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SAN BRUNO, Calif. -- The LMU men's basketball program will take the court at Gersten Pavilion for the first time under Head Coach Mike Dunlap. The 1980 graduate of LMU took over the Lions' program in March and leads a young squad into the 2014-15 season for the first time when they face UC San Diego in the lone exhibition game on Thursday, Nov. 6 at 7 pm. The game can be heard live on KXLU 88.89 FM and will be broadcast on the LMUSportsNetwork through LMULions.com.

LMULIONS.COM GAMEDAY:

GAME:	LMU (0-0) vs. UC San Diego (0-0)
DATE/TIME:	Nov. 6, 2014 // 7 p.m. (PST)
LOCATION:	Gersten Pavilion // Los Angeles, CA
WATCH:	LMU Sports Network
RADIO:	KXLU 88.9 FM
LIVE STATS:	// StatBroadcast
RESOURCES:	GameDay: GameDay Central | Donate Game Notes: Game Notes Latest on LMU Sports Network

INSIDE THE LIONS
• 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.

• To get a jump start on the 2014-15 season, Dunlap and the Lions found a way to organize a 12-day training trip to Spain. The trip included a grueling training schedule before and during the trip, three games against local all-star teams and a fourth against the Angola National Team, who was training for the World Cup later that month. The result has the Lions coming together heading into the new season. With four walk-ons joining the roster in September, the Lions have 11 of 17 players who were not in LMU uniforms a year ago. An additional three - Ayodeji Egbeyemi, Godwin Okonji and Patson Siame - served sat out a year ago, giving them 14 of 17 players that did not see action a year ago (Egbeyemi played eight games before serving medical redshirt year). With youth everywhere on the roster, the Lions will lean on fifth-year seniors Egbeyemi, Okonji and Chase Flint to lead them on the mission of coming together each day throughout the 2014-15 season under the experienced staff led by one of LMU's own in Dunlap.

• The international flavor of LMU's roster includes Australia (Joshua Spiers, David Humphries), Slovakia (Simon Krajcovic), Czech Republic (Petr Herman), Zambia (Patson Siame), Nigeria (Godwin Okonji, Ayodeji Egbeyemi) and Croatia (Marin Mornar). As LMU and its diverse roster get ready for its first game together, LMU Sports Network took a look at the vast differences of the Lions' roster through language.

• Senior Leadership: The Lions, with 11 newcomers on the roster, will lean heavily on an experienced trio of seniors. Both Godwin Okonji and Ayodeji Egbeyemi are coming off medical redshirt seasons and will play their fifth season in 2014-15. The two have played in 96 and 91 games, respectively, at LMU. Both were expected to be mainstays in the starting line-up a year ago and enter the game with a combined 131 starts among them. Joining them is senior Chase Flint. He, along with Egbeyemi, have already earned their Bachelor degrees and both are in master programs at LMU. Egbeyemi is the MBA program while Flint is in the Elementary Education program. Flint has played in 42 games at LMU after coming from Eastern Utah College in 2012.

• Three players return from last year's roster that saw action for the length of the season. The senior Flint along with junior Marin Mornar and freshman Evan Payne. Mornar ranked 10th in LMU program history with 36 blocks on the season, giving him 46 in his career, which is ranked 23rd all-time. Mornar has played in 54 games as a Lion and averaged 2.8 points and 2.9 rebounds a year ago. He ranked sixth in the WCC last year at 1.1 blocks per contest. As for Payne, he set the LMU freshman record a year ago with 497 points in playing every game. His 15.5 points a year ago - an LMU freshman record - ranked seventh in the WCC.

• Season tickets and individual game tickets for the 2014-15 LMU men's basketball season are on sale today through LMULions.com/Tickets. It is the first season under Dunlap, a 1980 graduate of LMU. The 2014-15 season will be a busy one at Gersten Pavilion with 17 games all told. It begins next week with the one exhibition game on Thursday, Nov. 6 at 7 pm against UC San Diego. The official start of the season happens a week later with the Lions host the 2014 LMU Classic presented by the Office of International Students and Scholars. The field will be a good one as it begins on Friday, Nov. 14 with San Diego taking on Boise State at 3:30 pm, followed by the start of the Dunlap era at 6 pm when the Lions face Southeast Missouri St. The tournament continues on Saturday with San Diego taking on SEMO at 2:30 pm, followed by the Lions facing one of the favorites in the Mountain West Conference, the Broncos, at 5 pm. The tournament is just a part of busy slate in Gersten Pavilion in the month of November and in West Coast Conference play. And their are plenty of options to take advantage of. Season tickets are still on sale for as low as $90 for upper level adult and $45 for seniors/children upper level (Promo Code: LIONS90045).

In addition, special opportunities are available or are coming soon for individual games. All tickets can be purchased at LMULions.com/Tickets and for discounts, enter appropriate promo code. Some of those include: