Nov. 25, 2014 BUY TICKETS | This is LMU Basketball | We Are LMU... | LMU on Facebook | LMU on Twitter
LOS ANGELES -- The fourth annual LMU Holiday Classic at Gersten Pavilion will feature LMU taking on UC Riverside this Wednesday, Nov. 26 at 5 pm. The game is free to all and will present a key early season match-up for a pair of teams with identical paths to 2-2 records at the start of this 2014-15 season. The game will be aired live on KXLU 88.9 FM and streamed on the LMU Sports Network.
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INSIDE THE LIONS
BUSY HOLIDAY WEEK: The Lions have a busy stretch of five games in less than two weeks heading into finals week and it starts with three straight at home during Thanksgiving Week. The LMU Alumni Family Day at the Game was Sunday as the Lions returned from Arizona State to earn an 82-60 win over San Diego Christian. Up next is UC Riverside on Thankgiving Eve, Wednesday, Nov. 26 at 5 pm. The game is the FOURTH ANNUAL LMU HOLIDAY CLASSIC, which is FREE to all and includes $1 hotdogs sponsored by Sodexo. The week ends on Saturday when the Lions host UC Irvine on Saturday, Nov. 29 at 8 pm. That game is part of a tripleheader of basketball as the women's program hosts the final day of the Doubletree LA Westside Thankgiving Classic at 1 and 3:30 pm that afternoon. Tickets to all the action can be found at LMULions.com/Tickets.
Block Party: Bring your friends and neighbors to the LMU men's basketball game on Saturday, November 29th at 8:00 pm against UC Irvine for your chance to win a block party for your block! Whichever residential block turns out the largest crowd (minimum of 10 people, including guests of your home) will win a block party courtesy of LMU. We'll work with you and neighbors to organize an afternoon of fun. Tickets are discounted: Adults $5 / Children $1. If you purchase your tickets online using discount code BLOCKPARTY14, you'll receive an additional $2 discount on each adult ticket. That's just $3! For more information, visit community.lmu.edu
The Lions evened their record to 2-2 on the season after the 22-point home win over San Diego Christian. Even Payne (28) and Patson Siame (16) had career-highs in points and Chase Flint equalled a career-best with eight assists. The Lions finished with a season-best 24 assists on 32 field goals, earning seven blocks and seven steals in the process.
Both UC Riverside and the Lions enter the game at 2-2, taking similar paths to get to this point. They both have played three home games, going 2-1 in those contests. The Highlanders opened with a win over UC San Diego, 75-52, then fell to Sacramento State, 70-69. They then earned a 102-49 win on Sunday over a Non-Division I opponent, Saint Katherine. Like the Lions, their one road loss was to a Pac-12 opponent, falling at Utah on Friday, Nov. 21, 88-42.
Last time against the Highlanders: All 10 players for LMU that entered their non-conference game against UC Riverside played at least 11 minutes and all of them played a major role in the Lions 73-69 win over the Highlanders at the SRC Arena in Riverside on Dec. 2, 2013. LMU finished the game shooting just 38.1 percent and saw a 13-point lead evaporate thanks to a 14-2 run by UC Riverside. LMU answered with an 11-1 run of their own to go up 54-45 with 11:13 to play. UC Riverside did not go away, going on a 10-2 run to cut the lead to 61-60. An Ireland jumper, a Levin put-back, one of his eight offensive rebounds, and a Chase Flint three-pointer gave LMU a 71-62 lead with 1:58 to play. It wasn't quite over, as the Highlanders cut the lead to 71-69 on Nick Gruninger's free throws with 44 seconds to play. On LMU's next possession, Flint hit a driving Levin whose dunk put the game away. The Lions finished the game hitting 21-for-29 free throws, compared to 9-for-14 for UC Riverside.
Real quick... Godwin Okonji played in his 100th career game against San Diego Christian... Patson Siame had his best game as a Lion, going 8-for-12 from the field for 16 points and six rebounds against San Diego Christian... freshman Simon Krajcovic made his collegiate debut on Thursday against Arizona State, coming off the bench to score nine points with three rebounds, two assists and three steals. He added six assists and two steals on Sunday... The Lions 52.8 percent shooting in the opener was the best since hiting 55.4 percent against Northern Arizona on Nov. 17, 2013 and the 28.1 percent against ASU was the lowest since hitting 25 percent against seventh-ranked Gonzaga on Jan. 31, 2013... Evan Payne is the first player to score 22 or more in the first two games of the season since Jeff Fryer did it in November of 1989 with 23 against UNLV and 26 against Nevada. He had 23 and 22 in the first two contests. He had his ninth career 20-point game with a career-best 28 against SDC. He has 22 or more in three of the first four games this season and leads the Lions with 20.5 ppg ... Godwin Okonji had his second career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds against Boise State... WIth four blocks on Sunday, Marin Mornar moved his career total to 52, ranking 19th all-time at LMU.
POST PRODUCTION AT HOME: LMU shot 52.8 percent from the field in the win and finished hitting 49.5 percent on the weekend. They returned home to shoot 52.5 percent against SDC. A big reason was a huge boost in the post production in the three games at home. The Lions' four bigs (Okonji, Monar, Petr Herman and Patson Siame) have hit 58.1 percent from the field, including Siame's 65.0 percent (13-for-20). The bigs have hit 36-for-62 at Gersten Pavilion, an average of 12 makes on 20.7 shots per contest. Last year, the Lions' hit 48.1 percent from their four post players, averaging 9.2 makes on 19.2 attempts per game last year. In the one road game so far this season, the Lions couldn't hit much of anything as they combined to hit 28.1 percent from the field. The post went 4-for-18 (22.2%).
On March 12, 2014, Mike Dunlap returned home, coming back to his alma mater as the 26th head coach of the LMU men's basketball program. In less than four months, the Lions had a new roster that included seven newcomers, just three players that played more than seven games together, 13 players from eight different countries and a coaching staff with over 70 years of combined head coaching experience at every level of basketball. He became the 13th coach at LMU to win in his season debut, claiming the 76-66 win over SE Missouri St.
