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Dons, Winners of Five of Six, Visit St. Mary's in "Big Monday" Tilt
Feb. 18, 2007
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The USF men's basketball team (12-15, 7-4 WCC), winners of five of its last six, return to conference play on Monday, Feb. 19th (9:00 PM) when they make their Big Monday debut (ESPN2) at St. Mary's (13-14, 5-6).
With just three games remaining in the league season, the Dons are just a single game behind Gonzaga for second place and two and a half behind first place Santa Clara. They hold a two game cushion over fourth place St. Mary's.
HOME TO STAY: USF plays two of its last three WCC games at home, with its only trip to play St. Mary's Feb. 19.
USF has played six of 11 WCC games and 18 of 27 overall away from home. Perhaps the non-conference schedule, that saw them play 11 road games prepared the Dons well for league road games where they are 4-2 and guaranteed a plus .500 record.
DONS GET FIRST EVER 6-0 SWEEP OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS: With last weekend's sweep of Pepperdine and LMU at home, the Dons have recorded a perfect 6-0 record against LMU, San Diego and Pepperdine for the first time since San Diego joined the league.
USF EASILY HANDLES UC IRVINE IN BRACKETBUSTERS: A4fter completing a 6-0 run of the So. California WCC schools, USF rolled over UC Irvine Saturday afternoon in BracketBuster action. USF rolled out of the gates with a 14-5 lead and we never threaten and led 43-24 at the break. The Dons, paced by 19 points by Alan Wiggins, Jr.'s 19 points and 17 by Manny Quezada kept a double figure lead the rest of the way.
USF AGAIN SHORTHANDED: In a season where players have been hurt and have been forced to miss games for various other reasons, the Dons will probably be without starting all-WCC guard Armondo Surratt. The senior from Oakland slipped late in the game at Santa Clara on February 5th, clutching his left knee. He is listed as day-to-day. Surratt was averaging 14 points per game and leading the team in minutes played (34.1 mpg), field goals and three-pointers when he went down.
WIGGINS MOVES INTO USF CAREER TOP 25: Alan Wiggins scored on a dunk late in the Santa Clara game on Feb. 5 to tally his 1,000th career point.
Last Saturday against UC Irvine he moved past Tim Owens (1046) and John Burks (1051) and into 24th place on the USF career scoring list with 1056 points. James Hardy (1075) and Shammell Stallworth (1087) are next on the list.
DONS HAVE WON FIVE OF SIX: After winning the first three games and losing the next three, USF has won five of the last six games. In those six games, USF Alan Wiggins has averaged 18.8 points per game, Antonio Kellogg 15.6, Manny Quezada 13.5, and Johnny Dukes 10.3. USF has outshot its opponents 49.1% to 42.9%, shot 78% from the free-throw line and averaged 9.5 steals per game.
KELLOGG RETURN BUOYS DONS; LEADING WCC SCORER: USF basketball player Antonio Kellogg, who leads the Dons in scoring (15.2 ppg) returned to the lineup at San Diego and made an immediate contribution with 21 points, three assists and three steals. USF is 6-2 in WCC play with him in the lineup. His 17.3 PPG would rank first in the WCC if he played enough contests.
He missed three USF contests to allow him to get off to a strong academic start for the Spring semester. The sophomore from Oakland, who was NCAA eligible, worked closely with the University in making the decision.
ABOUT THE GAELS: USF will be trying to break a two-game losing streak to St. Mary's Monday night in Moraga. The Dons dropped a 71-64 overtime decision to the Gaels at Memorial Gymnasium on January 20th. St. Mary's was paced by 19 points by Omar Samhan and 15 by Diamon Simpson. USF, who got 25 points by Alan Wiggins, Jr. outrebounded the Gaels 49-41 but probably lost the game at the free-throw line where they made just 13 of 22 shots (59.1%).
FOUR PLAYERS LEADING THE WAY: The Dons have been paced by two seniors, returning all-WCC guard Armondo Surratt (14.0 ppg.) and honorable mention forward Alan Wiggins, Jr. (14.6), and two sophomores, transfers Antonio Kellogg (15.2) and Manny Quezada (11.9).
