USF Closes Regular Season at Gonzaga Monday, Seeding at Stake

Feb. 26, 2006

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USF (11-15, 7-6 WCC), faces fifth ranked Gonzaga (24-3, 13-0 WCC) on Monday night (KQKE, 960 AM, Fox Sports Northwest, 6:00 p.m.) in the final game of conference play.

USF stands in a tie for third in the league at 7-6 along with travel St. Mary's (who hosts LMU Monday) one game ahead of travel partner San Diego (who plays at Portland).

WCC STANDINGS:
Team	WCC	PCT	Overall
	#5 GON	13-0	1.000	24-3
	LMU	8-5	.615	11-16
	USF	7-6	.538	11-15
	SMC	7-6	.538	15-11
	USD	6-7	.462	16-10
	SCU	4-9	.308	11-15
	POR	4-9	.308	10-17
	PEP	3-10	.231	7-18

USF EARNS SEVENTH WCC WIN, SEEDINGS STILL UP FOR GRABS: USF earned its seventh WCC win of the season Saturday, surpassing the total of six from last season. USF can be seeded third to fifth depending on results of all games. See attached WCC seeding scenarios for complete pairings.

DONS PLAY "SURVIVOR" AT PORTLAND: USF, paced by 24 points by Alan Wiggins, Jr and a game-winning layup by point guard Armondo Surratt left, survived to win 74-72 at Portland in overtime. The Dons, who raced out to 12-2 and 21-7 leads early, outshot Portland 64% to 35% in the first half and 48.3% to 33.9% for the game, could not put the game away due to foul trouble. Danny Cavic (17 min) and Surratt (33) were limited in playing time due to foul trouble while the home team was outscoring USF 25 (of 31) from the ft line to 13 (of 23) for USF. The game came down to the final two possessions, with Surratt making the gamewinner after a crucial offensive rebound by Wiggins with :42 left and Pooh Jeter's tying layup attempt and Donald Wilson's three at the buzzer both failing to fall. It was Jessie Evans' 160th career victory.

SPLITSVILLE?: So far USF has split every two-game weekend of WCC play winning once and losing once. The Dons have also split their two single game weeks, topping St. Mary's 53-52 on January 16th and dropping an 83-78 decision to Santa Clara on February 20th. If USF loses at Gonzaga, USF will finish at .500 on the league season and in every weekend. USF has pretty much won one, lost one in WCC play with one two game winning streak and one two-game losing streak.

SHOOT YOUR WAY OUT OF IT: The Dons are 7-6 in league but with a little bit better shooting have a much better mark. In fact, since league play opened USF is shooting just 42.6% from the floor (last WCC), 32.9% from three-point (7th WCC) and last in free-throw percentage (66.4%).

In league play, Jerome Gumbs leads the Dons with 50.5% shooting Jason Wallace-Carter (47.0% FG league) shot 55.8% in preconference play while Alan Wiggins, Jr. (48.9% FG league) shot 54.9% before WCC began.

TURNOVERS A DONS' ADVANTAGE: In WCC play, the Dons have the second best turnover margin (+2.3) forcing 16.7 turnovers per contest while committing just 14.4. LMU leads with +3.08. On the opposite side, USF is last in free-throw percentage (66.4%).

IT'S SHILLER TIME: Freshman Drew Shiller (Burlingame, CA) has come on strong at the end of the season averaging 13.7 points per game over the last three games while hitting 57.1% of his field goal attempts and all 10 of his free-throws. He scored a career best 23 points on Feb. 20 vs. Santa Clara. USF is 4-1 in WCC contests in which he has played 20 minutes or more, losing only that decision vs. Santa Clara.

LAST FIVE GAMES: USF is 3-2 in last five games. The Dons have outscored their opponents 373 (74.6) to 360 (72.0) USF has shot 44.6% to 45% by the opponents. Alan Wiggins (17.4) has lead the Dons in scoring over that period, with Jason Wallace-Carter at 12.6, Armondo Surratt 12.4 and then Drew Shiller 9.2. Alan Wiggins, Jr. (58.5%) and Drew Shiller (53.8%) are the Dons hottest shooters with Drew Shiller (8-18, 44.4%) Danny Cavic (11-25, 44.0%) the hottest from outside the arc. Alan Wiggins, Jr. has double-doubles in five of his last eight games while Wallace-Carter has doubles in his last two contests.

SIX THAT GOT AWAY: The Dons might have had a better record if they had closed out the six games below that slipped away.

11/26: USF lost to Sacramento State 85-78. The Dons trailed by just two with under 1:45 left before having to foul to get the ball back.

11/30: USF lost to Pacific 75-71 in overtime. The Dons led this one 67-66 with :30 left before the game went into overtime.

12/6: USF lost to Wichita State 75-67 after leading by three (63-60) with 3:42 remaining.

12/21: USF lost to Northern Arizona 70-66 after leading 66-65 with less than a minute left. USF missed a shot with :06 for the tie before fouling.

1/9: USF lost to Loyola Marymount 84-75 in double overtime after missing two shots in the last 10 seconds to win the game in regulation. USF also missed a long shot at the end of the first overtime to win it.

2/11: USF lost at San Diego 71-68 when they missed three free-throws in the final 1:08 and were called for a charging foul with :08 left and down a single point.

FREE-THROW PROBLEM: USF, as a team has fallen into a free-throw shooting slump, making just 70% of its free-throws just four times in the last 10 games, and it has cost the team greatly. Here are examples: 12/29 USF loses 65-60 at Fresno State after making just 12 of 20 free-throws. 1/9 USF loses 75-84 at Loyola Marymount in double overtime after making just 14 of 21 free-throws. USF managed to win against St. Mary's despite shooting its second worst FT% of the year, 53.3%, which included two front ends in the final minute! In USF's game vs. LMU they made just 11 of 19 free-throws and missed a few front ends which lost them points in the loss. USF made just 15-22 vs. Pepperdine (68.2%) , but in the second half made just 8 of 13. In the game at San Diego they made just 15-25 and missed three in the final 1:08 to cost themselves the game. In Portland Saturday, USF made just 13 of 23 (56.5%).

ABOUT THE DONS: It was a new look Dons team (17-14, 1-1 NIT last year) that opened the season November 18th at the Thunderdome.

Gone were WCC leading scorer John Cox (20.0 ppg) and forward Tyrone Riley (15.8 ppg.) as well as both point guards Andre Hazel and Jason Gaines.

The Dons did return starting wing Jerome Gumbs (9.4 ppg./4.9 rpg), post Alan Wiggins, Jr. (5.8 ppg/4.0 rpg) and forward Johnny Dukes (5.6 ppg./3.0 rpg.) to the fold along with center Jason Wallace-Carter (2.3 ppg./2.9 rpg) and guard Dommanic Ingerson (2.3 ppg./1.0 rpg.). Dukes has been lost for a yet undetermined amount of time to a foot injury.

USF's motto this season is "See How We Run" and the person that will be most in charge of making sure the team has that philosophy is point guard Armondo Surratt. The former Oakland Tech star, who started for Miami-FL in the Big East for two years, will key the attack. "Surratt is as fine a point guard as there is on the West Coast," said Dons' head coach Jessie Evans. He is be joined by California State High School Athlete of the Year Drew Shiller, a freshman from Burlingame who can run the offense or shoot, transfer Danny Cavic (from Santa Ana JC), returnee Michael Bell and returning redshirt Sinqua Walls.

The frontline is bolstered by freshman Jesse Byrd (from Oakland's Bishop O'Dowd HS), who has been a very pleasant surprise in the first few weeks of practice with his rebounding and aggressive play. Another freshman will be Rainier Beach HS center James Morgan, a 6-9 post who has been looking good early, as well. Redshirt forward Vince Polakovic, a 6-8 forward from Slovakia, joined the team after finals Dec. 17th and should add scoring and rebounding to the group. He played two games last season before transferring from Northern Iowa.

USF has two former Big East point guards redshirting the entire season in former UConn guard Antonio Kellogg and former Rutgers player and Washington D.C. star Manny Quezada.

NEW RADIO STATION: The Dons have moved to a new radio station KQKE "The Quake" at 960 AM on the dial The Clear Channel station signed a three-year deal to carry USF basketball. Pat Olson is currently in his fifteenth season as the play-by-play man. He will be joined occasionally by former USF head coach Jim Brovelli. USF will also have selected games carried by Sirius Radio (national).

AT LEAST 10 USF GAMES ON TV THIS YEAR: There will be at least 10 USF games on TV this year. KICU-TV will do two games (Northwestern Mutual Classic vs. Texas Tech and Gonzaga at USF), Comcast Sports Net will do at least four (Wichita State at USF, USF at Santa Clara, USF at San Diego, and Loyola Marymount at USF) and FSN will do three (USF at Stanford, St. Mary's at USF and USF at Santa Clara). In addition, the USF at Gonzaga game will be on Fox Sports Northwest.

SCHEDULE DIFFERENT: The West Coast Conference changed its league schedule from a mostly Thursday-Saturday format to a mostly Saturday-Monday format this season.

LAST SEASON REVIEW: The Dons went 17-14 in the first season under Jessie Evans and played two games in the postseason NIT. They finished 6-8 in WCC play (tied for fifth) and advanced to the second round of the WCC tournament. USF had a very high RPI which allowed it to advance to the NIT, where it became the first WCC team ever to host the postseason event. The Dons defeated Denver in the opening round before falling to Cal State Fullerton (who will play in USF's Invitational on Dec. 9-10).

USF beat five conference champions last season, a major factor in getting the NIT bid. The Dons topped Saint Joseph's (Atlantic 10), Pacific (only team to beat the Tigers in Stockton), Penn (Ivy), Gonzaga (WCC) and Denver (Sun Belt). USF also defeated Montana who won its conference postseason tournament. The Dons also lost narrowly to Stanford (ot), St. Mary's twice (once in 3ot), and Gonzaga (final second).

EVANS IN POSTSEASON AGAIN: And while it had been a while since USF has made it to the postseason, it was nothing new for USF head coach Jessie Evans, who was in his fourth straight postseason last year. Evans took Louisiana Lafayette to four postseason berths in his seven years there. And he helped lead Arizona to the national championship in his final year as an assistant there in 1997.

HEAD COACH Jessie Evans, a 1972 graduate of Eastern Michigan is in his second season at USF (28-29) and 9th year of collegiate coaching (160-110) after recording a 132-81 record in 7 seasons at Louisiana Lafayette. He previously was assistant coach at Arizona for nine seasons where he helped lead the Wildcats to the 1997 NCAA title. He guided USF to the NIT last season and won his 150th career game November 21 vs. Monmouth. He recently signed a contract extension.

USF is: 8-6 home, 3-7 road, 0-2 neutral; 1-1 in overtime; 8-6 in white jerseys, 3-5 in green, 0-3 in black, 5-5 in last 10 games, 8-4 when leading at the half, 3-11 when trailing, 0-0 when tied, 3-1 when shooting 50% from the floor, 8-14 when shooting less than 50%; 8-2 when outshooting their opponent, 3-13 when outshot, 0-0 when equal; 11-8 when holding their opponents under 50% floor, 0-7 when opponent shoots 50%; 8-3 when USF shoots more FT's, 3-11 when USF shoots less FT's, 0-0 when free-throws are the same; 8-2 when USF leads with 5 minutes left, 8-2 when USF leads with 1 minute left, 1-1 when tied with 1 minute left; 5-6 when USF bench outscores opponent, 5-9 when opposing bench outscores USF, 1-0 when bench is equal, 9-4 when outrebounding opponent, 2-11 when outrebounded, 0-1 when rebounds are the same; 4-5 when more 3's, 6-9 when less 3's, 1-1 when 3's are equal; 8-15 when USF scores less than 80 pts., 2-0 when USF scores 80 points, 2-0 when USF scores 90 points, 0-0 when USF scores 100+ pts., 7-4 when holding opponents to 70 points or under, 3-7 when opponents scores 71-79, 1-4 when opponent scores 80 +.

HEAD COACH MARK FEW, a 1987 graduate of Oregon is in his seventh season at GU (183-40) and career.

About Gonzaga: USF will play Gonzaga in their senior night, in a game televised on Fox Sports Northwest. Gonzaga has won fifteen straight games. They have the nation's leading scorer in Adam Morrison (28.6 ppg.) who scored 41 points in Gonzaga's win at USF on January 23rd and a very strong inside scorer in J.P. Batista (19.6 ppg.) who had a double-double in the first meeting with USF. The Dons and Bulldogs have played three close games since Jessie Evans took over at USF, splitting last season (both games determined on final shot) and Gonzaga's 84-75 win this year (a three-point GU lead with 1:45 left). Last year at Gonzaga, Adam Morrison hit the game-winner with less than a second left and John Cox's shot to tie was ruled just after the buzzer in the Zags' 75-73 win.