Happy New Year!

Loyola Marymount served as the 2009 bookends for Seattle University. SU entered 2009 like a Lion by dispatching of the visiting Lions at Key Arena on the very first day of the year. Nearly a year to the day Seattle ended 2009 with a loss to the transformed LMU club. Loyola Marymount does not even resemble the team that limped into Key Arena last January. Coaching stability, two power conference transfers and health have stabilized the LMU program as they have surged to five wins in a row. They won 3 all of last season. It was a difficult matchup for Seattle as they look to pick up the pieces at home against another thorny opponent January 2^nd at Key Arena.

News and Notes from the LMU Loss-

-          Loyola Marymount had not reached the 100 point mark since January 29, 1998.

-          LMU is celebrating the 20^th anniversary of their historic 1989-90 team.  The team averaged 122 points per game under the guidance of Paul Westhead. The season took a tragic turn when star Hank Gather collapsed during a WCC tournament game and passed away. Bo Kimble would lead LMU to the Elite 8 shooting the first free-throw of every game left-handed in honor of his fallen teammate. He would make all three.

-          Bo Kimble averaged 35 points a game and was taken in the following NBA draft by SU legend Elgin Baylor and the Los Angeles Clippers

-          For some high entertainment take a look at some of the box scores from the run and gun Lions here. For example – 12/19/89- LMU 117 Oregon State 113 at Corvallis. LMU- Bo Kimble- 53 points 12 rebounds 21-27 FG 10-11 FT. OSU- Gary Payton- 48 points 10 assists 22-31 FG. Imagine what GP had to say in that one. Classic

-          Coming into the LMU game SU was second in the nation in FT attempts (397) behind Kansas State. Seattle had marched to stripe just over 30 times a game, but only managed 19 trips against LMU.  The Lions took 45 free throws.

-          Charles Garcia has not played more than 25 minutes in each of the last 3 games due to foul trouble.

-          Mike Boxley torched the twine for a career high 21 points. He was 3-5 from downtown as he topped his previous best of 18 points.

-          Cervante Burrell bounced back with 4 assists after a donut against Denver. He had averaged 6 assists a game in the last 5 before the mile high matchup.

-          Gavin Gilmore chipped in five points. He had just two in the last three games in total.

-          Peter Harris appears to have found a spot in the rotation. Harris contributed 6 points in 16 minutes and played solid defense.

-          Vernon Teel was two rebounds away from a triple-double. 24 points 10 assist and 8 boards.

-          Seattle gave up a season high 59% shooting vs LMU. The Lions were a blistering 16-24 in the second half- 66.7%.

SU is back in action against Harvard at Key Arena Saturday at 2:00 pm. Tune in on 710 ESPN Seattle

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 31st, 2009 at 9:16 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.