The Lions left for Las Vegas this morning, and in about 31 hours will be taking the court at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas to kick-off the men's portion of the West Coast Conference Tournament. The Lions have gone 2-2 on that court since the WCC Tournament moved there two seasons ago.
This season was, as many Lions fans know, a huge disappointment. Expected to finish in the top-three of the conference, LMU instead went just 2-12 in WCC play and will enter the tournament as the eighth, and last, seed. To make matters worse, they will face an unlikely draw of Portland - Santa Clara - Saint Mary's if they wish to get to the WCC Tournament finals. Portland and Saint Mary's have been the two toughest teams for the Lions to match-up against, as they have deadly three-point shooters.
But first up for LMU is the Portland Pilots, who have beaten the Lions twice this season. The first time the two teams matched up, LMU forced the Pilots into double-OT, before falling 79-78. Drew Viney came up huge for the Lions in that game, contributing 24 points.
In that initial game, the Lions did a nice job defending the three against a Pilots team that is one of the best long-range shooting teams in the nation. Portland went just 7-22 from three in the game. The Lions interior defense, however, left a little to be desired, as they allowed WCC All-Conference player Luke Sikma to score 24 points, the majority of which came in the paint.
The second meeting between the two teams was a game the Lions would like to forget, as they fell 71-48 in what many feel was the Lions' worst game of the season. Playing without leading scorer Drew Viney, LMU struggled to score. Freshman Anthony Ireland and senior Larry Davis were the only two Lions to score in double figures, with 10 and 11 points respectively.
LMU's three-point defense was again stellar, holding the Pilots to just four threes, but was outscored in the paint 32-16.
Facing the Pilots tomorrow, LMU is going to have to find a way to shutdown Sikma, who has topped 20 points in both meetings against the Lions this season. A combination of Drew Viney, Ashley Hamilton, and Tim Diederichs should get the nod against Sikma, and are going to have to do their best to stay out of foul trouble, something that has been difficult for Hamilton all season long.
Another key for the Lions is going to be to continue shutting down the Pilot's long-range shooters, Jared Stohl and Nemanja Mitrovic, who had all four of the Pilot's threes in the two teams last meeting. LMU again did a good job in the majority of the team's last game against San Francisco in defending the three, before giving up two to lose the game in the closing minutes. Defensive rotations, and not leaving Mitrovic or Stohl open for a three, will be key.
On the offensive end, the Lions need to play better team ball. Moving the ball around more and playing less one-on-one isolation is extremely important to LMU's offensive success.
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