The Lions played a great game against BYU last night. Other than the victory over ranked Saint Louis in non-conference play, that was the most complete 40 minutes of basketball I've seen LMU play this season. Once again, Anthony Ireland led the way, but both Drew Viney and LaRon Armstead both contributed big minutes on both the offensive and defensive (props to both of them for stepping up their defense) ends of the court while the rest of the players played the roles they needed to.
Since WCC play began, I've been extremely impressed with the Lions ability to improve their offense since non-conference play, when the offense at time looked repetitive and stagnant. LMU is currently doing a great job of making an effort to work the ball inside (somewhat thanks to the return of Ashley Hamilton) and keeping their opponents defense on its heels.
The Lions, however, have a potentially tough game in store for them on Monday at Santa Clara. Sandwiched between a huge win over BYU and an impending home game against 7-0 Saint Mary's, LMU will take a quick trip up North to take on the Broncos. This game has the recipe to be a trap game for the Lions, who will need to make sure they don't overlook the 0-4 Broncos. Santa Clara is better than their 0-4 WCC record shows, with two talented guards in Kevin Foster and Evan Roquemore, and now that LMU has proven it belongs as one of the top-four teams in the conference it needs to prove it can stay that way with a win over a bottom-tier team.
While it is still early (LMU has played only six of its 16 conference games), here are where the WCC standings sit right now.
The great news for LMU? This team could very easily be 6-0 in conference right now, with its two losses both coming in close games (loss to BYU, loss to Gonzaga). There is no need to start a "what if" game about those two contests; it's truly a great thing that the Lions have not looked outmatched against any team thus far in conference play.
Let's hope LMU can keep up the great play and handle Santa Clara as they should Monday night.
Since WCC play began, I've been extremely impressed with the Lions ability to improve their offense since non-conference play, when the offense at time looked repetitive and stagnant. LMU is currently doing a great job of making an effort to work the ball inside (somewhat thanks to the return of Ashley Hamilton) and keeping their opponents defense on its heels.
The Lions, however, have a potentially tough game in store for them on Monday at Santa Clara. Sandwiched between a huge win over BYU and an impending home game against 7-0 Saint Mary's, LMU will take a quick trip up North to take on the Broncos. This game has the recipe to be a trap game for the Lions, who will need to make sure they don't overlook the 0-4 Broncos. Santa Clara is better than their 0-4 WCC record shows, with two talented guards in Kevin Foster and Evan Roquemore, and now that LMU has proven it belongs as one of the top-four teams in the conference it needs to prove it can stay that way with a win over a bottom-tier team.
While it is still early (LMU has played only six of its 16 conference games), here are where the WCC standings sit right now.
While we'll wait until later in the season to truly start discussing WCC Tournament matchups, it is not too early to state the the Lions need to aim for a top-four conference finish, which would bypass them into the quarterfinals of the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas.
The great news for LMU? This team could very easily be 6-0 in conference right now, with its two losses both coming in close games (loss to BYU, loss to Gonzaga). There is no need to start a "what if" game about those two contests; it's truly a great thing that the Lions have not looked outmatched against any team thus far in conference play.
Let's hope LMU can keep up the great play and handle Santa Clara as they should Monday night.
No comments:
Post a Comment