LMU looks to shock No. 20 Saint Mary's

Tonight's matchup pits the conference's two best point guards against each other.

The Lions will host No. 20 Saint Mary's tonight, looking for their first WCC home win against a team that is currently undefeated (8-0) in West Coast Conference play. The Lions last played at home on Jan. 14, when they lost a tight one to Gonzaga. LMU then went on the road to win two straight at BYU and then Santa Clara Monday night.

Saint Mary's has looked like the cream of the crop in the WCC thus far this season, getting out to an undefeated record that includes decisive home wins against Gonzaga and BYU.

The key matchup of the night will clearly be that of the point guards, who are arguably the two best point guards in the WCC. Here's how they stack up against each other, with WCC ranking in parenthesis.

                                  Anthony Ireland                                       Matthew Dellavedova
Scoring                             15.9 (3)                                                          15.8 (4)
Assists                               5.2 (3)                                                            6.5 (1)
Minutes per Game              36.1 (2)                                                          36.5 (1)

It will clearly be fun to watch these two go at it.

The key for the Lions tonight is going to be focus. They showed at BYU last week that they can play good basketball, but they have often times shown a lack of focus and drive during home games. LMU can not get complacent, not even for a couple minutes, against this strong Saint Mary's team and expect to win.

The Lions will also have to find an answer for Rob Jones of the Gaels, who is leading the conference in rebounding with an impressive 10.7 per game. Drew Viney and Ashley Hamilton will need to match Jones on the boards, but also attack him on the offensive end and hope to get Jones in foul trouble. Furthermore, if the Lions can pound the ball inside like they have been the last couple of games, LaRon Armstead, Jarred DuBois and Ireland will become even stronger outside scoring threats.

Game tips off at 7 p.m.