Dec. 31, 2014 BUY TICKETS | This is LMU Basketball | We Are LMU... | LMU on Facebook | LMU on Twitter
LOS ANGELES -- LMU continues its three-game homestand to open West Coast Conference play with a New Year's Day battle against Pacific at Gersten Pavilion. The Lions (4-9, 0-1) dropped its opener on Monday to Pepperdine, while Pacific (8-6, 0-2) was swept at home by Santa Clara and San Francisco. Game time is set for 1 pm and can be heard on KXLU 88.9 FM and seen on TheW.tv.
LMULIONS.COM GAMEDAY:
The Lions' record sits at 4-9 after falling to Pepperdine on Monday, 69-56. It was the Lions' fourth game in seven days, going 1-2 at the 2014 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic on Dec. 22-25. The Lions are in a gureling stretch of six games in 13 days. The Lions fell to No. 11 Wichita State (80-53) and in overtime to Nebraska (50-42), and then ended the trip with a 72-69 win over DePaul. In the win, sophomore Evan Payne had 24 points for the Lions, his seventh 20-plus point game of the season and 13th of his career. Senior Ayodeji Egbeyemi equalled a career-high with 20 points and was the leader of the team during the tournament, averaging 16.3 points in the the three games. Payne averaged 15.3 in the tournament.
The Lions returned five players who saw action a year ago, and the two non-seniors of the group are having a big impact. Sophomore Evan Payne has put up the points, running his career total to 738 in 44 games (16.8 ppg in his career). His 19.8 ppg trails only BYU's Tyler Haws (22.1 ppg) and Saint Mary's Brad Waldow (20.5 ppg) in the WCC. He is also 8th in free throw percentage, hitting 71-for-89 (79.9 percent). He is ninth in the nation with 71 made free throws, second in the WCC. He is also ranked 15th in the nation in free throw attempts (third in the WCC), sixth in the WCC in field goal percentage at 47.4%, and 11th in the nation in total points with 256. Fellow returner junior Marin Mornar has also been improving on his career numbers. He leads the Lions with 58.7 percent shooting from the field, scoring 7.5 points per game. He has a block in 11 of the Lions' 13 games and his 22 blocks is second in the WCC and 68th in the nation. He had 11 points, four rebounds and a pair of blocks against Pepperdine. The LMU Sports Network caught up with Mornar after a full day of work to talk about his improvement, what he is focusing on to get better and the keys to success of Thursday.
In falling to Nebraska in overtime, 50-42, the 50 points is the fewest allowed by the Lions since 49 by Seattle on Jan. 1, 2009. LMU's 42 points is the fewest since scoring 39 at Portland on Jan. 21, 2010. The score was tied at 35-35 after regulation. It is the lowest combined regulation score since the Lions defeated San Diego State 28-27 in the 1947-48 season. The 35 points is the lowest in regulation scored by the Lions since scoring 31 in a setback to UC Santa Barbara in the 1949-50 season and the 35 points allowed in regulation is the lowest since the Lions defeated San Diego 69-31 on Jan. 30, 1962. The Lions allowed Nebraska to score just 14 second half points, the lowest scoring half by an opponent since the Lions joined the West Coast Conference in 1957-58 (records can't be verified prior). The Lions scored 16 points in the first half, their lowest since scoring 14 in the second half of that game against Seattle in 2009. The Lions allowed Nebraska just four field goals in the second half, the lowest in at least 20 years (can't verify record prior).
THE LIONS REAL QUICK... Sophomore Evan Payne entered the week third in the West Coast Conference and 20th nationally (as of Dec. 30) in scoring and sits with 19.7 ppg after going for 15 against Pepperdine on Monday. He earned his 13th career 20-plus point game with 24 against DePaul. He was deadly efficient in the win, hitting 8-for-10 from the field, knocking down all three three-pointers. He has led the Lions in 11 of the 12 games this season, and had a career-best 32 against NAU, giving him seven 20-point games in the 12 games played so far in 2014-15. Also within the WCC, he ranks 8th in free throw percentage (79.9) and sixth in field goal percentage (47.4)... Senior Ayodeji Egbeyemi has had his three best games of the season in Hawaii, scoring 13 against Wichita State, leading the Lions with a then season-high 16 points against Nebraska and concluding with a career-equalling 20 points against DePaul. He hit 6-for-12 from the field, 8-for-9 from the charity stripe and is second on the team with 9.7 ppg... The Lions continue to be tough around the rim, ranking third in the WCC in blocked shots. They have 49 blocks as a team and are now averaging 3.8 per game. Junior Marin Mornar equalled a career-high with five blocks against UC Riverside. He had two more on Monday and has 22 on the season, an average of 1.69 per game, ranking second in the WCC. Mornar now has 68 blocks in his career, good for 9th all-time. Wyking Jones (1991-95) is eighth with 72. Senior Godwin Okonji has 91 in his career, ranking 5th all-time and one behind Ime Oduok (1993-96)... The Lions 52.8 percent shooting in the opener was the best since hitting 55.4 percent against NAU on Nov. 17, 2013 and the 28.0 percent against Nebraska was the lowest since hitting 25 percent against seventh-ranked Gonzaga on Jan. 31, 2013... Okonji had his second career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds against Boise State. He has played in 108 career games, while fellow senior Egbeyemi played in 104... In the last three games the Lions have shown steady improvement on the glass. They have +12.7 rebound margin. Against Nebraska, the Lions outrebounded the Huskers 40-22, including a 16-2 edge on the offensive glass. In the win over DePaul, they had a 35-22 edge, and against Pepperdine they held a 34-27 advantage. The dominance on the glass has helped balance the turnover disadvantage. Nebraska forced the Lions into 20 turnovers to just 13 for them, while against DePaul the Lions had 17 to the Blue Demons' 13. Pepperdine held a 13-11 edge in turnovers. In the last three games, the Lions had a +38 edge on the glass, helping them to a 16-2 edge in second chance points against the Waves. As for turnovers, they have been LMU's achilles heal. In the last 7 games, the Lions have committed 115 turnovers to their opponent's 75, that is 16.4 to 10.7 per game. It has led to a 126-89 edge in points off turnovers.
THE SERIES: This will be the 51st meeting between LMU and Pacific. The series has been split right down the middle with each team winning 25 games. In recent history, both teams have won three straight on the road. Pacific has won the last three at Gersten Pavilion while the Lions have won the last three in Stockton. This is the second year Pacific has been back in the WCC. The Lions took a 92-81 victory at Pacific on Jan. 23 while the Tigers returned the favor at Gersten Pavilion, 82-72, on Feb. 8. Part of LMU's three-game win streak at Pacific includes a 91-90 win on Dec. 27, 1990 and a 76-73 win in 1985. The Tigers three-game streak at Gersten Pavilion includes a 86-76 win on March 17, 2010 in the CIT Postseason Tournament and a 78-46 win on Nov. 23, 1999. The Tigers are coming off a 57-40 setback to Santa Clara on Monday.
Senior Leadership: The Lions, with 11 newcomers on the roster, 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 108 and 104 games, respectively, at LMU. Both were expected to be mainstays in the starting line-up a year ago before their medical redshirts and enter the game against Pepperdine with a combined 153 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.
Ayodeji Egbeyemi has become the Lions captain and voice on the floor, and the three games in Hawaii saw him show that in numbers. He averaged 16.3 ppg, hitting 50 percent from the field and 87.5 percent from the free throw line. Egbeyemi has seven double-digit scoring games this season and enters Thursday averaging 9.7 ppg. He is shooting 82.7 percent from the charity stripe on the season, hitting all four on Monday against Pepperdine. He is ranked 4th in the WCC. He is second on the team with 27.5 minutes per contest after going for 32.0 mpg in Hawaii. The only person logging more minutes than that during the three Diamond Head Classic games was fellow senior Godwin Okonji. He scored 13 points and five rebounds in the win over DePaul and now leads the Lions with 5.9 rebounds per contest, ranking 13th in the WCC. His 30 offensive rebounds is 6th in the WCC. He also has three blocks, giving him 90 in his career. The total is fifth all-time in LMU history, two behind Ime Oduok's 92.
