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LOS ANGELES - The home-opening series of West Coast Conference play continues for LMU men's basketball (7-8, 0-4) on Saturday, Jan. 9 when they host the Pacific Tigers (3-11, 2-3) at 3 pm. This will be the 53rd meeting in a series that has played dead even in the first 52 meetings. The game will be broadcast on Time Warner Cable SportsNet and on KXLU 88.9 FM.
LMULIONS.COM GAMEDAY:
THE MATCH-UP
As mentioned, the series between LMU and Pacific is tied at 26-26. The teams have each won on the road in the first two years Pacific has been back in the WCC. They split a year ago, with the Lions winning in overtime, 76-71, in the last meeting. In fact, each team has a four-game winning streak on the other's home court... Despite rallying for a late lead at Pepperdine on Thursday, the Tigers could not overcome a nearly 20-point difference on the free throw line at Firestone Fieldhouse, falling 81-76. The Waves finished 31-for-38 while Pacific was 12-of-15. T.J. Wallace led the team with a season-best 22 points... The game will be broadcast by Time Warner Cable SportsNet and on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area. It will also be aired out-of-network by TheW.tv. Calling the game will be Chris McGee and Dave Miller.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
LMU continues to lead the league in turnover margin at +3.4, forcing a league high 15.1 turnovers a game by their opponent while turning the ball over just 11.7 times per game, second in the WCC. The Lions are also tops in the league in offensive rebounds at 12.7 per game and second in the league in steals at 7.3.
For the first time all season the Lions had more turnovers than their opponent as Saint Mary's finished with just eight, the lowest by an opponent on the season against the Lions. LMU had 14 and were outscored 18-3 in points off turnovers. The Lions had the fewest points in a game (48), points in the first half (21), in the second half (27), fewest points off turnovers (3), fewest second chance points (2) and fewest bench points (2) of the season.
Adom Jacko had his fifth 20-point game on Thursday, going for 21 points and eight rebounds. He was the only Lion in double figures against the Gaels, going 9-for-11 (81.8 percent) from the field. The rest of the Lions went 9-for-38 (23.6 percent). Jacko is 11th in the WCC in scoring at 14.7 ppg, 10th in rebounds at 6.5 rpg and sixth in field goal percentage at 54.5.
INSIDE THE LIONS
The Lions dropped their first home game of the season on Thursday in the setback to the Gaels. They were a perfect 5-0 in non-conference with a 77-60 win over Jacksonville State to close non-conference play on Dec. 18 at Gersten Pavilion. They are 7-8 overall and 0-4 in the WCC, dropping four straight games after winning six of eight. The WCC record of the opponents in the four setbacks is 13-4.
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 went back-to-back with 21 points, hitting that mark Thursday.
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 15 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.
Junior Brandon Brown has been the point-man for the Lions this season, a big reason for the solid numbers within the WCC in ball handling. He had seven assists on Thursday and leads the Lions with 5.6 assists per game and has an assist to turnover ratio of 2.3. He ranks 15th in the WCC in scoring (13.1 per game), eighth in assists, fifth in steals (1.2 spg), ninth in free throw shooting (76.5%), sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio and eighth in the WCC in minutes at 33.7 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. The 14 turnovers against Saint Mary's was the third most all season. On the season, the Lions lead the WCC with a +3.4 turnover margin. The Lions force a league leading 15.1 turnovers while only turning the ball over 11.7 times per game, second in the WCC. The Lions' aggressive defense so far this season has equated to 219 points.
Senior Marin Mornar was second in the WCC in blocks a year ago, finishing with 47 as a junior to rank 5th all-time for blocks in a season. He had three in the opener against the Titans and has 17 so far this season to move to second all-time with 110 blocks. The only four-year senior on the roster, he played in his 99th game against Saint Mary's. Saturday will be his 100th game.
Steven Haney Jr. posted back-to-back 20-plus point games to close none conference. He led the Lions in the win over Cal State Fullerton, going for a career-best 26 points on 7-for-12 shooting from the three-point line. A quick look at the records, it is the most since Jeff Fryer's record 11 in the NCAA Tournament against Michigan. He then came back for 21 points on 7-for-11 shooting against JSU. He hit 3-of-5 from three, giving him 10-for-16 (.625) the last two games of non-conference. He is third on the team with 12.3 ppg, hitting 41-for-116 from three (35.3 percent). He is third in the WCC with 2.7 three-pointers per game.
