The Pepperdine transfer is the brother of Denver Nuggets forward, Michael Porter Jr. Includes a preview of the Loyola Marymount at Gonzaga matchup on Thursday.
Loyola Marymount (14-8, 6-4 conference record) will be taking on Gonzaga (16-7, 7-3 conference record) in the Kennel on Thursday at 6 PM PT on ESPN.
6’11 forward Jevon Porter has led the defensive charge for the Lions this season and is riding a five-game winning streak right now. He took time out of his busy schedule to chat with me ahead of the key West Coast Conference matchup.
The younger brother of Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. followed coach Lorenzo Romar from Malibu to Los Angeles and is thankful for everything that he’s done for him throughout his collegiate career. Coach Stan Johnson has opened his game to new avenues, expanding his versatility on the defensive end.
Porter’s scoring production with Loyola Marymount has taken a bit of a dip since his time at Pepperdine (16.2 points per game in 2023-24 with the Waves to 13.0 points per game in 2024-25 with the Lions). He’s still one of the best at crashing the glass and protecting the rim in the conference. The junior is second in rebounding at 8.2 per game as well as second in blocks at 1.4 per game.
Coming off his second WCC Player of the Week honors, Porter is playing his best ball of the season. He has had three double-doubles in his last four appearances. 6’9 forward Graham Ike will have his hands will full when trying to size up and back down the big fella. That’s despite Ike finishing with 27 points on 12-16 shooting and nine rebounds in the first meeting in Los Angeles back in January which resulted in a victory for the Zags, 96-68. Trying to get Porter outside of the paint when he’s on defense is important.
Loyola Marymount forward Caleb Stone-Carrawell is the engine running this offense. As Porter called him in my interview, he’s a ”bucket.” He leads the team in scoring with 13.5 points per game on an efficient 48.3 field goal percentage. The senior has been at his many stops across the nation including Austin Peay and Utah Valley.
The Zags and Lions are the two top rebounding squads in the WCC. Gonzaga is No. 1 in defensive rebounds at 27.6 per game and Loyola Marymount at 26.4 per game. The switch to a zone defense sparked some life into coach Mark Few’s squad on that end of the floor in the 62-58 loss at Saint Mary’s. It will be interesting to see if that will be implemented during Thursday’s matchup and how it will affect Loyola Marymount offensively.
Gonzaga struggled on three-pointers in their last outing against the Gaels. 3-17 from deep (17.6%) will not cut it against any of the top seven programs that the Zags play in the second half of conference play.
This is the home stretch for Gonzaga to make headway up in the standings. They’re currently three games back of 10-0 Saint Mary’s with eight games left on the schedule.
Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area… Follow him on Twitter @a_cravalho