career assists and seventh with 174 career steals.
Freshman Evan Payne led the Lions with 27 points against BYU, posting his second straight career-high (24 points against La Sierra). The point total is tied for the fourth best point total by a freshman in LMU History. It is also the most ever by an LMU freshman in his first WCC game and the third-most by an LMU player in his conference debut. He added a team-high 16 in the win over San Diego on Dec. 30. With his 21 points last weekend, Payne now has 233 points on the season and is ranked 15th all-time for freshman scoring in a season. He has scored in double figures in nine straight games heading into the San Diego game.
Freshman Gabe Levin went for his fourth double-double in his young career with 14 points and 14 rebounds at Pittsburgh and is one of just five freshman to have multiple double-doubles in their debut season, and his four so far this season is now tied for the most in program history (Kevin Young - 4 - `08-09; Orlando Johnson - 3 - `07-08; Andy Osborn - 3 - `01-02; Luther Philyaw - 2 - `72-73). He has grabbed 14 rebounds in a single game three times already this season while scoring double figures in the first 12 games of his career. He had 12 points and eight rebounds in the first meeting with USD. Heading into game two with San Diego, Levin is third in the WCC in rebounding (8.4 rpg). With 12 rebounds last week, he cracked the top-10 for freshman rebounds. His 117 is ranked 10th all-time.
Three Lions average double figures, led by senior Anthony Ireland at 19.1 ppg, ranking second in the WCC as of Jan. 7 (51st nationally as of Jan. 5). The next two in double figures are freshman. Evan Payne is 11th in the WCC and second on the team with 14.6 ppg. Fellow freshman Gabe Levin scored double figures in his first 12 games as a Lion, the most by a freshman in LMU history and is third on the team at 11.9 ppg. Through 16 games, the Lions are averaging 78.2 points per game (5th in the WCC). The last time the Lions averaged over 75 points a game in a season was in 2009-10 at 75.8 ppg. They averaged 75.9 in 1998-99, 79.0 in 1993-94, and 91.1 in 1991-92. The all-time record is 122.4 ppg in that 1989-90 Elite Eight season.
NOTES THROUGHOUT THE SEASON:
Senior Alex Osborne has been a force on the glass of late, including a career-game against La Sierra, becoming the first Lion since Dec. 28, 2009 to have a game with at least 15 points and 15 rebounds. He had 20 points and 17 rebounds, grabbing eight offensive rebounds in going 8-for-10 from the field. He added two assists, two steals and a block. His eight offensive rebounds is the most since Kevin Young had eight in going for 16 points and 19 rebounds against New Mexico State in the last 15-15 game. Osborne led the Lions with 10 rebounds against Santa Clara and in the last five games he is averaging 8.8 rebounds per contest.
The Lions had three 20-point scorers in the win over South Dakota St., the first time that has happened since the record-setting LMU-USIU game on Jan. 5, 1991. They did it again against La Sierra. Against SDSU, Ben Dickinson had 22 points while Anthony Ireland and Gabe Levin had 20 points each. Against the Golden Eagles to end non-conference, Evan Payne had 24, Ireland had 21 and Osborne 20. Prior to this season, the last time it happened, the Lions set the NCAA record for points in a 186-140 win. Five Lions went for more than 20 points (Terrell Lowery - 34, Richard Petruska - 28, Chris Knight - 27, Rahim Harris - 24, Ross Richardson - 24). Against Northern Arizona, the Lions had a pair of players with double-doubles. Anthony Ireland had 18 points and 10 assists for his sixth career double-double while freshman Gabe Levin had his first with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
The Lions traveled 15,843 miles in their first 10 games this season, playing just one home game on Nov. 17 against Northern Arizona. They are coming off a six-game road swing that took them more than 15,500 miles before returning home to play Cal Poly. It started with a 7,543-mile swing to the Virgin Islands and continued with the shortest leg of the road trip, a 144-mile round trip to UC Riverside. The trip to Pittsburgh took the team 4,298 miles before heading out for the 3,564-mile road trip to face Valparaiso on Dec. 14.
A Grand Finale: Senior Anthony Ireland enters his final season all over the record books at LMU with the projection to do even more. He enters the season as a Preseason All-WCC selection and is:
Ireland has not missed a game in his three-year career, playing in all 116 of the games LMU has played the last three-plus years. He earned his 100th start against Vanderbilt and has now started 109 in his career, tied for the most all-time in LMU history. He has done this while losing a tooth during a game, not missing a second in the process against Alaska-Anchorage; playing the season needing knee surgery as a junior; needing stitches in his lower lip during a game as a sophomore. He is at it again in 2013-14. As of Jan. 7, Ireland is second in the West Coast Conference in scoring (19.1 ppg), second in assists (5.6 apg), 9th in free throw percentage (84.1%), second in steals (1.7 spg), and third in minutes played (34.4 mpg). As the Lions' lone scoring threat in 2012-13, he was the target of opposing defenses who played aggressive against him, sending him to the line 203 times, ranked 12th all-time in LMU history. Entering the game against San Diego, Ireland ranks fifth with 424 free throws made, passing Hank Gathers with 10 against Santa Clara. Brandon Worthy (2002-07) is fourth with 437. Mike Yoest (1984-88) is the all-time leader with 561 made free throws. Ireland was named LMU's first NABC All-District selection as a sophomore and was a Lou Henson Preseason All-American and honorable mention Jesuit All-American in 2011-12. He was named preseason All-American again this preseason. Entering Jan. 4, Ireland has played 3,065 of a possible 3,400 minutes (90.2 percent) since his sophomore season. He led the Lions in scoring in 30 of 34 games last season and has done it in 11 of the 16 games this season, including his 18 at USF Thursday and the 34 against SCU Saturday.
