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USF Men's Basketball Set For Saturday Showdown At Santa Clara
Feb. 17, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format 
USF TACKLES BAY AREA RIVAL SATURDAY: San Francisco travels to the South Bay for a Saturday showdown with ancient Bay Area rival Santa Clara. Winners of four of its last five, USF looks to salvage a season split against the Broncos who have taken two of three after a three-game skid. Santa Clara won the previous meeting with a 66-65 win January 23 at War Memorial Gym and downed Pepperdine 62-54 last Saturday. The Broncos are 6-11 at the Leavey Center this season.
DONS IN THE WCC:
- With three league games remaining, the Dons have doubled their 2009 WCC win tally (6) and average 70.2 ppg after scoring just 61.7 ppg last year
- USF's Bay Area products - Angelo Caloiaro (San Jose), Dior Lowhorn (San Francisco) & Kwame Vaughn (Oakland) combining for 40.1 points,15.0 rebounds and 3.9 assists per league game
- USF out-rebounding opponents 35.8 - 32.4 rpg
- San Francisco 3-1 in games decided by five points or less during WCC play
- Dons attempt 23.3 free throws per WCC game. In 2009 USF averaged just 20.9
- In 11 league games, seven Dons have reached double-digit scoring and eight players have pulled down at least five rebounds in a game
- The 87 points USF scored in its win vs. USD (1/10/10) were the most for the Dons in a WCC game since a 88-63 win vs. Pepperdine (3/3/08)
LOWHORN FOURTH ON SCORING LIST: Preseason All-American Dior Lowhorn continues to charge up the USF career scoring lists and became the 30th USF player to surpass 1,000 career points in the Green and Gold with 22 points at Portland (1/15/09). Saturday against LMU, Lowhorn passed former USF All-American and NBA Don Winford Boynes (1975-78/1,702) for sole possession of fourth place on the list, finishing with 1,703 career points in 86 games for a 19.8 points per game average. Three-time All-WCC pick Darrell Tucker (1999-03) sits in third place with 1,805 points.
SAN FRANCISCO PARTICIPATES IN THE 2009-10 JESUIT BASKETBALL SPOTLIGHT: USF is proud of its rich Jesuit heritage and the Dons will compete in no fewer than seven games against fellow Jesuit schools during the 2009-10 season. San Francisco squares off against Santa Clara Saturday, February 20 in a Jesuit school series dating back to the early 1900's. San Francisco is taking part in the Jesuit Spotlight Project for the second consecutive season, using Jesuit basketball to raise awareness of the outstanding education available at the nation's 28 Jesuit colleges and universities. For more information, log on to www.ajcunet.edu/jesuitbasketball.
USF AT A GLANCE - 2009-10 SEASON BULLETS
- With three regular season games remaining, USF is 14 rebounds shy of matching last season's tally of 960 (32.0 rpg)
- USF out-rebounding opponents 36.4 - 31.8 rpg; 294-243 on the offensive glass
- San Francisco has out-rebounded or matched 16 of its last 20 opponents
- Eight Dons have reached double-digit scoring and 11 players have pulled down at least five rebounds in a game
- After 26 games, San Francisco's front line averages 41.3 points, 20.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game
- After 26 games, USF underclassmen average 42.7 points (.603), 22.3 rebounds (.613) and 7.9 assists (.632) per game
USF DONS BASKETBALL ON GREEN 960 AM: USF men's basketball returns to the airwaves and cyberspace for the 2009-10 season and all games will be available live at USFDons.com and Green 960 AM. Join Pat Olson for the play-by-play in his 19th year behind the microphone courtside. USF Hall-of-Famer Jim Brovelli will join Olson on selected broadcasts. Other USFDons.com features include live scoring via GameTracker and live streaming courtesy of Yahoo Broadcast.
THIS WEEK IN DONS BASKETBALL: This Week in Dons Basketball is presented by USF Athletics in partnership with KUSF, 90.3 FM. Each Friday at 8:30 PM, join longtime voice of the Dons Pat Olson for a weekly preview of USF Basketball, featuring head coach Rex Walters. West Coast Conference Commissioner Jamie Zaninovich will be featured Friday, Feb. 19 along with USF Director of Basketball Operations Justin Bauman.
SCOUTING SANTA CLARA: The Broncos enter the seventh week of the West Coast Conference season with a 11-17 overall record, 3-8 during league play, following a 62-54 victory against Pepperdine on Saturday. Santa Clara has won two of its last three after a three-game skid. The Broncos average 64.9 points on .414 shooting, including a .303 clip from beyond the arc. Sophomore forward Marc Trasolini leads the Broncos at both ends of the floor, averaging 14.0 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game. Freshman guard Robert Smith chips in 12.8 points and 3.1 assists, while junior forward Ben Dowdell adds 6.1 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. Kerry Keating is in his third overall season as the head Bronco and owns a 42-50 overall record as a Division I head coach - all coming at Santa Clara. Last season, Keating directed the Broncos to a 7-7 WCC slate.
UP NEXT FOR THE DONS: After taking on ancient Bay Area rival Santa Clara Saturday, February 20, USF closes out the West Coast Conference regular season on the road against the Pacific Northwest schools, beginning Thursday with Portland. Game time against the Pilots is set for 7:00 PM in a game televised live on Comcast SportsNet California. The Dons then wrestle No. 8 Gonzaga Saturday at 5:00 PM in Spokane, WA.
