Feb. 25, 2002

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SAT., MAR.  2  	San Diego (WCC Tournament)	San Diego, CA		6:00 PM
SUN., MAR.  3	WCC Semifinals			San Diego, CA		6:30/8:30
MON., MAR. 4	WCC Championship		San Diego, CA		9:00 PM

San Francisco, CA- USF (12-14, 7-6 WCC) coming off a strong performance against Portland in its regular season finale, finished in a third place tie in the West Coast Conference race with a 8-6 league mark. It is the best WCC place and record for the Dons since finishing third in 1996-97.

The Dons lost the coin flip for the third seed and will be seeded fourth in the WCC tournament, which pairs them against host San Diego Saturday at 6:00 p.m. It will be the third consecutive season that the Dons will open play against the tournament host (vs. SCU in 2000, vs. USD in 2001 and 2002).

TUCKER NAMED ALL-WEST COAST CONFERENCE:
USF junior forward Darrell Tucker was named all-WCC for the second time in three seasons. He also led the league in rebounding for the second consecutive season. Tucker ranks third in the nation with 17 double-doubles this year and had 11 in the 14 league games.

USF COMING OFF RECORD-BREAKING SHOOTING SHOW:
USF ended the regular season with an explosive offensive show, topping Portland 97-81. The Dons set a new team record with 17 three-pointers, six by Shamell Stallworth and five by Darrell Tucker. Stallworth (24) and Tucker (34) also set career point highs in the game, which saw USF take a 26-4 lead and never look back. Darrell Tucker also had his 17th double-double of the year and 11thin in WCC play in the game.

MATCHUP WITH SAN DIEGO:
The Dons and Toreros split the season series this year with both teams winning convincingly on their own home floor. USF took an 87-71 decision in the Bay Area as Darrell Tucker (23) and John Cox (22) combined for 45 points.

The Dons took an early 15-3 lead and were in control thereafter.

In San Diego on February 16th, the Toreros jumped USF 23-9 early and cruised to a 88-55 win behind 20 points by Andre Laws and 17 by Jason Blair. It was USF's fourth straight road game.

In the two games USF was paced by Tucker (15.5 ppg/9.0 rpg), John Cox (14.0 ppg/3.0 rpg) and Shamell Stallworth13.5 ppg., 4.5 rpg), while San Diego was led by Andre Laws (20.5 ppg/3.5 apg) and Jason Blair (12.0 ppg/6.0 rpg).

Two factor is the first two games - Andre Laws was 9-24 floor in first game and Jason Blair had 7 points. In the game at USD Laws was 9-15 floor and Blair had 17 points.

In San Diego Tucker was 4-13 floor and Cox 2-7, in San Francisco Tucker was 7-17 and Cox was 8-13. Also Hondre Brewer played 24 minutes with 16 points and four blocks at USF, while he played just 13 minutes scored 10 points and 0 blocks at USD due to foul trouble and an ankle sprain.

FIRST ROUND PAIRINGS:
In addition to the USF-San Diego matchup, there are three other contests Saturday starting at noon. Seventh ranked Gonzaga (#2) faces 7th seed LMU at noon followed by top-seed Pepperdine (who won a flip with Gonzaga for #1) facing Portland. In the evening session starting at 6:00 p.m. #4 USF faces #5 San Diego, followed by #3 Santa Clara and #6 St. Mary's.

SUNDAY:
On Sunday, the winner of the SCU-SMC game will play the second game of the doubleheader, meaning the winner of the USF-San Diego game will play at 6:30 p.m. unless either Gonzaga or Pepperdine lose