Basketball
2011-12 SEASON REVIEW INSIDE THE LIONS • LMU finished the 2011-12 season at 21-13 overall on the season after going 11-5 (4th) in the WCC. Many of the Lions’ marks this season go back to the 1989-90 Elite Team, including its first 20-win season, the most conference wins, first postseason win, first team to earn consecutive postseason wins, most home wins (12), and best road record (9-4). In addition, the 21 wins is the fourth most in school history and the Lions’ 11 conference wins is tied with the 1967-68 team for the third most. • Senior Drew Viney and sophomore Anthony Ireland were named First-Team All-WCC, while Head Coach Max Good was named WCC Coach of the Year, as announced by the WCC on Feb. 28. In addition, Ireland earned second-team NABC All-District honors, the first Lion on record to earn the honor. The Lions have now had a pair of All-WCC selections in each of the last three seasons. Ireland and Viney finished one-two on the team in scoring at 16.1 and 15.2 points per game, respectively. Viney is the 14th player in school history to earn three All-WCC honors. Ireland had his 11th 20-point game of the season against Utah State and second double-double with 20 points and 10 assists in the win over Weber State. He ranked second in the league in scoring after earning All-Freshman honors a year ago. • LMU finished the season ranked 20th in the NCAA Division I National Rankings in three-point field goal defense and 39th in free throw percentage. • The Lions held opponents to a league low 30.2 percent from long range overall, while limiting opponents to just 28.4 percent in WCC games. The Lions have held 15 teams under 30 percent for the game, including Weber State’s 26.1 percent (nearly 20 percent lower than their average entering the game), as well as BYU’s 2-for-25 (8 percent) effort, Pepperdine’s 2-for-15 effort (13.3 percent) as well as Gonzaga and Portland to 15.4 percent (2-for-13). In non-conference they held UCLA to 13.3 percent and North Texas’ to 15.8 percent. • The Lions led the WCC in free throw percentage at 73.8 percent on the season, good for 39th in the NCAA. In the final three games at Gersten Pavilion, they have hit 83-of-102, including a 31-for-35 (88.6%) clip in the regular season final against Santa Clara and then a 32-for-40 (80%) clip against CSF in the first round of the CIT. The Lions’ top-six scorers hit better than 70.7 percent, including Jarred DuBois’ 87.5 percent and LaRon Armstead’s 87.0 percent, who were one-two in the WCC. Armstead qualified for NCAA rankings, and finished 27th nationally. Anthony Ireland is ninth in the WCC at 77.1percent. • With the two home wins in the CIT, the Lions finished with 12 victories at Gersten Pavilion on the season, the second most (1986, 1990, 1996) since the building opened in 1981-82. The 14-0 record at home in 1987-88 is the most in school history. In addition, the 49,597 combined attendance is the most in school history. • The win at Saint Mary’s in the final road game of the regular season improved the Lions to 7-1 on the road in WCC play as they would finish 9-4 overall away from home. Its the best conference road record since going 6-1 in that 1989-90 season, and the seven wins matches the road win total of the 1987-88 team, who went 14-0 in league play. In addition, the 9-4 overall road record, is the best road record since winning 11 games in that Elite Eight season. Included in this season’s road record was a six-game road winning streak to start WCC road play, matching the 1990-91 team for the most consecutive road wins (overall). • The Lions’ posted a 60-point second half in erasing a 19-point deficit in the comeback win over San Francisco on Feb. 4. It was the most points in a single half since they scored 69 in the second half against USC on Nov. 30, 1993. • MORE NUMBERS: The Lions improved to 17-2 when leading at the half (9-1 in WCC), 13-1 (6-0) when outrebounding their opponent (including a 48-31 edge over Weber State), 20-5 (10-2) when shooting better than 40 percent (hitting 42.2 percent against the Wildcats), 13-1 (6-0) when holding their opponent to less than 40 percent (38.5% for WSU), and 15-0 (7-0) when scoring 70 or more points. • The Lions have played in four overtime games in a season for the first time since 1994-95, winning all four. It is the first time in program history the Lions have won four overtime games in a single season.
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GOOD STUFF The Lions have found success in the big games under Head Coach Max Good. The trip to the 2012 CIT is the team’s second postseason trip in three seasons. Prior to Good’s arrival, it was 20 years since the Lions last made a trip to postseason play. The Lions are 3-2 this season (W - #17 UCLA, #23 Saint Louis, #16 Saint Mary’s; L - #23 Gonzaga, #16 Saint Mary’s) against ranked opponents, 4-4 in the last three seasons under Good. The games against UCLA and Florida State were the eighth and ninth time under Good the Lions played a team from the “BCS” conferences. The Lions are 3-6 in those meetings, defeating USC (67-59), Notre Dame (87-85) and now UCLA (69-58), all on the road. In addition, Good has led the Lions to more road wins and more conference wins than any head coach since Paul Westhead. THE ROSTER Injuries once again have forced change in the Lions starting five as the Lions started nine different line-ups. Three of the Lions’ top-seven - top scorers Jarred DuBois, Drew Viney and Ashley Hamilton - combined to miss 27 games on the season. The Lions found some consistency down the stretch, starting the same five for 11 straight games toward the end of the season and 13 games overall. With two wins in the CIT, that line-up finished 10-3. AT THE POINT Sophomore Anthony Ireland started the season scoring 22 or more points in four of five games, and with his three-straight 20-point performances in the CIT, he had 11 games with 20 or more on the season and 13 in his young career. He is the only Lion to play every game this season and he was second in the WCC in minutes played at 36.5 per game. The first-team All-WCC selection was second in the WCC in scoring at 15.9 points per game and fourth with 5.0 assists per contest. He earned his second WCC Player of the Week honor with 16 points and seven assists in the win over ranked Saint Mary’s, and 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists in the win over Valpo. His first was after his 27-point effort in the win over BYU and he became just the second Lion since 1998 to earn a double-double with points and assists when he did it against Vanguard (14 pts, 10 assists). He did it again with the 20-point, 10-assist effort against Weber State. He now has 164 assists on the season and 259 career assists in his career. His season total is tied for 11th in LMU history and his career total ranks 14th all-time. He also has 54 steals (tied for 15th all-time) on the season (1.64 spg) to rank sixth in the WCC. CAREER MARKS Three-time All-WCC selection Drew Viney entered 2011-12 needing just a single point to become the 31st player in LMU history to reach 1,000 career points. After having to miss the first six games due to a stress fracture in his foot, it took exactly 12 seconds in his first game back against Columbia to hit the century mark. Viney knocked down a 12-foot jumper to become the 31st player in school history to reach a 1,000 points. Then with five rebounds against San Diego (Feb. 23), he became the 13th player in program history with 1,000 career points and 500 career rebounds. He had his 11th career double-double in the win over Pepperdine, which ranks tied for 12th at LMU. He finished his career ranked 15th with 1,364 points • 15th with 16.4 ppg • 18th with 469 made field goals • 20th with 1,021 field goal attempts • 7th with 143 three-pointers made • 9th with 341 three-pointer attempts • 3rd with a 41.9 three-point field goal percentage • 16th with 283 free throws made • 25th with 354 free throws attemted • 17th with a 79.9 free throw percentage • 20th with 535 rebounds • 5th with 85 blocks • 28th with 88 steals. SENIOR LEADER LaRon Armstead showed why he is the Lions’ senior leader, becoming the 30th player in LMU history to appear in 100 games in his career. Fellow senior Tim Diederichs became the 31st to hit a 100 in the game against Gonzaga. Armstead came off the bench to score 22 points against then #23 Saint Louis, becoming a mainstay in the Lions’ rotation since. Then in the first game after the passing of his mother (March 6), he went for 16 points and five rebounds in 33 minutes against CSF on Wednesday. In addition to his free throws, he hit 33 three-pointers, third on the squad.