Feb. 27, 2015 BUY TICKETS | This is LMU Basketball | We Are LMU... | LMU on Facebook | LMU on Twitter
LOS ANGELES -- The longest running series in LMU men's basketball history started West Coast Conference play and it will end the regular season when the Lions visit Pepperdine at Firestone Fieldhouse on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 3 pm. This will be the 162nd meeting between Pepperdine (16-12, 9-8) and LMU (8-21, 4-13). The game can be seen on Time Warner Cable SportsNet, Comcast SportsNet-California and on ROOT Sports Northwest/Rocky Mountain. It will also air out-of-market on TheW.tv and can be heard on KXLU 88.9 FM.
LMULIONS.COM GAMEDAY:
THE 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 124 and 115 games, respectively, at LMU, ranking second and tied for 8th all-time in program history. They enter the game against Santa Clara with a combined 180 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 in the MBA program while Flint is in the Elementary Education program. All told, the trio have combined to play 310 games as Lions. Add to that senior manager Quan Ngo, who has been with the program all four years. He will be working his 120th game on Saturday, having traveled with the Lions every game since his sophomore season. He is a Business Management major who hopes to continue work in basketball. In honor of his final regular season road trip, the LMU Sports Network spent a gameday with Ngo, getting a look at what life is like for the head manager of a college basketball team.
The final home stand for senior Godwin Okonji might have been his best, going for a career-best 22 points, thanks in part to 10-for-12 shooting from the free throw line against San Francisco. He then went for 15 points with five rebounds and two steals in his home finale against Santa Clara, hitting 9-for-11 from the charity stripe. He continues to lead the WCC with 84 offensive rebounds (3.0 per game). He is ranked 10th in the conference in rebounding overall at 5.6 rpg and 6th with 38 steals (1.4 spg). He has 157 rebounds this season, giving him 600 in his career. He is the 27th Lion to top 500 rebounds in a career, currently ranking 17th all-time at LMU. He has 102 steals in his career, ranking 24th, and his 96 career blocks is ranked fourth all-time. He will play in his 125th game on Saturday against Pepperdine, second all-time at LMU.
Ayodeji Egbeyemi has become the Lions' captain and voice on the floor, and he continues to show why. Egbeyemi has 11 double-digit scoring games this season, including his career-best 22 against Portland. He is averaging 9.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.38 assists while shooting 39.4 percent from three and 79.5 from the free throw line. In the 12 WCC games he has played in, he is shooting 52.2 percent from the three-point line (12-for-23). He has played in 115 games, ranked tied for 8th all-time. He played just 11 minutes at Saint Mary's due to a quad injury to his right leg. He missed three games but returned to the starting line-up against Gonzaga and Portland. He had seven points in each game, playing 23 and 21 minutes. He then missed the games against USF and SCU. He remains a game-time decision for Pepperdine on Saturday.
Senior Chase Flint had a career-best 10 assists in the overtime win at Pacific and went for nine assists and no turnovers at USF. He is second in the WCC overall with a 2.63 assist-to-turnover ratio. He re-entered the starting line-up on Jan. 8 and has 83 of his 105 assists this season in WCC play. He has just 38 turnovers on the season. In the 17 conference games, he is ranked fifth in the WCC at 4.9 assists per game. His 3.5 assists per game overall is ranked 10th. He also has 36 steals this season, ranked 12th at 1.2 steals per game.
INSIDE THE LIONS
The Lions' record sits at 8-21 and 4-13 in the WCC after dropping both games of the final homestand. The Lions are tied with Pacific heading into the final day of play. Senior Godwin Okonji showed his experience on the Lions' shorthanded line-up as he posted a career-best 22 points and five rebounds against the Dons and then followed with 15 points and five rebounds against Santa Clara. The 65 percent free throw shooter hit 19-for-23 (82.6%) from the free throw line in the two games. Matt Hayes had a career-best 20 points against the Broncos, hitting 6-for-13 from the three-point line. It was the most three-pointers in a game since Larry Davis hit six at UC Santa Barbara (12/01/10). The Lions played without six players, five to injury against Santa Clara; Evan Payne - knee; Ayodeji Egbeyemi - quad; Joshua Spiers - back; Simon Krajcovic - knee; Casey Norris - hamstring. Krajcovic is the only one out for the game against Pepperdine, the others are a game-time decision. Patson Siame also missed the game due to NCAA technical foul rules but will be available to play Saturday. With the injuries, junior transfer Connor Jean played his first game as a Lion. He scored two points with a rebound in 15 minutes. The walk-on, transfer earned his A.A. from Diablo Valley Junior College and played both seasons with the Vikings. He played at Northgate High School in the Bay Area and is an Entrepreneurship major.
