Preview: Gophers vs. Loyola Marymount

Basketball is a confusing sport. Teams can go from great to horrible almost instantly, and you never know which version is going to show up on a given night. Case in point, the Loyola Marymount Lions. They lost by just 7 points to a very impressive Washington team, and they took Top 25 Virginia into overtime on the road before losing by 2 points. Based on that, one would expect this to be Minnesota’s toughest home game since Florida State. If only basketball were that easy.

You see, three days ago, the Lions went out and lost to Utah State 87-42. They got outshot 65% to 30%, got outrebounded 38-20, and trailed 38-16 at the half. Utah State is a pretty decent team (they’re 8-3 and beat Utah handily), but still. Go figure.

As is usually the case, the real Loyola Marymount probably lies somewhere in the middle. Washington and Virginia were probably overlooking them a bit, and the Lions were probably just in a holiday funk last Thursday night. Their 8-4 record does have some nice wins, including three on the road against Northern Colorado, South Alabama, and Colgate. They typically play decent defense (their opponents are shooting 45% from the field) rather than just run-and-gunning like the Marymount teams of old. And they have shooters, which always makes an upset possible.

6’3″ junior Matthew Knight is the team’s leading scorer at 16 ppg and also leads the team with 7 rebounds per game. Despite is lack of height, he does most of his work in the paint. The Lions’ floor general and MVP is 5’11” senior Charles Brown. He’s averaging 12 points, 3 assists, and 2 steals per game, is shooting 47% from 3-point range, and is a lockdown defender. 6’2″ sophomore Brandon Worthy is the other double-digit scorer, putting up a very solid line of 12 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals per contest.

The Lions are backcourt-dominated, but they do have some size up front. Athletic 6’9″ sophomore Daryl Pegram (who played his freshman season at Indiana) averages 8 points and 4 rebounds. 6’7″, 225-lb junior Dustin Brown averages 8 points and 3 boards even though he plays just 15 minutes per game. 6’10” junior Chris Ayer (3 ppg, 2 rpg) also provides some size although typically not much else.

Here are my Gopher Keys of the Game:

1. Dress Rehearsal. This is it; the final tune-up for Big 10 season. A stumble now could be devastating, whereas another strong performance will keep the momentum going. While the Lions aren’t a legitimate Big 10 opponent, they also don’t look like a major step down from Minnesota’s next two games (Penn State and Purdue). The Gophers need to play with Big 10 intensity and take care of business.

2. Defend the ‘3’. As I (and others) have said many times, the Gopher defense has been much improved so far this season. Their hustle, help, and ability to recover have been impressive. But the margin for error will be smaller the rest of the way, as guys like Chris Hill and Bracey Wright only need a fraction of a second to make you pay. This is where the Lions can serve as good preparation for conference play. They’re a very dangerous 3-point shooting team. They’re hitting 37% of their attempts on the season, and they have 5 different players shooting at least that well. The Gophers need to make sure they don’t over-help and over-hustle and wind up leaving guys open on the perimeter.

3. Keep Improving. This is just a subtle reminder that while the Gophers have made great strides over the past two months (remember how bad their offense looked in those first couple of games?), there’s still plenty of room for improvement. Cutting down on turnovers is a major one. Having a few more guys step up as consistent scoring threats is a second. And not having breakdowns on defense and the boards is a third.

So what happens if the Gophers beat the Lions by 15-20 points? Does that mean they’re better than Virginia and Washington, or does it mean they’re only half the team that Utah State is? Like I said before, the answer probably lies somewhere in the middle. My prediction: Minnesota 81 Loyola Marymount 65.

Talk about the game on our Gopher Basketball message board.