WCAC Preview : Loyola and St. Mary’s Lead a Talented and Experienced Field

The University of San Diego men’s basketball team opens West Coast Athletic Conference play with a young squad in a conference filled with experienced teams ready to contend for the title.

USD (5-7) plays host to Gonzaga (9-4) tonight at 7:30 in the USD Sports Center and plays Portland (0-13) Saturday at 7:30.

Loyola Marymount (8-5, 2-0) and Pepperdine (10-7, 2-0) started fast with victories Wednesday and Thursday against Santa Clara (11-4, 0-2) and San Francisco (8-7, 0-2). St. Mary’s (12-1) opens tonight at home against Portland and Saturday against Gonzaga.

Loyola was the consensus pick in November, but St. Mary’s now is considered the favorite.

But conference coaches agree that seven schools--leaving out Portland--have a shot at winning the WCAC tournament, March 4-6, in San Francisco.

Last season, Loyola (which finished last in 1986-87) started a winning streak in mid-December that lasted until a 123-97 loss to North Carolina in the second round of the NCAA playoffs.

In leading the nation with 110 points per game and an NCAA record-tying 23 100-point games, college basketball fans took note of Coach Paul Westhead’s “7-second offense.”

On the defensive end, St. Mary’s limited opponents to 58.6 points per game, fifth best in the nation. The Gaels finished tied for second in the WCAC (9-5) but their overall 19-9 record was not good enough to get them into the postseason.

Pepperdine (17-13, 8-6) and Santa Clara (20-11, 9-5) were chosen as National Invitation Tournament participants, giving the WCAC an unprecedented three teams in postseason competition. WCAC Commissioner Michael Gilleran called 1987-88 the best season ever for the conference.

Here’s a look at USD’s conference competition:

St. Mary’s, with a 10-0 football team in 1988 and a 12-1 basketball record, has the finest dual-sport record in the nation. St. Mary’s only loss, 65-64 to Stanford, came after the Gaels missed two open shots with less than 10 seconds remaining.

St. Mary’s start is 10th best in the nation and the school’s best since the 1917-18 team finished 15-0.

Once again, the experienced Gaels--five returning senior starters--do it with defense. St. Mary’s is third in the NCAA, allowing just 57.8 points per game. Its opponents’ shooting percentage (39.6%) is seventh lowest.

But St. Mary’s also averages 81.5 points and its 23.7 scoring margin is sixth in the NCAA. Al Lewis is fourth in the nation in 3-point accuracy at 64%. Erick Newman leads the conference in steals (2.8 per game).

Loyola Marymount, experimenting with a 6-second offense, once again is leading the nation with 116 points per game and leading the conference in media attention.

Against U.S. International Saturday in Golden Hall, Loyola defeated the Gulls, 162-144, setting an NCAA record for most points in a game by both teams. The 306 combined points broke the Loyola (164)-Azusa Pacific (138) record of 302 set in Loyola’s first game of the year.

Loyola also set an NCAA record for most points in a half (93), breaking the mark Oklahoma had set this season at 87.

As of Wednesday (when NCAA statistics are released), Gathers leads the nation in scoring (34.9) and rebounding (15.1) and is 18th in shooting at 64.1%.

Of the 11 highest individual scoring games among WCAC players, Gathers has 8 of them, including 49- and 40-point games. His 23 rebounds against USIU is topped only by 26 against Nevada Reno.

With Jeff Fryer (22.8 points per game) and Enoch Simmons (21.2), Loyola has three of the four top scorers in the conference. Simmons (5.1) is the only Lion averaging more than 4 assists per game, indicating Loyola “steals” baskets with its notorious full-court, wide-open, pressure style.

Said USD Coach Hank Egan: “Loyola Marymount is really tough to play. They play the greatest defense in the world . . . for 4 seconds. They just distort the game so dramatically from a defensive standpoint that they force you into doing something that you’re not used to doing. It’s just absolutely bizarre.”

Santa Clara brings only two losses into the WCAC portion of its schedule, a 64-49 defeat by Indiana and a 64-57 loss to UC Santa Barbara.

Santa Clara relies heavily on its defense, which is second in the conference (59.5 points per game). Jens Gordon, with 16.5 points, 9.4 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game, is the main offensive threat.

Pepperdine has four returning starters but is the only conference team with a new coach. Tom Asbury replaces Jim Harrick, who moved to UCLA.

The Waves have performed well but have lost to North Carolina, UNLV, UCSB, Texas, Montana State, Connecticut and Boise State in nonconference games.

Heading into conference play, Dexter Howard led the Waves with 18.6 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. Tom Lewis (22.9 points per game last season) was averaging 16.2 points and 5.3 rebounds.

Gonzaga has played 13 games in cold-weather sites, but the veteran Bulldogs--nine returning lettermen, four of them starters--have remained hot. Gonzaga is second in field goal percentage (54%) and leads the WCAC in free throws (77%) and 3-pointers (48%).

The Bulldogs rely on the 1-2 scoring punch of Doug Spradley (21.6) and Jim McPhee (19.3), the WCAC’s third and fifth leading scorers. Both are among the conference’s best in field goal and free throw accuracy; McPhee is hitting 63% from the field and 88% from the line, Spradley 54% and 85%.

San Francisco began the season 7-2, its best start since the basketball program resumed play in 1985-86.

After a 3-game losing streak, the Dons defeated Notre Dame, 79-75, at home Saturday. Mark McCathrion scored 26 points and Joel DeBortoli 17.

Conference leaders are Kevin Mouton with 6.2 assists per game and Kevin Ellis with a .903 free-throw shooting percentage.

Portland is hungry. How much? Well, the Pilots have the nation’s longest losing streak at 20 games over 2 seasons. USD was the last team to lose to the Pilots, 68-64, last February.

Portland is led by former SDSU guard Josh Lowery, who averages 15.2 points per game. He set a school record with 8 steals against Puget Sound.

The WCAC returns seven All-WCAC first-team performers, including five from last season: Gathers and Bo Kimble (out at least 4 weeks with a knee injury) of Loyola, Lewis of Pepperdine, Spradley of Gonzaga and Robert Haugen of St. Mary’s.

In 1986-87, Haugen, McCathrion (San Francisco) and McPhee (Gonzaga) were first-team selections.

A record 27 games are scheduled to be telecast this season, including Saturday’s Loyola-DePaul game on CBS at 11 a.m. The telecast is the WCAC’s first on a national network since Pepperdine lost to eventual national champion North Carolina State in the 1982 NCAA Tournament.

WCAC Notes

With 4 mid-week games played Wednesday and Thursday, 95% of the remaining conference games are on Friday and Saturday nights . . . The WCAC has three players from foreign countries--Per Stumer (Loyola, Sweden), Nils Becker (Santa Clara, West Germany) and Paul Verret (Gonzaga, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) . . . That number is one more than the total from San Diego County--Dondi Bell (USD, Crawford High) and Eric Mobley (Portland, Helix High) . . . Four players are USC transfers--Hank Gathers, Bo Kimble, Tom Lewis and Jeffty Connelly (Santa Clara) . . . St. Mary’s, with seven seniors, is the only school with more than three. Santa Clara and San Francisco have three each, the other five schools only two. Juniors are the rage with 43 compared with just 23 seniors, 19 sophomores and 33 freshmen.