It's not that we lost, but how we lost

The problem is not that the LMU men's basketball team lost to Saint Mary's last night. Saint Mary's is arguable one of the best teams in the nation right now, and clearly has one of the top-10 offenses in the country. They are third in the nation in shooting percentage, and seventh in points per game.Right now they are playing like a team who could make a solid run in the NCAA Tournament.

The problem for the Lions is that they let Saint Mary's beat them playing their game. If I were Max Good and the Lions before last night's game, I would have said the following: "Saint Mary's is a great team and we're going to have to play a flawless game to beat them. However, the last thing I want is for the Gaels (who are one of the top-20 three-point shooting teams in the nation) to beat us with the three. We will do everything we can to throw them off their game."

But I am not Max Good, and I am hoping he didn't say that, because if he had, than the team has a huge problem executing a game plan.

Everyone is Gersten Pavilion last night knew the Gaels were going to come in shooting, and so they did, knocking down 13 of their first 16 shot attempts. What confused me, and all fans within my earshot, were why the Lions looked like they didn't know that was coming. Right off the bat LMU defenders gave Saint Mary's players room to shoot. Furthermore, Lions players were doubleteaming any Gael who drove towards the basket, therefore leaving a shooter wide open. To say LMU got burned on that strategy would be an understatement.

There was even one instance when a Saint Mary's player held the right at the three-point line for a good three or four seconds, with the Lion defender two feet away with his arm somewhat outstretched. The crowd screamed at the defender to "get closer" but that didn't seem to be in the Lions gameplan. The Gaels player drained the three.

Picking apart yesterday's loss any further would be pointless. I'd basically be reiterating things that were said after previous losses. Inability to adjust mid-game, inability to execute, etc.

All the Lions can do now is look forward, and luckily for them they have the worst team in the WCC coming to Gersten tomorrow. With a win, LMU would still have a realistic shot at the fourth seed in the WCC Tournament. I guess as long as the Lions can beat up against the teams they should beat up on, we can all still pray for some sort of miraculous WCC Tournament run.

Lions no match for reigning WCC Champs

Larry Davis had 18 points in the Lions' loss to the Gaels | Courtesy of Facebook

The Lions were picked to finish higher than the Gaels in the 2010 WCC Preseason Coaches Poll but didn't play like it tonight, falling 98-75 to open West Coast Conference play. Six Gaels scored in double figures in the game, including two who had over 20 points (Rob Jones and Mickey McConnell). LMU was led by Vernon Teel with 19 points and Larry Davis with 18.

LMU was unable to stop Saint Mary's offense, which is fourth in the nation in field goal percentage and ninth in points per game. The Gaels made an astonishing 13 of their 16 field goal attempts, and had 56 points at the half.They shot 61 percent as a team in the game.

Both teams made it rain from beyond the arc, with the Gaels pouring in 11 three-pointers in the contest. The Lions made a season high seven threes, three by freshman Ayodeji Egbeyemi.

Leading scorer Drew Viney had four points, his lowest scoring total of the season, on 2-7 from the field. Viney, who is averaging over seven rebounds a game, pulled down just two boards. As a team the Lions outrebounded the Gaels 34-31, led by Larry Davis' seven.

LMU drops to 7-8 on the season while Saint Mary's improves to 13-2. The Gaels only two losses this season both came at the hands of top-25 teams.

The Lions will take on USD at home on Saturday. The Toreros lost to Pepperdine tonight in the only other WCC action of the evening. Saturday's game tips off at 7 p.m.

LMU rumored to be showing interest in East Coast small forward

Damion Lee | Courtesy of Facebook

LMU is rumored to be interested in Damion Lee, a small forward who is currently spending a post-grad year at prep powerhouse St. Thomas More in Oakdale, Conn., according to a Baltimore Sun article published one month ago. Lee graduated from Calvert Hall in Baltimore last year, after leading his team to a Baltimore Catholic League championship.

The 6'5" Lee had signed a letter on intent to attend Towson, but changed his mind last spring. According to the Baltimore Sun, Lee felt that a post-grad year "would be best for his development."

The article goes on to say that Lee "already has scholarship offers from Hofstra, Northeastern and St. Bonaventure," but Jere Quinn, Lee's coach, noted that his forward had also heard from Boston College, Delaware, Fordham, Loyola Marymount, Manhattan, Penn State and Siena.

Lee has a scouts grading of 85 on ESPN, meaning that he would be a "multi-year starter at the mid-major level."

Quality center considering LMU

6'9 center Lekan Ajayi, who is currently a high school senior at Quality Education Academy in North Carolina, is considering becoming a Lion next season, according to Yahoo's Rivals.com. The article states that Ajayi's "coaches mentioned Wake Forest, Loyola Marymount, Seton Hall, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia Tech" as possibilities for the 240 lb. center.

According to ESPN.com, Ajayi is the 15th best center available in the 2011 class. He is a strong post player known for his exceptional defense.

Thus far, the Lions current recruiting class consists of SG Bruce English.

LMU to host WCC's best to open conference play

Guards like Larry Davis are going to have tough defensive tasks tomorrow against the Gaels | Courtesy of Facebook

The Lions (7-7) welcome the Saint Mary's Gaels to Gersten Pavilion tomorrow to open WCC play at 6 p.m. The Gaels come in with the WCC's best record at an impressive 12-2, having won six straight decisions. The Lions, on the other hand, had the conference's fifth best record in non-WCC play, and are coming off of a road victory over UC Irvine.

LMU went 0-2 against Saint Mary's last season, when the Gaels went on to win the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas before eventually making it to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament. Overall the Lions have lost eight straight games to the Gaels.

The Gaels, having lost big man Omar Samhan to graduation after last season, have not lost a step in his absence. Saint Mary's has been led by spectacular guard play coming from Mickey McConnell and Matthew Dellavedova, who are averaging a combined 27.2 points per game and are first and second in the league in free throw percentage, respectively. Dellavedova is also first in the conference in assists per game with six, while McConnell is not far behind in second with 5.4.

Rob Jones has also become a surprising star for the Gaels, after transferring from fellow WCC school USD in 2009. Jones is averaging 13.7 points per game (good enough for second on the team) and a team-leading 5.5 rebounds per contest.

LMU has had a full week off to prepare for Saint Mary's.

The Gaels have played only two road games thus far this season, and have a 1-1 record to show for them. With school still not back in session for LMU, a large crowd is probably not expected in Gersten tomorrow, but could be important for a Lions team looking for a major upset. A win tomorrow for LMU would definitely start its conference season off in the right direction, and could really determine where this team goes in WCC play.

Edgar Garibay cleared to play after concussion

Courtesy of Facebook

Redshirt freshman center Edgar Garibay was held out of the Lions win over UC Irvine due to a concussion. As of today, however, he has been cleared to play, according to Diamond Leung of ESPN.

LMU will need Garibay in Thursday's game, as they are already without big man Ashley Hamilton who is recovering from surgery after suffering a broken hand a couple weeks ago.

The Lions game against St. Mary's will open WCC play Thursday at 6 p.m. The game can be seen live on ESPNU.

No rest for the weary

Vernon Teel had a quiet 20 points in Thursday's win over Irvine | Courtesy of Facebook

The Lions WCC schedule starts off with a bang, as LMU will face St. Mary's, Gonzaga and Portland (the conference's three best teams so far this season) in three of its first four games of 2011. With the way the Lions have been playing recently, it looks like they will begin conference play 1-3 if they don't turn things around quickly.

In the Lions victory over UC Irvine last Thursday, we fans saw more of the same lackluster play that we've seen all season long. After playing a decent first half, in which the Lions earned an eight-points lead while holding the Anteater shooters to just 38 percent overall and 21 percent from beyond the arc, LMU fans again saw a confusing Lions team in the second period.

At first, it looked like the Lions were poised to play their best half of basketball on the season. In less than six minutes, LMU pushed their eight-point lead to 19, and was moving the ball extremely well on offense.Things seemed to be clicking, but as soon as I looked down at my phone and read a text from my friend that said "Why do we look so great this half ... I'm getting too excited for conference play now," it seemed that the Lions self-destructed once again. In less than five minutes the 19-point lead was back down to eight, and then to make things worse, with just under five minutes left in the contest LMU and Irvine were locked in a close four-point game.

I give the Lions, and especially Anthony Ireland's free throw shooting, credit for pulling out the victory down the stretch, but it worries me that the game even had to get to that point. If we are fortunate enough to build a large lead against a team like St. Mary's, and then happened to let it slip down to four, there is little chance we would have been able to still pull out the win. This is actually nothing new this season, but our attitude and the way we play with a lead needs to change for us to do well in WCC play.

The first thing that fell apart when we had a large lead was our offense. I know a lot of teams like to begin to run out the clock in the second period when they hold a significant advantage, but that just doesn't seem to work for us. There were too many empty possessions midway through the second half, possessions where the Lions let the shot-clock dwindle down before being forced to take an awful shot. Whatever we were doing to get the 19 points lead was working; I would have liked to see those same offensive sets continue, even with the big lead. It's not like our offense in general couldn't use the practice ...

Thursday the Lions will host a tough St. Mary's team who has begun the season 12-2. They shoot threes well and play tough defense. If the LMU team who seems to have an inability to play a full 40-minutes of solid basketball shows up to Gersten, they will get blown out by twenty points, at least.

But, and you can call me an optimist, I will not give up hope of a victory this Thursday. For starters, we finally saw the Drew Viney Lions fans know and love last week, as he put in 22 points on 7-10 shooting (although it should be noted that if Viney is on, and making 70 percent of his shots, he should have shot at least 17 times. Just saying). Viney's "pump fake - step left - shoot" move was working to perfection, so well in fact that Vernon Teel borrowed it to knock down a long two just as the shot clock was expiring late in the second half. If Viney's outside game, which I critiqued for not being on point this season just last week, is working like it did against Irvine, he can be the type of player to change the outcome of Thursday's game, as long as other people fill in their roles adequately.

Thursday's game tips off at 6 p.m., and can be seen live on ESPNU. Hope to, however, see many of you at Gersten. Go Lions.