BASKETBALL NOTES : Loyola Marymount Takes the Offensive Once Again

Loyola Marymount leads the nation in scoring at 115.8 points per game and if the Lions hold on to first place, it would be for a record fourth consecutive year.

Furman led the nation from 1953-1955, a feat Loyola Marymount matched last season when the Lions scored at a record-setting 122.4 pace.

The Lions were two games under .500 after 14 games and even if things don’t get better for first-year coach Jay Hillock once conference play begins, they still wouldn’t be the worst team to lead the country in scoring.

U.S. International was 8-20 in 1985-86 when the Gulls’ 90.8 average led the nation, the only time a team with a losing record was tops offensively.

Without the likes of Bo Kimble and Hank Gathers, Loyola Marymount is showing up in the statistics on the negative side.

Five of the top 12 individual scoring performances this season have come against the Lions and a sixth was the 48 points of their own Terrell Lowery against Idaho State.

Kevin Bradshaw of U.S. International set the all-Division I scoring mark with 72 points against Loyola Marymount last week. Oklahoma’s Brent Price rang up 56 against Loyola Marymount and the Lions also were responsible for the 50-point effort of Kenny Anderson of Georgia Tech and the backcourt bonanza of La Salle guards Randy Woods and Doug Overton, who had 46 and 45, respectively.

On the team side, Loyola Marymount’s record-breaking 186 points in the Bradshaw game tops the list and is followed by Oklahoma’s 172 against the Lions and their own 162 in a win over Chaminade.

Only Oklahoma ranks among the top 15 teams in offense and defense.

The Sooners are third in scoring at 109.2 and are 14th on the other end, allowing 63.8.

It doesn’t matter if the men or the women are scheduled, go to Rec Hall and see Penn State win a basketball game.

The men’s 90-88 victory over West Virginia on Thursday night gave the Nittany Lions a 22-game winning streak at home, two better than the one being worked on by the women’s team, which is ranked No. 1 in the nation.

Ironically, the last loss for each team was to West Virginia. The men lost to the Mountaineers on March 1, 1989 and the women did the same a week later. That means it’s been 22 months since a Penn State team has lost a home basketball game.

Tony Clark’s year as a redshirt transfer should be different than most.

The 6-foot-8 freshman forward, who hurt his back in the preseason, left Arizona at the holiday break and said he intended to transfer to another school.

Instead of just sitting out the transfer year by practicing and trying to stay in game shape, Clark, who averaged 3.2 points in five games with the Wildcats, can pursue his other career -- he’s signed a minor league contract with the Detroit Tigers.

When a coach starts the season 2-8, he’s likely to be a little more honest about his team.

Texas-Pan American coach Kevin Wall, whose Broncs did have such a start, assessed his team 10 games into the season:

“This team is like a car that’s a lemon. It gets repaired for something and you have to take it back and get it repaired for something else. We get one thing fixed and working right on this team and then we have to turn around and fix something else.”

New Mexico State’s Terry Bennett just missed the Big West Conference record for 3-pointers in a game with nine in the Aggies’ blowout of Morgan State.

The impressive thing, however, is that he scored his 27 points in the final 9:01. He was 9-for-14 on long jumpers and missed the league mark set by UNLV’s Freddie Banks in 1987 by one.