Loyola Marymount and Pacific each have an opportunity to earn a weekend split and avoid beginning the conference season at 0-2 with Saturday's game in Stockton on the horizon.

The Lions (5-7, 0-1 WCC) and Tigers (5-9, 0-1 WCC) share 0-1 WCC records after opening West Coast Conference play on the road against the league's two NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago.

LMU's strong point in Thursday's loss was the ability to knock down free throws. The Lions went a season-high 92.9 percent (13-for-14) from the charity stripe, led by James Batemon's second perfect outing of the season. The point guard went 5-for-5 against Saint Mary's (Dec. 28, 2017) and his conference-best mark of 12-for-12 in the win against Incarnate Word (Nov. 22, 2017).

The Lions and Tigers ranks as two of the conference's three best offensive rebounding teams. LMU grabs the eight-most in the nation at 14.5 per game and Paci c is third in the WCC with 12.1 per game.

Jahlil trip is the conference's top rebounder to this point, averaging 9.7 per game and 3.6 on the offensive glass. LMU's Eli Scott and Zafir Williams rank third and fourth in the WCC with 3.1 and 2.7 offensive boards per game, respectively.

Pacific leads WCC teams with 107 steals through 14 games, with Kendall Small acounting for a conference-high 1.9 per game.