Posted on 03/22/2021 4:07:51 PM PDT by concentric circles
Loyola Marymount University 149 University of Michigan 115
Do you ever get tired of watching teams walk the ball up the court and work the offense for the high percentage shot? Here's a little relief for you.
Paul Westhead's offense was designed to get off a shot in less than 7 seconds. His full court, pressure defense was designed to force the other team to keep the ball in motion, to run even if they didn't want to.
Michigan was the defending champion. Loyola Marymount led the nation in scoring, 122 points per game, and were motivated to perform at the highest level by the sudden death on the court of teammate Hank Gathers.
At halftime Loyola Marymount led 65-58 and never let up. They drilled 21 three pointers. As exhaustion overcame Michigan in the final minutes, they slow walked, heads drooping, whenever there was a halt in play. Any moment they could, they were bent over double, hands on knees, huffing and puffing, faces red from effort. They never gave up but they had nothing left to give.
That kid has some night.
My brother was doing the radio broadcast for LMU when Hank Gathers, Bo Kimble and Paul Westhead were there. Surreal times to say the least.
What was that #1 zero loss team Gizmotoshit or something that just beat OU?
They just physically dominated today.
Sounds like an ideal match up.
NO!
ML/NJ
You don't have to shout. The rules were changed because of teams that walk the ball and hold it.
He was amazing. The whole team shot the lights out. Bo Kimble led the country in scoring that year but in this game they didn't need his scoring. Westhead told his players if they were open to take the shot, boy did they.
I remember how gassed the Michigan players were by the beginning of the second half. It was up and down the court at a frenetic pace in that game! I think Westhead’s LMU teams started the trend of run and gun basketball we see today with tons of three point shots, and less emphasis on the inside post game.
That must have been quite a season to hold that job! The whole team was solidly behind Westhead and his system. it's said that when he was with the Lakers, they won one championship, then Magic Johnson couldn't take the amount of work it required and rebelled so Westhead was gone.
As I re-watched the game it was about six minutes into the second half when fatigue started to take the edge off of Michigan's game and Loyola Marymount began to add to their lead.
It must have been difficult to maintain confidence when they would come up with a hard fought basket only to have LMU run back down the court and sink a three pointer.
You had me there for a second, lol. Yeah, Gonzaga looks good! It's a private Jesuit school in Spokane named after an Italian saint. Mind, body, and spirit. I don't know if they follow that any more, the Jesuit order is not what it used to be. The basketball program has certainly put Gonzaga on the map!
Kinda odd for me. I usually only see Gonzagas in pairs and it has nothing to do with that college.
I'm sure if you strolled around the campus you would be pleased to observe that gonzagas are abundant at Gonzaga.
Two years worth of lightning round basketball. Bo and Hank and two others had Thanksgiving dinner with our family when they were playing a tournament in 1988 at Stanford.
Great game. Remember watching it. Then they got absolutely horsewhipped by UNLV.
UNLV, the “runnin’ rebs”, the only team in the country that could run with Loyola Marymount, and the champions of 1990. They beat Duke in the championship game 103 to 73, the first time a team scored more than 100 points in the final.
Wow, great memories!
They still didn’t beat Duke by enough. I wish it was 50...lol. That UNLV team was unreal.
I wonder if Duke has lost by 30 points since then.
Those GonzoBeans are going to be a tough nut to crack.
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