Feb. 11, 2002

LyRyan Russell, USF's fifth-year senior point guard, was lost for the season when he tore his left ACL in last Saturday's win over Loyola Marymount. At the time of his injury he was leading the West Coast Conference in steals (1.95 per game) and was also third in assists (4.45) and sixth in assist/turnover ratio (1.46).

Coach Phil Mathews said after his injury, "LyRyan was out team MVP. He ran the offense and set the defense. He was also the heart of the team. He will still be with us, if not on the court, encouraging us from the sidelines." He was injured just moments after recording his 350th career assist, good for third place on the USF career list.

It is the second straight season that LyRyan has gone down. Last season he had a preseason hip injury and redshirted the year. After his injury last year, backup point Jason Gaines went down in the second game of the year, followed by Chris Barideaux. USF played walk-on baseball player Nick Tarbat for a while at the point position until Barideaux returned.

On January 19th, he easily passed his career high with 22 points vs. St. Mary's, making 6 of 8 shots from the floor and 10-12 from the line. LyRyan was effective in both the summer tour and the recent preseason. He averaged 29.2 minutes per contest, fourth highest on the squad, scoring 7.0 ppg. and pulling 3.4 rpg. Last Friday he passed former teammate, Ali Thomas (334) for third place on the USF career list, when he recorded seven steals and had just one turnover. LyRyan was featured in last Thursday's USAToday along with his sister, Toni, the Lady Dons' point guard.