It was the 9^thof August, eight months before Monday's NCAA National Championship game, that the Loyola Marymount University men's basketball team boarded a plane to Melbourne, Australia. The trip brought the players and staff together to start practicing, playing, learning, and communicating at an earlier point of the year than in previous seasons.
 
The Lions went 3-1 in Australia, beating the Aspiring Stars All-Star team, Dandenong Rangers, and Cairns Taipans, with the only loss coming to the NBL Reigning Champions Melbourne United. The trip was capped off with a memorable day at the Great Barrier Reef. LMU came from behind to beat both the All-Stars and Rangers in Australia, setting up a trend for the start of the season. 
 
The first marquee win of the regular season came on the road at Las Vegas. In UNLV's season-opener, the Lions erased a nine-point second half deficit, and limited the Rebels to 50 points, to build early momentum heading into the Jamaica Classic. The defense would be active all season, and finish the year at the top of the conference and 13^thin NCAA Division I with LMU limiting opponents to 62.5 points per game.
 
The Lions garnered national attention following their 5-0 start and a sweep at the 2018 Jamaica Classic. In the first game of the tournament, James Batemon tied the program record by going 13-for-13 at the free throw line, as part of his game-high 27 points, to erase another halftime deficit and defeat Georgetown for the first time in program history.
 
Two nights later, the Lions earned the tournament's Montego Bay Division Title with a nine-point win over South Florida. Batemon's play earned the senior MVP honors, as well as both WCC Player of the Week and Madness National Men's Basketball Player of the Week recognitions.
 
As a team, the Lions were receiving votes in the AP Poll (Nov. 19, 2018) and ranked 10^thin the NCAA's initial net rankings (Nov. 26, 2018).
 
LMU returned to Hank's House to win three-straight home games and set a new program-record with an overall 8-0 start to a season. The Lions finished both the calendar year and non-conference play at 12-2, surpassing the 2017-18 total win mark of 11. This included a commanding performance at Portland State highlighted by Dameane Douglas' full-court buzzer-beater heading into halftime and James Batemon's coast-to-coast game winning layup to tie his career-high with 30 points and give LMU their best-ever one-loss start to a season at 11-1.
 
LMU entered conference action with double-digit wins for the first time since the 1987-88 WCAC Champion team won 10 of their 13 out-of-league games to open the season. The 12 games won prior to conference action is the most in the team's history since joining a league in 1955-56, 63 seasons ago.
 
Head Coach Mike Dunlap won his 400th career NCAA game with a 76-64 win over Portland on Jan. 5. The win moved the Lions to 8-0 at home to open the season.
 
LMU closed out the West Coast Conference season with three consecutive wins to finish 8-8 and jump up to the fifth-seed for the WCC Tournament. The three-game win streak to close out the regular season was sparked by Batemon's milestone mark of eclipsing 1,000 points in his two year career in the win over Pacific. He is the 35^thLion to score 1,000 or more points in a career.
 
The ensuing game, which began with a pregame recognition of LMU's three-member senior class, finished with a remarkable second half that brought the Lions from 20 points down to victory. In that Senior Night win, Batemon, Petr Herman, and McClendon combined for over 50 percent of the team's scoring in what at the time seemed like their final opportunity to play in front of the home fans.
 
With the calendar flipped to March, LMU knew that they could finish anywhere between fifth and eight in the WCC race depending on the results on the league's final day of action. The Lions traveled to San Francisco for their lone matchup of the season against the 20+ win Dons, and clinched the fifth-seed with the win, while also hitting the 20-win plateau of their own for just the second time since 1990.
 
Despite a second-round exit from the WCC Championships, LMU had reached .500 in conference play for the first time under Coach Dunlap and felt a 20-11 record heading into Selection Sunday justified a postseason berth.
 
The Lions were rewarded for their strong season with an invitation to the College Basketball Invitational (CBI), but would have to start the tournament on the road. LMU played their defensive brand of basketball, moving to 12-0 when limiting opponents to fewer than 60 points. Mattias Markusson converted a three-point play on the final LMU possession to secure the 56-55 and advance the Lions to the second round of the CBI.
 
The next opponent in the tournament came out of the Ivy League, as Brown made the cross-country trip to Gersten Pavilion. In that game, the Lions matched their season-high with a dozen steals to take the quarterfinal leg of the Roman CBI, 81-63. Offensively, LMU made 30 field goals, the most against a Division I opponent this year.
 
Steals were a calling card all season for the LMU defense. James Batemon led the WCC with 54 steals, and both Joe Quintana (48) and Jeffery McClendon (44) finished in the conference's top eight. As a team, the 250 total steals and 7.4 steals per game ranked second in the conference only to Gonzaga.
 
The CBI semifinals were hosted by University of South Florida, which meant it was LMU's turn for a quick turnaround and cross-country flight. The Lions and Bulls were tied at the half, but a USF run early in the second half proved to be the difference in the outcome, marking the end to LMU's 22-win season. In program history, only the 1987-88 and 1989-90 finished the year with more wins that this season's Lions.
 



In addition to the record number of wins, LMU broke a number of program records and received several awards throughout the season. Those are all reflected below: 
 
 
Individual Awards
James Batemon

• All-WCC Preseason Team
• Jamaica Classic Montego Bay Division MVP
• WCC Player of the Week (Nov. 19, 2018)
• Madness National Men's Basketball Player of the Week (Nov. 19, 2018)
• Lou Henson Award Watch List
• All-WCC First Team

Mattias Markusson

• Jamaica Classic Montego Bay Division All-Tournament Team

Erik Johansson

• WCC All-Academic Team

Mattias Markusson

• All-WCC Honorable Mention Team

Dameane Douglas

• WCC All-Freshman Team

 
 
Individual Career
James Batemon
29^th – 1091 Career Points (64 games)
13^th – 17.0 Career Points Per Game (64 games)
20^th – 86 Career 3-Pointers Made (64 games)
15^th – 323 Career Free Throws Made (64 games)
19^th – 398 Career Free Throws Attempted (64 games)
14^th - .812 Career Free Throw Percentage (min. 100 made) (323-398)
16^th – 261 Career Assists
10^th – 4.1 Career Assist Average (min. 50 games)
T-30^th – 89 Career Steals
15^th – 1.4 Career Steals Average (64 games)
T-25^th – 64 Career Games Started
30^th – 2251 Career Minutes Played
3^rd – 25.2 Career Minutes Average (64 games)
T-41^st– 3 Career Double-Doubles
 
Mattias Markusson
1^st - .591 Career Field Goal Percentage (277-469)
8^th – 76 Career Blocked Shots
12^th – 0.8 Career Block Shots Average (91 games)
T-25^th – 64 Career Games Started
T-18^th– 9 Career Double-Doubles
 
Dameane Douglas
11^th - .554 Career Field Goal Percentage (102-184)
 
Erik Johansson
T-30^th – 66 Career 3-Pointers Made (86 games)
27^th - .346 Career 3-Point Field Goal Percentage (66-191)
 
Joe Quintana
23^rd - .350 Career 3-Point Field Goal Percentage (57-163)
 
Petr Herman
18^th – 56 Career Blocked Shots
25^th – 0.5 Career Block Shots Average (110 games)
T-20^th – 110 Career Games Played
 
Jeffery McClendon
11^th – 144 Career Steals
18^th – 1.3 Career Steals Average (115 games)
T-9^th – 115 Career Games Played

Eli Scott
T-23^rd– 7 Career Double-Doubles
 
 
Individual Season (2018-19)
James Batemon
T-18^th – 151 Season 3-Point Field Goals Attempted (34 games)
10^th – 166 Season Free Throws Made (34 games)
15^th – 202 Season Free Throws Attempted (34 games)
T-18^th – 54 Season Steals
T-1^st – 34 Season Games Played
T-1^st – 34 Season Games Started
3^rd – 1201 Season Minutes Played
15^th – 35.3 Season Minutes Average (34 games)
 
Mattias Markusson
9^th - .586 Season Field Goal Percentage (140-239)
T-1^st – 34 Season Games Played
T-2^nd – 33 Season Games Started
 
Zafir Williams
T-1^st – 34 Season Games Played
 
Dameane Douglas
T-10^th – 33 Season Games Played
14^th– All-Time Freshman Scoring – 275 points
5^th-  All-Time Freshman Rebounding – 161 points
10^th- All-Time Freshman Rebounding Average – 4.9 rpg
T-9^th- All-Time Freshman Steals – 26 steals
 
Joe Quintana
T-13^th – 32 Season Games Played
 
Jordan Bell
T-10^th – 33 Season Games Played