Dec. 2, 2014 BUY TICKETS | This is LMU Basketball | We Are LMU... | LMU on Facebook | LMU on Twitter
LOS ANGELES -- LMU men's basketball will begin a six-game road swing to end non-conference play on Wednesday, Dec. 6 when they travel to face USC at the Galen Center. The Trojans (4-3) are coming off a 66-54 win on Sunday at New Mexico while the Lions (3-3) fell to UC Irvine on Saturday, 80-72. The game is set for 7 pm and can be seen on the PAC-12 Network and heard on KXLU 88.9 FM.
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INSIDE THE LIONS
The LMU Sports Network sat down with sophomore Patson Siame before the game at USC to talk about finally getting back on the court after more than 18 months off to establish residency, rehab from injuries and to improve his game. Six games into his first season, earned his first start against UC Irvine last Saturday and finds himself third in the West Coast Conference in blocks and sixth in the league in field goal percentage. He talked about his year off, the chance he is finally getting, what it was like to actually play against someone taller than him (he is 6-11) and what the Lions need to keep doing to get better heading into USC.
The Lions' record sits at 3-3 overall after a 66-62 win over UC Riverside on Wednesday and the 80-72 setback to Big West Conference favorite UC Irvine on Saturday. Both games can be tied to free throws as the Lions finished the win over the Highlanders hitting 26-for-30 from the free throw line, which moved their season average to 76.7 percent (ranking them tops in the conference and 17th in the national as of Nov. 27). Evan Payne hit 15-of-16 from the line against the Highlanders. However, against the Anteaters, the Lions went 10-for-19 from the charity stripe (52.6 percent), dropping the season average to 73.0 percent heading into Wednesday's game against the Trojans. They are still ranked tops in the WCC but fell to 65th nationally (as of Dec. 1). USC hit 16-for-23 (69.6%) against the Lobos and are hitting 62.5 percent for the season.
This will be the 56th meeting all-time between LMU and USC. The Trojans are one of the original opponents of the Lions, having played in the first season in 1906 when the school was known as St. Vincent's. They played twice that year with the Lions winning both. In the last meeting, the Lions traveled to the Galen Center and earned a 67-59 win on Nov. 21, 2009. It was the first win since 1995 (snapping an eight game slide) and just the second since 1976. This will be the 14th meeting since that season. The Trojans hold a 47-8 edge in the series.
Real quick... Freshman Simon Krajcovic came off the bench to score a career-best 12 points and post the most assists by a freshman since 2002 with nine against UC Irvine. He had no turnovers and did it in 18 minutes, adding four rebounds and two steals to go with 5-for-8 shooting... Junior Marin Mornar equalled a career-high with five blocks against UC Riverside. He has 12 on the season and is averaging 2.0 per game, ranking second in the WCC... The Lions have 26 blocks as a team, averaging 4.3 per game. They are tops in the WCC and Patson Siame joins his teammate in the rankings at third, averaging 1.3 per game. Mornar now has 58 blocks in his career, 15th all-time... Siame is also in the top-10 in field goal percentage, leading the Lions and ranking sixth in the WCC at 58.3 percent. He also had his first double-digit rebounding performance with 10 against the Anteaters... The Lions 52.8 percent shooting in the opener was the best since hitting 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 was 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 his 11th career 20-point game with 23 against UC Irvine, giving him five 20-point games in the six games played so far in 2014-15. He is currently second in the WCC in scoring at 21.7 and 11th in the nation (as of Nov. 30)... Godwin Okonji had his second career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds against Boise State.
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 are in their fifth season in 2014-15. The two have played in 102 and 97 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 142 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. All three have made an impact in the first five games. The point guard Flint ranks 14th in the WCC with 2.7 apg. He is also sixth in the WCC with 1.5 steals. Egbeyemi has had four double-digit scoring games this season and has led the Lions at the charity stripe, ranking sixth in the WCC at 84.6 percent (22-for-26). As for Okonji, he leads the Lions with 6.0 rebounds per contest, ranking 12th in the WCC. His 15 offensive rebounds is eighth in the WCC.
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 sophomore Even Payne. Mornar ranked 10th in LMU program history with 36 blocks last season, and with the 10 in the last three games moved that total to 58. He trails Christian Scott (1990-93) for 14th by two. Mornar has played in 58 games as a Lion and averaged 2.8 points and 2.9 rebounds a year ago. So far this season he is fifth on the team with 7.2 points per game, grabbing 3.2 rebounds with the 12 blocks. He is hitting 53.6 percent from the field and 75.0 percent from the free throw line. 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. He continued where he left off from his freshman record by scoring 130 in his first six games this season. He is 13th in the WCC with nine three-pointers and is hitting 47.1 percent from the field.
After going nearly two years without game action due to taking a medical redshirt, fifth-year senior Godwin Okonji returned in a big way. The forward from Nigeria had his second career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, adding three assists and a steal against Boise State. He has played in 101 games as a Lion and has become one of the senior captains this season. He went 6-for-11 from the field against the Broncos and five of his 10 rebounds were offensive. He also added a block to his resume in the season opening win over SE Missouri State on Friday, giving him 89 in his career. The total is fifth all-time in LMU history, three behind Ime Oduok's 92.
THE NEWCOMERS: With so many new faces, the Lions will rely on its youth to step-up throughout the season. And they have. Here is a look at some of the highlights from newcomers through six games... Sophomore Matt Hayes, a transfer from Santa Rosa JC, is tied with Evan Payne with nine three pointers, hitting 50 percent in his four games played. He is second on the team in scoring at 9.3 ppg and would rank fourth in the WCC in three-pointers per game, but has not played 75 percent of the games this season... Patson Siame, in his first season after a year off to establish residency in 2013-14, is third in the WCC in blocks with seven, adding 7.3 points and 5.2 rebounds per contest. He had nine points and 10 rebounds Saturday against UC Irvine... Freshman Simon Krajcovic did not play the first two games, but in game three came off the bench to lead the Lions with nine points, three rebounds, two assists and three steals against Arizona State. Against UCI, he had 12 points with nine assists, no turnovers, four rebounds and two steals in just 18 minutes. It was the most assists by a freshman since Wes Wardrop had nine his rookie season in 2002. Krajcovic leads the Lions with 4.25 assists per contest, dishing out 17 in four games. He would rank 8th in the WCC, but has not played in 75 percent of the games this season.
BENCH POINTS: The Lions scored 73 points from bench players in the two opening games, primarily due to efficient work by sophomore Evan Payne. He is now starting, but the Lions continue to show added depth five games through the season. Through six games, they have scored 170 points off the bench. In the final nine games of the season in 2013-14, the bench combined to sore 65 points.
