Loyola Hits Easy Part of Schedule

Judging from performance over the first six weeks of the college basketball season, Loyola Marymount is through the tough part of its schedule as it opens West Coast Conference play at 7:30 tonight at Santa Clara.

After all, at 9-3 the Lions, ranked 23rd by the Associated Press and 18th by UPI, are the only team in the WCC with a winning record, have beaten two ranked teams--Oregon State and LaSalle--on the road, and the losses have been to teams in the top 25--Oklahoma, Nevada Las Vegas and Xavier.

But Lions Coach Paul Westhead doesn’t see it that way. “It was only a month ago everyone was saying Pepperdine was the favorite,” Westhead said.

“We’re gearing up for (conference play). It will be tougher than the cumulative record would suggest. All of a sudden we’ll be Syracuse (the top-ranked Orangemen were toppled by Villanova over the weekend). It’ll be a real challenge for us.”

Santa Clara is off to its worst start in Coach Carroll Williams’ 20 seasons at 3-9. In its WCC opener last weekend, Santa Clara was trounced by the University of San Diego, 96-71. The Broncos, who have lost seven of their last eight games, have battled injuries all season but have most of their lineup intact now.

Still, tall Santa Clara offers an interesting contrast to the high-speed Lions, who average 118 points. The Broncos are scoring 63 points per game and allowing 66. Swing man Jeffty Connelly, who has missed five games, leads the Broncos with a 13-point average. Senior Nils Becker has been effective switching from center to forward at 6-foot-11, averaging 12.4 points and 7.5 rebounds. Massive center Ron Reis, a 7-1, 280-pound sophomore, is coming off a career-high 21 points against San Diego. Rhea Taylor, a 6-7 sophomore who has worked his way into the starting lineup, leads the WCC in blocked shots.

Loyola’s host opponent Saturday, San Diego, was tabbed as the preseason sleeper in the WCC and has won three games in a row, all at home. The Toreros play host to Pepperdine tonight.

How have things gone for the WCC this season? San Diego and Pepperdine, each 6-7, have the best records after Loyola. Not counting Loyola, the seven WCC teams have a cumulative record of 31-60. Gonzaga, normally tough at home, lost its last preconference game Monday in Spokane, 70-55, to Eastern Washington.

What it all means is that the seven teams see conference play--and an upset of Loyola--as their only chance for postseason play.

Only Pepperdine appears to have the talent to challenge the firepower of Loyola’s Bo Kimble, Hank Gathers, Jeff Fryer and company. But Waves Coach Tom Asbury said of his team, “Inconsistencies have hampered us all season. This team has plenty of talent. Potentially we have a dangerous team, (but) for whatever reason we have struggled to put together a solid 40-minute effort.”

San Diego, one of the few teams in the conference outscoring its opponents, features one of the best newcomers in Arizona transfer John Jerome. The solidly built 6-8 senior is averaging 19.3 points and 6.9 rebounds and is shooting 55%.

St. Mary’s, after a 1-9 start, has won its last three games and first-year Coach Paul Landreaux has gone to a fast-break game, scoring 91, 96 and 73 points in victories. Gonzaga (5-8) continues to look for offense to go with Jim McPhee’s 22 points a game. San Francisco (4-10) and Portland (3-10) continue to search for the right combinations.

Loyola is clearly the class of the field, but Westhead isn’t taking it for granted. The Lions have played a national schedule and have endured two-a-day practices this week.

“We’ve been playing hard to advance our game. We’ve played a difficult schedule,” Westhead said. “I’d like to have won all 12 but considering (injuries to Fryer and Gathers) we’ve done as well as we can.”