Dons Host Gonzaga Saturday at 12:30 PM; Fans Asked To Wear White

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Feb. 22, 2007

The USF men's basketball team (12-16, 7-5 WCC), winners of five of its last seven, host perennial power Gonzaga (19-10, 9-3) Saturday at 12:30 p.m. (ABC Regional, KQKE 960, Sirius 107).

USF then will close out the regular season with "Senior Night" on Monday, February 26th when they host Portland (8-20, 4-8) at 7:00 p.m.(Comcast, KQKE 960, Sirius 152) preceded by the ceremonies for seniors Armondo Surratt, Alan Wiggins, Jr. and Johnny Dukes.

With just two games remaining in the league season, the Dons will definitely finish with either the third or fourth seed in the WCC tournament and avoid the first round. USF will start play at the Chiles Center on Saturday, March 3rd. The Dons will clinch third place with either a sweep at home or a win and a St. Mary's loss at either LMU or Pepperdine.

BATTLE OF TWO HIGHEST SCORING GUARDS IN LEAGUE: Saturday's game will matchup the two highest scorers in the West Coast Conference during league play, Gonzaga's Derek Raivio (16.9) vs. USF's Antonio Kellogg (16.7). Both guards have had to step up their games due to the loss of teammates. Raivio has been Gonzaga's leading scorer in all four games since the suspension of Josh Heytfelt and scoring at an 18.5 ppg. clip.

Kellogg has averaged 14.5 ppg. since the loss of Surratt, but has seen his assists soar to 4.5 per game over the last four contests and steals jump to 2.5. USF has added increased scoring from Manny Quezada (20.5) and Johnny Dukes (11.3) to make up for some of Surratt's points.

HOME TO STAY: USF plays its last two WCC games at home, hosting the Northwest schools. It will be Gonzaga and Portland's first look at USF leading scorer Antonio Kellogg, who missed the trip in late January. USF has played seven of 12 WCC games and 18 of 28 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 finished 4-3.

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. Feb. 17th against UC Irvine he moved past Tim Owens (1046) and John Burks (1051) and into 24th place on the USF career scoring list and after Monday stands at 1071 points. James Hardy (1075) and Shammell Stallworth (1087) are next on the list.

ZAGS AND DONS MEET AGAIN: USF will host Gonzaga for the final time in the regular season Saturday at War Memorial Gymnasium. Gonzaga won the first contest 72-56 in Spokane on January 27th. In that game USF did not get a single point from their top scorers at the time, Antonio Kellogg (who did not make the trip) and Armondo Surratt (who played but was ill enough to have to go to the hospital for an IV earlier in the day). USF was down just 30-24 at the half, but Gonzaga got hot and nailed eight treys after intermission. Josh Heytvelt (probably not playing Saturday) and Matt Bouldin led Gonzaga with 16 apiece while Manny Quezada and Danny Cavic also eached scored 16 for the Dons.

USF-GU MEMORIES: Big recent games in the series: Jan. 20, 2005: USF defeats Gonzaga 73-30 at War Memorial Gym behind 18 points by Jerome Gumbs and 13 by John Cox. The Dons, up eight with :32 left have to survive late Zag three's to win by three as Raivio's prayer at the end goes unanswered.

Feb. 19th, 2005: Gonzaga survives a major scare in Spokane as Adam Morrison nails an off balance shot with three seconds left defeats USF 75-73. The Dons John Cox then makes a shot 00.2 after the buzzer that would have tied the score. The game was telecast on ABC.

Feb. 27, 2006: It was deja vu for the Dons, who again fell victim to a last minute shot, this time a three by Altidor-Cespedes with :02 left to beat USF 75-72.

March 2, 1998: Fifth seeded USF defeats top-seed Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference tournament finals 80-67. Ra'oof Sadat comes off the bench to score a career high 18 points to send the Dons to the NCAA's and Gonzaga to the NIT.

ABOUT GONZAGA: The Zags, looking for their 20th win, trail first place Santa Clara by a game heading into the final weekend. The Zags will most likely be without their second leading scorer Josh Heytvelt due to suspension, but bring with them the leading scorer in the league in Derek Raivio. Gonzaga, who beat Portland Monday 87-67 have lost three of their last five games.

DONS HAVE WON FIVE OF SEVEN: After winning the first three games and losing the next three, USF has won five of the last seven games. In those seven games, USF Alan Wiggins has averaged 18.3 points per game, Manny Quezada 16.6, Antonio Kellogg 15.0, and Johnny Dukes 9.9. USF has outshot its opponents 48.5% to 44.5%, shot 76.2% from the free-throw line and averaged 8.7 steals per game.

MANNY BREAKS OUT: USF sophomore guard Manny Quezada is coming off a career best 35 point outburst in the loss to Saint Mary's. In that contest he scored 27 points in the last 14:16 and nailed eight of 13 shots (11-19 overall) after intermission. It was the second best scoring performance by a Don this year, with Kellogg scoring 37 vs. San Diego in double overtime.

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 (15.1) and Manny Quezada (12.8).

50% FG SHOOTING=WINS: USF has shot the ball very well this season hitting 46.1% of its field goals (third WCC) and 36.8% of its three-point attempts (second WCC). Last year, the Dons shot 42.9% floor. Looking at the stats USF is 10-2 when it shoots 50% floor and 2-14 when it does not. USF made 50% or better of its shots just four times last season and just twice in 2004-05. On the opposite side, USF is 1-7 when opponents make 50% of their shots.

WCC LEADERS: USF is now 7-5 in WCC play. USF's leaders (and rank in WCC): Scoring- Kellogg 16.7 (2), Wiggins, 14.9 (7); Quezada 13.2 (14); Surratt 12.4 (15) FG%- Wiggins 50.4% (10). Reb.- Wiggins 7.1 (5).; Assists: Kellogg 3.3 (7)Surratt 3.2 (10).

GETTING OFFENSIVE: USF is playing more of a high scoring game this season, averaging 74.1 points per contest compared to 69.1 ppg. last year.

THE CITY'S TEAM: USF basketball is "The City's Team," The only major winter sports team playing in the City. But it is also the Bay Area's team as the Dons have four local players on the roster including redshirt Dior Lowhorn. USF has also signed another Bay Area star Richmond's Wendell McKines to a letter of intent for next season. USF won back-to-back national championships in 1955 and 1956 behind Bay Area stars Bill Russell, K.C. Jones, Mike Farmer, etc. and has a tradition of great local players including Phil Smith, Bill Cartwright, Kevin Restani, etc.

FEELING AT HOME?: It has been a very interesting league season thus far with close games and unpredictable results. Here is perhaps the biggest surprise, WCC schools are not dominating on their homecourts. In fact, entering Saturday's games, only Gonzaga (6-1) and Santa Clara (5-2, with their only league losses at home). St. Mary's (4-3) and USF (3-2) are above .500 in league games on their homecourt. Among the biggest swings, San Diego was a perfect 7-0 at home before dropping four of five league home games (and are 4-3 in WCC road games) and LMU was 5-1 in preseason at home and are now 2-3 in WCC action.