West Coast Conference Notebook
by Gregg Lavoie
Player of the week: Though Loyola Marymount’s Brandon Worthy struggled against an athletic Mississippi State team, he led the Lions to a big two-point victory over New Mexico State later in the week. The senior guard averaged 19.5 points over the two games. He also averaged five rebounds for LMU.
Team Capsules
Gonzaga Bulldogs (3-0, 0-0 WCC)
This week’s games: vs. UNC (11/22), vs. Idaho (11/26)
Team Leaders
Scoring: Josh Heytvelt, 20.0 ppg
Rebounds: Josh Heytvelt, 6.7 rpg
Assists: Matt Bouldin, 4.0 apg
The Bulldogs continue to look very impressive early on, but we must remember the caliber of teams they are playing. Gonzaga trounced Rice 88-50 on Nov. 14 and then defeated Baylor 78-69 in the quarterfinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off.
Sophomore Josh Heytvelt appears to be on the verge of a breakout season for the Zags. The 6-11 forward scored 25 points and grabbed 11 boards in the 38-point blowout of Rice. He followed that up with 13 points and four rebounds against Baylor.
The victory over Baylor means the Bulldogs will have yet another chance to prove their status among the nation’s elite when they tip off against UNC, the No. 2 team in the nation, in the NIT Season Tip-Off semifinals at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.
Loyola Marymount Lions (2-1, 0-0 WCC)
This week’s games: at Alaska-Anchorage (11/22)
Team Leaders
Scoring: Brandon Worthy, 19.3 ppg
Rebounds: Matthew Knight, 6.7 rpg
Assists: Damian Martin, 5.7 apg
After a season-opening victory over Oral Roberts (later the David to the Goliath Kansas), the Lions struggled mightily against Mississippi State, losing 61-37. LMU hit just 12 of 58 shots, for a dreadful 20.7 percent. But the Lions got back on the right track following the miserable performance with a 71-69 win over New Mexico State.
Brandon Worthy had a huge game for the Lions with 28 points and eight rebounds. Derrick Grubb chipped in with 14 points while Matthew Knight had 13.
LMU has a fairly easy non-conference schedule this season, so look for the team to enter conference play with a very impressive record.
Pepperdine Waves (1-3, 0-0 WCC)
This week’s games: vs. UC Santa Barbara (11/21), at UC Irvine (11/25)
Team Leaders
Scoring: Marvin Lea, 20.0 ppg
Rebounds: Marvin Lea, 5.3 rpg
Assists: Gregg Barlow, 3.7 apg
The good news for the Waves is that the offense looks to be firing on all cylinders in the early going – averaging 84.8 points per game. The bad news is that the defense is allowing 90 a game.
Pepperdine’s only bright spot thus far was a 98-83 victory over Nicholls State. The Waves dropped games to Northern Iowa (83-58) and Cal State Northridge (95-92) last week.
Marvin Lea is playing great for Pepperdine. The senior guard is averaging 20 points, 5.3 rebounds and three assists a game. But, as mentioned, the defense needs to start playing better if the Waves hope to turn things around.
Portland Pilots (2-3, 0-0 WCC)
This week’s games: at BYU (11/22), vs. UC Davis (11/19)
Team Leaders
Scoring: Jamie Jones, 12.3 ppg
Rebounds: Ben Sullivan, 6.5 rpg
Assists: Taishi Ito, 2.3 apg
After losing its first three games, Portland righted the ship this week with back-to-back victories. The Pilots defeated Montana State 59-53 on Nov. 17 and beat UC Davis 76-72 on Sunday.
The Pilots’ defense continues to suffocate opponents, allowing just 61.8 points per game. But the offense is still struggling.
Portland has a tough test this week when the team travels to Brigham Young University on Wednesday.
Saint Mary’s Gaels (3-2, 0-0 WCC)
This week’s games: vs. Cal State Monterey Bay (11/15), at USC (11/18)
Team Leaders
Scoring: Brett Collins, 12.2 ppg
Rebounds: Diamon Simpson, 7.0 rpg
Assists: Todd Golden, 3.4 apg
The Gaels almost pulled out a big win Saturday but came up just short against the Trojans of USC, falling 69-63. Earlier in the week, Saint Mary’s toppled a bad Cal State Monterey Bay team 89-41.
Saint Mary’s is very talented this season with seven players averaging over seven points per game. But the Gaels need somebody to step up and show some leadership, or the team will struggle come conference play.
San Diego Toreros (2-1, 0-0 WCC)
This week’s games: at Loyola-Chicago (11/20, at Texas-San Antonio (11/26)
Team Leaders
Scoring: Gyno Pomare, 15.0 ppg
Rebounds: Gyno Pomare, 7.3 rpg
Assists: Nir Cohen, 2.5 apg
San Diego defeated two inferior teams this past week, nothing much to brag about. The Toreros defeated UC San Diego 74-69 and cruised by Point Loma Nazarene 74-51.
The good news for the Toreros is that the offense is slowly coming around. San Diego now has four players scoring in double figures – Gyno Pomare (15.0 ppg), Nir Cohen (14.5 ppg), Brandon Johnson (13.3 ppg) and Ross DeRogatis (12.0 ppg). But the Toreros have connected on just nine of 37 3-point attempts, a 24.3 percent clip.
San Diego must shoot better if it hopes to succeed.
San Francisco Dons (2-1, 0-0 WCC)
This week’s games: at Ohio State (11/20), at UNLV (11/25)
Team Leaders
Scoring: Manny Quezada, 17.3 ppg
Rebounds: Alan Wiggins Jr.,11.7 rpg
Assists: Manny Quezada, 6.7 apg
San Francisco split its two games this past week, crushing Sacramento State 89-64 and then got crushed by Fresno State 86-66.
Things still look promising for the Dons, with consistently solid play from Manny Quezada, Armondo Surratt, Antonio Kellogg and Alan Wiggins Jr. Jay Watkins has also proved his worth to the team, averaging 11.3 points and 5.7 rebounds an outing.
San Francisco has an enormous game this week when it travels to Ohio State to take on the fourth-ranked Buckeyes.
Santa Clara Broncos (2-0, 0-0 WCC)
This week’s games: at California (11/20), vs. Nevada (11/25)
Team Leaders
Scoring: Sean Denison, 16.0 ppg
Rebounds: Mitch Henke, 7.0 rpg
Assists: Danny Pariseau, 7.5 apg
Santa Clara opened up the season strong, winning games against Holy Names and Utah. The Broncos scored 83 points in both outings while allowing an average of 62.3.
We’ll see if the Broncos are for real this week when they travel to Berkeley to take on Cal on Monday, then host No. 23 Nevada on Saturday.
