After agonizing loss in Spokane, Gonzaga prepared for ‘tough haul’ in rematch with Loyola Marymount

LOS ANGELES – Moments after delivering the winning shot on Jan. 19, Loyola Marymount guard Cam Shelton delivered some perspective on what the Lions had just done by stunning No. 6 Gonzaga and becoming the first team to win at McCarthey Athletic Center since 2018.

“This is a great win, but this is not a championship or anything,” Shelton said. “The season is still going to continue.”

Apparently, the message resonated.

With a 7-6 conference record, it’s unclear if a championship is in LMU’s future, but the Lions have still pulled off an impressive trifecta in the West Coast Conference that may be worthy of its own trophy.

Three weeks after the game in Spokane, LMU dug out a 78-74 overtime win against No. 15 Saint Mary’s at Gersten Pavilion, making the Lions the first team in conference history to beat Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s and BYU in the same season.

Unlocking that accomplishment meant ending Gonzaga’s 116-game winning streak against WCC teams other than Saint Mary’s and BYU and snapping a 21-game losing streaking against the Gaels that dated to 2006.

The Lions (17-10, 7-6) have caused plenty of havoc in the WCC and will look to create more when they host the 13th-ranked Bulldogs (21-5, 10-2) on Thursday .

“I think I said prior to that (game in Spokane), they’re a really good team,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “They’re on the way to win 20-plus games this year and obviously beating Gonzaga and beating Saint Mary’s, they’ve shown they’re capable.”

The Lions ended a handful of streaks during their visit to Gonzaga and there’d be more historical significance to a second win against the Zags, although it won’t be easy. Since Few took over in 1999-2000, Saint Mary’s has been the only WCC opponent to notch multiple wins against GU in the same season, including conference tournament games.

“It’s going to be a tough haul for us. We know that,” Few said. “We’re going down there with the right mindset to try to get that one.”

The Lions have guaranteed their first winning season under third-year coach Stan Johnson and have an opportunity to win 20 games for the third time since 1989-90.

They’re uniquely constructed on offense, with the conference’s top scorer in Shelton (22.0 ppg in WCC) and do-it-all forward Keli Leaupepe (13.5 ppg, 7.0 rpg), who’s made drastic improvements to his 3-point shot, making 43% of his attempts from behind the line this season after converting at 36% his first three seasons.

“I’ve played him I think all four years, so you know what you’re going to get with him,” Gonzaga’s Anton Watson said of Leaupepe. “He’s a hard player, good outside shot and he can’t be moved. If you’re trying to post him up, he’s not moving. So yeah, I don’t know if he played football when he was younger or rugby, but that’s a big body for sure.”

The Lions are looking to get 3-point shots up on the offensive end – LMU ranks No. 22 in the NCAA with 9.3 makes per game – but they’re also designed to limit the opponent’s outside shooting. The Zags should know that better than anyone after LMU held them to their lowest 3-point clip (28%) in conference play while limiting GU to a WCC-low 67 points.

Scoring inside normally comes easy to Gonzaga, which leads the country in field-goal percentage (52%), but LMU’s interior defense limited the Zags to 36 paint points and the Lions came up with seven blocked shots – the most by a GU opponent this season.

No block was bigger than Michael Graham’s rejection of Drew Timme with 3 seconds remaining.

“They’re a great team,” Timme said. “They’ve shown that, I think, this whole season, just with who they’ve been able to beat and everything. We’re looking forward to it, man.

“We felt like that game was in our hands and we gave it away. We’re going to give it our all and they’re going to give it their all, so it’s going to be a battle. But it’s going to be a fun one, for sure.”

LMU’s win at Gonzaga gave then-unbeaten Saint Mary’s a one-game lead at the top of the WCC standings. The Gaels extended that to two games when they held off the Bulldogs in Moraga, California, earlier this month. The Lions shook things up again, helping Gonzaga this time when they beat the Gaels in Los Angeles.

With one game separating Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s and four chances left in WCC play, it’s unlikely the Bulldogs can afford another conference loss if they want to capture an 11th consecutive regular-season title.

That should be one motivating factor for Gonzaga in Los Angeles, but it won’t be the only one.

“When (LMU) came and beat us here, it hurt,” Watson said. “So, it’s going to be a good game. I know they want to beat us again, but we just want to bring a whole focus and just lock in and just take one game at a time, because it’s going to be a dogfight.”