Feb. 18, 2002

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San Francisco, CA- USF (12-13, 7-5 WCC) coming off its first back-to-back losses in West Coast Conference play hosts seventh-ranked Gonzaga Friday (7:30 PM FOX BA/NW, KYCY 1550 AM) and Portland Saturday (7:00 PM, KYCY) at War Memorial Gymnasium.

It will be the last regular season home games for the Dons, who have not played at Memorial Gymnasium since sweeping San Diego and Santa Clara at home on February 1-2. Since then, USF has lost three of four, all on the road, and also lost fifth-year senior guard LyRyan Russell to an ACL tear in his left knee.

USF hopes to regroup on its home floor where they have won five of their last six appearances, the only loss to first place Pepperdine. In that game, USF missed a close-in shot to go ahead and a layup to tie the score in the final 30 seconds.

With a 7-5 league record, tied for third place with Santa Clara in the WCC, the Dons can clinch at least a tie for third with a sweep. Both Santa Clara (at Pepperdine Saturday) and USF (vs. Gonzaga Friday) must beat a first place 11-1 league record team to get the sweep. If both teams lose to the first-place team they face and beat Portland (USF) and Loyola (SCU) it will probably come down to a coin flip for the third seed. Whoever loses the flip would then play San Diego at home in the first round of the WCC (unless San Diego beats Pepperdine).

NUMBER SEVEN WITH A BULLET:
Gonzaga comes into Memorial Gymnasium with a 24-3 mark (11-1 in WCC) and has been steadily climbing up the poll. The seventh-ranked Zags have won nine straight since losing at Pepperdine, a loss they avenged last Saturday by beating the Waves in Spokane 91-78. They have the league's leading scorer in senior guard Dan Dickau (20.9 ppg) and need to win as they are still tied with Pepperdine (11-1) for first place in the WCC. They are the highest ranked visiting team to play at USF in many years (USF has played as #1) and may be the highest ranked visiting team to ever play at the on-campus arena.

USF LOSES FIRST TWO GAMES WITHOUT POINT GUARD:
The Dons had their problems last week in their first games without point guard and team leader LyRyan Russell. Against both Santa Clara Thursday and at San Diego Saturday, the team got off to slow starts, trailing 11-4 at Santa Clara and 23-9 at San Diego. At Santa Clara, USF was down 42-22 at the half and although they made a 16-2 run to get within 10 points at the 9:02 mark, they couldn't get into contention. Darrell Tucker again recorded a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds, hitting 8-14 shots from the floor, but it wasn't enough as the Dons fell 77-67. USF played well in the second half against SCU, holding the Broncos to just seven field goals, 30.4% floor and shooting 50% themselves, but it was too late.

In San Diego, the Toreros put together a 15-0 run and a 22-5 run to take a 46-19 lead on the way to a 88-55 win. The Dons missed 14 of 15 shots in one stretch and made just 9-29 shots from the floor in the first half as they trailed 46-21 at intermission. USF was paced by 18 points by Shamell Stallworth and a career-best 10 points from Jason Gaines. Darrell Tucker scored just 8 points and pulled 8 rebounds, just his third WCC game this year without registering a double-double.

RUSSELL LOST:
LyRyan Russell, USF's fifth-year senior point guard, was lost for the season when he tore his left ACL in the win over Loyola Marymount. At the time of his injury he was leading the West Coast Conference in steals (1.95 per game) He 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 season.

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. He finished in third place on the USF career list. LyRyan was featured in last Thursday's USAToday along with his sister, Toni, the Lady Dons' point guard.