West Coast Conference Notebook
by Gregg Lavoie
Player of the week: After sitting out last season due to transfer rules, San Francisco’s Antonio Kellogg proved he still has some game left. The sophomore guard led the Dons to a season-opening 87-73 win over Sonoma State. Kellogg finished the game with 22 points, five rebounds and six assists. He also added two steals.
Team Capsules
Gonzaga Bulldogs (1-0, 0-0 WCC)
This week’s games: vs. Rice (11/15), vs. Texas-San Antonio (11/19)
Team Leaders
Scoring: Josh Heytvelt, 22.0 ppg
Rebounds: David Pendergraft, 7.0 rpg
Assists: Jeremy Pargo, 5.0 apg
The defending WCC champs got off on the right foot on Nov. 10 by defeating a pesky Eastern Washington team 90-75. The Eagles of the Big Sky Conference return four of their top five scorers from last season’s team that went 15-15 overall and 9-5 in Big Sky play.
The highlight of the Eagles’ roster is sophomore guard Rodney Stuckey, a collegeinsider.com pre-season All-American pick.
For Gonzaga, it seems that Josh Heytvelt is going to have a bigger impact than anybody could have imagined. The 6’11” sophomore forward led the Bulldogs with 22 points, five rebounds, two steals and a block.
Stuckey had 18 points for the Eagles.
Loyola Marymount Lions (1-0, 0-0 WCC)
This week’s games: at Mississippi State (11/13), vs. New Mexico State (11/17), vs. Cal State Bakersfield (11/19)
Team Leaders
Scoring: Matthew Knight, 23.0 ppg
Rebounds: Matthew Knight, 9.0 rpg
Assists: Brandon Worthy, 7.0 apg
The Lions opened up their season with a nice 68-65 win over an always-tough Oral Roberts team. Oral Roberts made the NCAA Tournament last season and return many of the key players from that team.
Loyola Marymount got a huge game from forward Matthew Knight. Knight had 23 points to go along with nine rebounds for the Lions. Brandon Worthy, the pre-season favorite for conference player of the year, also had a solid game for the Lions. Worthy had 19 points and led the team with seven assists.
The problem for Loyola Marymount appears to be where the rest of the points are going to come from. Knight and Worthy combined for 42 of the Lions 65 points against Oral Roberts – 65 percent. If a third, and even fourth, player can’t step up and produce some points, the LMU offense could be in for a long season.
Pepperdine Waves (0-1, 0-0 WCC)
This week’s games: vs. Northern Iowa (11/13), at Nicholls State (11/14), at Cal State Northridge (11/18)
Team Leaders
Scoring: Jason Walberg, 18.0 ppg
Rebounds: Chris Oakes, 7.0 rpg
Assists: Gregg Barlow, 6.0 apg
The Waves played extremely well in their upset bid against No. 17 Washington but came up just short, losing 99-91. This has to be an encouraging sign for both Pepperdine players and fans.
First-year head coach Vance Walberg seems to have implemented a new offensive system for the Waves. Looking back at the 2005-06 season, Pepperdine scored 90 points just once in 27 games – a 92-86 victory over Long Beach State.
Pepperdine had five players score in double-figures, led by Jason Walberg with 18. Marvin Lea had 16, Chase Griffin had 15 and Tomas Pranciliaukas and Chris Oakes each had 12. Oakes also had seven rebounds for Pepperdine.
Portland Pilots (0-3, 0-0 WCC)
This week’s games: vs. Montana State (11/17), vs. UC Davis (11/19)
Team Leaders
Scoring: James Jones, 14.0 ppg
Rebounds: James Jones, 7.3 rpg
Assists: Taishi Ito, 2.3 apg
Things started off just about as expected for the Pilots.
Portland lost all three of its games during the opening week of the season – 65-48 to Oregon State, 56-53 to Cal Poly and 63-55 to Southeasten Louisiana.
The one bright spot for the Pilots may be the play of the defense. It will take some time for the offense to get in gear, but if the defense holds up, the Pilots may be able to right the ship before things get even uglier.
James Jones played well over the three-game span, averaging 14.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. The sophomore forward is shooting an impressive 63 percent from the field thus far.
Saint Mary’s Gaels (2-1, 0-0 WCC)
This week’s games: vs. Cal State Monterey Bay (11/15), at USC (11/18)
Team Leaders
Scoring: Brett Collins, 12.3 ppg
Rebounds: Diamon Simpson, 7.3 rpg
Assists: Todd Golden, 4.0 apg
Saint Mary’s looked good over the first week of the season, with the exception of a bad 74-73 loss to a sub-par San Diego State team.
It looks as though the youthful Gaels have the talent to do some damage this season, but will have to play better against inferior teams.
Three players are scoring in double-figures so far. Senior Brett Collins leads the team with 12.3 points per game. Sophomores Ian O’Leary (11.3 ppg) and Diamon Simpson (11.0 ppg) are also playing well. The Gaels are averaging 40.3 rebounds per game, a very impressive number.
Saint Mary’s victories came against Seattle, 71-60 and Murray State, an NCAA Tournament team last season, 62-44.
San Diego Toreros (0-1, 0-0 WCC)
This week’s games: vs. UC San Diego (11/13), vs. Point Loma Nazarene (11/16)
Team Leaders
Scoring: Brandon Johnson, 18.0 ppg
Rebounds: Gyno Pomare, 9.0 rpg
Assists: Brandon Johnson, 3.0 apg
The Toreros opened up the season with a tough 71-62 loss on the road against Stephen F. Austin.
Brandon Johnson and Gyno Pomare both played very well for San Diego in the loss. Johnson led the team in scoring with 18 points and in assists with three. Pomare led in the rebounding category with nine and chipped in with 11 points.
As they say, teams live and die by the 3-pointer. The Toreros died by it against Stephen F. Austin, connecting on just one of 13 attempts. They will have to improve on that stat drastically as the season progresses.
Santa Clara Broncos (0-0, 0-0 WCC)
This week’s games: vs. Holy Names (11/14), vs. Utah (11/18)
The Broncos have not opened the season yet.
