Jan. 5, 2016 LOS ANGELES - LMU men's basketball have played just two games at home since the end of November, including the first three in West Coast Conference action. They finally return home for WCC play, hosting Saint Mary's on Thursday, Jan. 7 at 7 pm. The game can be seen on TheW.tv and heard on KXLU 88.9 FM.
LMULIONS.COM GAMEDAY:
THE MATCH-UP
This will be the 138th all-time meeting between LMU and Saint Mary's as the Gaels lead the all-time series 83-54, winning the last six meetings overall and winning the last nine at Gersten Pavilion... The sharp-shooting Gaels had to replace all five starters from last season and haven't missed a beat, entering the game at 13-1 overall and 4-0 in the WCC. They and the Lions enter the week one of four teams within the WCC unbeaten at home. This will be just the third road game of the season for the Gaels and the first outside the Bay Area. They are 12-0 at home. The Lions are 5-0 while Pepperdine is also 5-0 and BYU is 6-0... The Gaels are one of the best in the nation from three, hitting 46 percent as a team, going 144-for-313 on the season. Emmett Naar and Stefan Gonzalez are both deadly from three, hitting 56.9 percent (29-for-51) and 54.0 percent (27-for-50), respectively. Five Gales are better than 41 percent on the year while making at least 12 three-pointers ont eh season... The teams are two of the best at taking care of the ball. The Gaels lead the league with just 9.9 turnovers per game while the are second at 11.5. They are also one-two in assist/turnover ratio, with the Gaels at 1.0 and LMU at 1.3... The game will be broadcast on TheW.tv with Air Wolfe calling the action and Richie Schueler as the analyst. Listen live to Jesse Kass on KXLU 88.9 FM.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Heading into week three of the conference season, the Lions still pace the conference in the ball handling categories. The Lions lead the WCC in turnover margin at +4.1. It has been a positive so far to start conference play, giving up a league low 8.7 turnovers per game through the first three WCC match-ups. They have had less turnovers than their opponents in every game so far this season... They continue to lead the league in forcing turnovers at 15.6 per game and are second in the league in steals at 7.6 per game... LMU leads the league in offensive rebounds at 13.2 per game. Against Gonzaga, the Lions had a 20-9 edge in second chance points. Adom Jacko is fifth in the WCC in with 2.7 orpg while Shamar Johnson is 12th at 1.9 orpg.. Junior Brandon Brown ranks fifth in the WCC with 5.4 assists per game. He is also sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.2 and is 14th in the league in scoring at 13.6 ppg ... Jacko is fifth in the WCC with four double-doubles on the season. In addition, he had his fourth game with 20 or more points on Saturday, going for 21 and nine rebounds at Pepperdine. He is 10th in the WCC with 14,2 ppg, 9th in field goal percentage at 52.6, 10th in rebounding at 6.4 and 12th in free throw percentage... Steven Haney, 19th in the WCC in scoring at 12.6 and third in the WCC 2.7 three-pointers per game.
INSIDE THE LIONS
The Lions remained at perfect at home (5-0) with a 77-60 win over Jacksonville State to close non-conference play on Dec. 18 at Gersten Pavilion, giving them six wins in their last eight games. They opened West Coast Conference play with three straight on the road, falling at Portland, Gonzaga and last Saturday at Pepperdine, 68-65, in overtime. They are 7-7 overall and 0-3 in the WCC... The Lions just wrapped up a stint of games with just two at Gersten Pavilion in a stretch of nine overall.
Adom Jacko's 22 points and 10-rebound effort in the season opener is the first double-double by an LMU player in his first game as a Lion against an NCAA Division I program in 35 years. Senior Marin Mornar had 13 and 11 against Pacifica on Nov. 9, 2012. In addition, the 22 points were the most by a Lions' player in his first game since Larry Davis had 22 against Boise State on Nov. 13, 2009. Jacko now has four double-doubles on the season, fifth in the WCC, going for 19 points and 11 rebounds at Gonzaga. He followed that with a 21-point, nine-rebound outing at Pepperdine. He is 10th in the league in scoring at 14.2 ppg, 10th in rebound at 6.4 and ninth in field goal percentage at 52.6 percent. He is the first Lion in the top-10 in shooting in a decade.
The Lions feature a 15-man roster, and as the season began nine of them were not in an LMU uniform in 2014-15. With the new-look roster, the Lions will feature a full rotation, and entering WCC play, the Lions depth has been a factor. Against Pepperdine the Lions featured their seventh different starting line-up of the season and the Lions have played at least 10 players in every game this season except for one (at CSUF, playing nine). The Lions have played all 12 scholarship players seven of the 14 games, including Saturday at Pepperdine. The Lions had five players score in double figures in the first road win of the season at SEMO and then they had six go for double digits in the 77-76 win over UC Riverside. In the win over the Titans on Dec. 12, the Lions bench was huge. They finished with 33 point, including a season-best 20 from Marin Mornar and a career-best 12 points from Petr Herman.
The Lions had also been distributing the ball of late as they get used to playing with each other. In the last eight games (6-2 record in that span) of non-conference, the Lions had averaged 17.3 assists per game. LMU had just 36 assists to start WCC play. (12.0). They are still fourth in the WCC overall at 14.8 apg and second with a 1.3 assist-to-turnover ratio. Junior Brandon Brown has been the point-man for the Lions this season. He leads the Lions with 5.50 assists per game and has an assist to turnover ratio of 2.2. He ranks 14th in the WCC in scoring (13.6 per game), fifth in assists, fifth in steals (1.3 spg), ninth in free throw shooting (76.6%), sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio and fifth in the WCC in minutes at 34.1 mpg.
Ball handling has been a key for the Lions this season. The Lions finished with just nine turnovers at Portland and Pepperdine, and eight at Gonzaga, the ninth game this season with less than a dozen. On the season, the Lions lead the WCC with a +4.1 turnover margin. The Lions force a league leading 15.6 turnovers while only turning the ball over 11.5 times per game, second in the WCC. The Lions' aggressive defense so far this season has equated to 216 points.
