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LOS ANGELES - The LMU men's basketball team returns home to begin a season-ending three-game homestand. It begins on Thursday when the Lion host Santa Clara at 7 pm. Both teams earned a split last week, the Lions (11-15, 4-11) splitting on the road while the Broncos (9-17, 5-9) split a pair at home. The game will air live on TheW.tv and can be heard on KXLU 88.9 FM.
LMULIONS.COM GAMEDAY:
THE MATCH-UP
This will be the 147th match-up between LMU and Santa Clara. The Lions took the first match-up in this season's series, 76-66 at Santa Clara on Jan. 16. The Lions had a plus-15 edge on the boards, hit 10 three-pointers, went 92.3 percent from the free throw line and earned a strong performance from junior Brandon Brown. He led the Lions with 22 points and nine assists as the Lions out-rebounded Santa Clara 38-23 and held a 21-3 edge in second chance points. In addition, they finished the game hitting 10-for-24 (41.7 percent) from three, 46.6 percent from the field and 92.3 percent from the free throw line (12-13), going 7-for-8 down the stretch to ice it. David Humphries added 14 more points and seven rebounds off the bench. Adom Jacko added 12 points and six rebounds. Jared Brownridge had 20 points for the Broncos (7-13, 3-5). It all begins with e special Family Weekend Tip-off on Thursday, Feb. 18 when the Lions host Santa Clara at 7 pm. The game tips-off LMU Family Weekend and is LMU Housing Night. The LMU Housing Association will provide a special Rally Towel Giveaway. The pregame ceremonies will feature the LMU Air Force R.O.T.C. presenting the nation's colors in honor of Jonn Scott Flath and family. Throughout the game, there will be special LMU Housing giveaways including Lakers tickets, Lions Laundry coupons, three meal plans, LMU t-shirt and socks, and a halftime half court shot that could win someone free housing for a year. Halftime will also include a performance by IB Modern.
INSIDE THE LIONS
The Lions split their final road trip of the season with a 77-72 win over Pacific on Thursday and then a 68-62 setback at Saint Mary's on Saturday. The Lions were strong in the second half in both games. Against the Tigers, the Lions finished the game on a 14-1 run, overcoming an eight-point deficit with just over four minutes to play. The Lions committed just seven turnovers and hit 12-for-19 from three. Against Saint Mary's, the Lions trailed by 20 with 14:33 to play but made a comeback bid thanks to forcing Saint Mary's into 17 turnovers on 10 steals. The Lions continue to lead the league in turnover margin at +2.6, ranking first in the WCC in creating 14.2 turnovers a game while turning the ball over just 11.62 times per game, third in the WCC. The average on the season has dipped below the lowest in program history, and the previous marks happen to be the last time Mike Dunlap was with the program. Three off the six lowest turnover seasons came between 1980-85 when Dunlap was an assistant coach for the Lions.
ON THE BALL: The Lions also lead the league in steals at 7.1. They held a 18 to 11 edge in points off turnovers on Thursday in the win over the Tigers. The Lions, who had 22 assists against BYU on Jan. 23 and then another 22 on Saturday against Portland, are third in the league at 15.5 per game and third in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.3. The assist total against BYU and Portland was the highest against a Division I team on the year. Four different players had at least two assists on Thursday at Pacific while Munis Tutu and Brandon Brown each had six against the Gaels Saturday.
TAKING CARE OF IT:
| Season | GMS | TO | AVG |
| 2015-16 | 26 | 302 | 11.62 |
| 1983-84 | 27 | 318 | 11.77 |
| 2013-14 | 32 | 388 | 12.13 |
| 1980-81 | 28 | 345 | 12.32 |
| 2012-13 | 34 | 450 | 13.24 |
| 1984-85 | 27 | 366 | 13.56 |
| 2011-12 | 34 | 462 | 13.59 |
FROM THREE: The Lions finished the win over Pacific hitting 63.2 percent from three, their best of the season and the best since hitting 10-for-15 (66.7%) in win at 17th-ranked UCLA on Nov. 11, 2011. Steven Haney Jr. led the Lions with four, including back-to-back long balls in the Lions' 14-1 run that pushed them to the win. The last time the Lions were in the Bay Area, Humphries posted a career-best 20 points against USF, hitting 6-for-11 from the field, going 6-for-10 from three. He is the third Lion on the season to hit at least six three-pointers in a game. Prior to this season, just three Lions had done it in 20 years. The sophomore Spiers erupted for a career-best 24 points, hitting 6-of-10 three-pointers, to lead the Lions in overtime against CSUN. Haney did it a month later, knocking down 7-for-12 in scoring a career-high 26 points in the win over CSUF. In that Bay Area road trip, Humphries finished hitting 10-for-17 from the field, going 10-for-16 from three (62.5 precent), averaging 17.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.0 steals. The three has played a huge role this season. The Lions are 8-3 when they nine or more three-pointers and 3-12 when they are less than nine. Saturday, the Lions were just 5-for-20 from three while Saint Mary's was11-for-20.
AND MORE FROM LONG DISTANCE: Humphries now ranks 14th in the WCC in three-point percentage, hitting 39.2 percent (31-for-79). Spiers is 13th, hitting 31-for-77. Haney is 7th in the WCC in three-pointers made per game at 2.2, he has hit 57-for-170 on the season. He is now 18th in LMU history for three-pointers made in a season and 13th in attempts.
IN THE PAINT: The West Coast Conference named LMU junior Adom Jacko as Player of the Week for Jan. 25 after he averaged 24.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in two games at Gersten Pavilion against BYU and San Diego. And he has continued his hot play within the WCC. Prior to Thursday, he had led the Lions in scoring for six straight games, going for 20 or better in those contests. He is the first player to do so since Haywood Eaddy went six straight games of 20 or more between Jan. 15 - Jan. 30, 1999. On Saturday against Portland, he went for 35 points and seven rebounds, hitting 13-for-20 from the field. He attempted and made his first three of the season and went 8-for-10 from the free throw line. It was the best single game scoring effort since Drew Viney had 35 against San Diego on Feb. 25, 2010. He has 11 20-point games this season and within WCC games he is averaging 18.5 ppg.
MORE ON JACKO: On Jan. 23 against the Cougars, Jacko finished the game 11-for-12 from the field, equaling the all-time LMU record for shooting percentage in a game (91.6 percent - 10 or more attempts). Victor Lazzaretti went 11-for-12 against Pepperdine on Feb. 25, 1987 and Mike Yoest did it against Marquette on Jan. 6, 1988. Jacko is fifth in the WCC in double-doubles and moved to seventh in scoring at 16.6 ppg, 4th in shooting at 55.7 percent, 10th in rebounds at 6.4, 8th in blocks at 0.9 bpg and 8th in offensive rebounds at 2.4. Jacko's first double-double, a 22-point and 10-rebound effort in the season opener, was the first double-double by an LMU player in his first game as a Lion against an NCAA Division I program in 35 years. Jacko did not play against Saint Mary's due to a back injury. He is day-to-day and will be a game time decision this week against Santa Clara and San Francisco.
DEPTH: The Lions feature a 15-man roster, and as the season began nine of them were not in an LMU uniform in 2014-15. The Lions have featured 11 different starting line-ups this season, the 11th on Saturday against Saint Mary's when the Lions went with Brandon Brown, Joshua Spiers, Steven Haney Jr., Marin Mornar and Shamar Johnson. They 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 in nine games.
MORE ON DEPTH: On Thursday, the Lions' bench had 22 points, getting eight points and four assists from freshman Munis Tutu. They had 23 points against Saint Mary's, getting eight points and four rebounds from Petr Herman, a team-high five rebounds and two points from Jeffery McClendon and five points, six assists and four rebounds from Tutu. The freshman from Canada hit a pair of clutch free throws in the final minutes in the win over Pacific, something he has done of the bench in several wins. In the win over USF, the Lions equalled a season-best 48 points from their bench, getting a team-high 20 from senior David Humphries and 11 from sophomore Joshua Spiers. The Australian duo hit nine of the Lions' 12 three-pointers. Against USF, the Lions went 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the final 38 seconds against. Tutu was huge, hitting all four of his attempts, playing the final 3:38 at the point after starter Brandon Brown picked up his fifth foul. Tutu finished with the four points adding six assists and just two turnovers in 13 minutes. Against Santa Clara, Humphries had 14 of the Lions' 29 bench points. Tutu once again was perfect from the line (4-4) and Marin Mornar was efficient in his 22 minutes, going for nine points, seven rebounds and a block. Tutu ignited the Lions on both ends of the floor in the come-from-behind win over San Diego on Jan. 23, scoring 10 points with four assists and a career-best four steals in 25 minutes.
JOURNEYMAN: 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 equalled a career-best with five blocks against Saint Mary's to five him 29 so far this season. He is second all-time with 122 blocks. The only four-year senior on the roster, he played in 110th game against the Gaels. He is ranked 5th in the WCC in blocks at 1.2 per game. Adom Jacko is 7th with 22 blocks, just under one per game.
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